It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to speak of the constant use of the jug and bowl (_phiale_) in sacrifices and libation scenes, as seen on innumerable vases of the R.F. and later periods (see pp. 178, 191). Fig. 18 shows the use of vases on the occasion of a sacrifice to Dionysos. There is also a type of vase which, according to a recent writer,[471] was used for burning incense. It is a form which hitherto had been conventionally named the κώθων, on account of its recurved lip (see below, p. 187); but it is pointed out that it had three feet (the form being clearly derived from the tripod), and therefore stood, and was not carried about; also that it varies much in size, and is found at an early date, and chiefly in women’s graves.[472] There is also evidence that it was meant to stand fire or hold coals. From these details the conclusion is deduced that it represents the earlier form of incense-burner (down to about 500 B.C.), those of later date being of a different form, as often seen on R.F. vases.[473] [Illustration: From _Furtwaengler and Reichhold_. FIG. 18. VASES USED IN SACRIFICE (FROM VASE AT NAPLES). ] The most important use, however, for which vases were employed, and that to which their preservation is mainly due, was for purposes connected with funeral ceremonies. These were of a varied nature, including the use of vases at the burial, the placing of them on the tomb to hold offerings, and the depositing of them in the tomb, either to hold the ashes of the dead or as “tomb-furniture,” in accordance with the religious beliefs of the Greeks on the life after death. The principal methods in which they have been found deposited in the tombs have already been described in Chapter II. Vases were employed in the burial rites in various ways, as we learn from the subjects depicted upon them. In the celebrated vase representing the death and funeral of Archemoros,[474] two persons are seen carrying tables laden with vases to the tomb, while an oinochoë is placed under the bier on which the corpse is laid. It is also probable that they were often burnt on the funeral pile with the corpse, and if this is the case it may account for the discoloured condition of many fine vases in which the red glaze has turned to an ashen grey under the action of fire.[475] In any case vases were often broken before being placed in the tomb, the idea being that they must participate in the death of the person to whom they were consecrated. There is a special class of B.F. amphorae found at Athens, which are commonly known as “prothesis-amphorae,” the subjects relating exclusively to the πρόθεσις or laying-out, and other funeral rites. They were, therefore, probably placed round the bier during this ceremony.