Word Finder - amphorae

definition

A two-handled jar with a narrow neck that was used in ancient times to store or carry wine or oil.

definition

One of various units for measuring liquid or volume during the Roman Empire, measuring between 18.5 and 39 litres depending on the variant.

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Ancient unit of volume, for the measurement of the internal capacity of a ship.

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In botany, the lower valve of the fruit that opens transversely.

The " primitive " vessels which have been found in Egypt are small in size and consist of columnar stibium jars, flattened bottles and amphorae, all decorated with zigzag lines, tiny wide-mouthed vases on feet and minute jugs.

Among the tombs many of the poorer under the Empire were simply formed of amphorae, in which the body was placed.

Store of wine was contained in six amphorae, and in two bronze cauldrons were mutton-bones.

In the Kul Oba tomb mentioned above the chamber was of stone and the contents, with one or two exceptions, of purely Greek workmanship, but the ideas underlying are the same - the king has his wife, his servant and his horse, his amphorae with wine, his cauldron with mutton-bones, his drinking vessels and his weapons, the latter being almost the only objects of barbarian style.

The vessels of later date which have been found in considerable quantities, principally in the coast towns and islands of the Mediterranean, are amphorae and alabastra, also decorated with zigzag lines.

Amphorae either rested on a foot, or ended in a point so that they had to be fixed in the ground.

The older amphorae were oval-shaped, such as the vases filled with oil for prizes at the Panathenaic festival, having on one side a figure of Athena, on the other a representation of the contest; the latter were tall and slender, with voluted handles.

In his translations of Euripides' Cyclops, 381, "a bowl I Three cubits wide and four in depth, as much i As would contain four amphorae" the Greek original clearly points to "ten amphorae" and four may have come from the previous line.

The XXVIth Dynasty was largely influenced by Greek amphorae imported with wine and oil.

Such ritual use of oil as a o payls or seal may have been suggested in old religions by the practice of keeping wine fresh in jars and amphorae by pouring on a top layer of oil; for the spoiling of wine was attributed to the action of demons of corruption, against whom many ancient formulae of aversion or exorcism still exist.

The latter are hewn perpendicularly in the rock, while the Roman tombs are chambers excavated horizontally._ In the lagoon itself were found a large number of terra cottas, made of local clay, some being masks of both divinities and men (among them grotesques) others representing hands and feet, others various animals, and of amphorae of various sizes and other vases.

Wine and oil are kept in large pottery containers called amphorae.

When sunk the Kyrenia was carrying approximately 404 amphorae, filled with wine and oil.

There were large amounts of pottery in these sections, particularly tiles and transport amphorae, but also table, utility and cooking wares.

Olive oil amphorae (Dressel 20) were often stamped with the name of the owner of the estate that produced the oil.

The amphorae began to be ribbed about A.D.