Another vase of the same type is that known as the ἀρύβαλλος. The derivation of the word is unknown, but the first half connects it with the “ladle” class of vases (ἀρυτήρ, etc.), of which we have already spoken. It can, however, hardly be a vase of that type, and the connection seems to be its use in the bath,[720] _i.e._ as an oil-flask. It is generally described as resembling a purse; Athenaeus[721] says it is broader below than above, like a purse tied at the neck with a string. The name, however, is usually applied to a form of vase akin to the alabastron, but with small globular body, handle, and very short neck (Fig. 59.). This type is almost confined to the Corinthian and other early fabrics, and frequently occurs in glazed or enamelled ware (see p. 127). Its connection with the bath is undoubted, and it was generally carried on a string, together with a strigil or flesh-scraper. As this form died out in the sixth century, the name has been used, as noted above, for a later variety of the lekythos, in which the body approaches a globular form. Transitional between the alabastron and the aryballos is a type of which some examples occur among early Corinthian wares, with egg-shaped body, flat round top, and small ear-like handle, the base being rounded off. To this the name βομβύλιος has been tentatively given, on the authority of Antisthenes, who defines the word as meaning a kind of lekythos with narrow neck.[722] In the same passage of Athenaeus[723] it is contrasted with the quickly-emptied φιάλη or bowl; those who drink from it must do so drop by drop (κατὰ μικρὸν στάζοντες). The name may denote a cocoon, the shape of which this vase resembles, or may be imitative, from the gurgling sound made by a liquid poured therefrom. The ἐξάλειπτρον was also probably a kind of oil-flask.[724] [Illustration: FIG. 60. PYXIS.]