The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
46. There is also the καδίσκος. Philemon, in his treatise before
mentioned, says that this too is a species of cup. And it is a vessel
in which they place the Ctesian Jupiters, as Anticlides says, in his
Book on Omens, where he writes,—"The statuettes of Jupiter Ctesius
ought to be erected in this manner. One ought to place a new cadiscus
with two ears . . . . —and crown the ears with white wool; and on the
right shoulder, and on the forehead . . . . and put on it what you find
there, and pour ambrosia over it. But ambrosia is compounded of pure
water, and oil, and all kinds of fruits; and these you must pour over."
Stratis the comic poet also mentions the cadiscus, in his Lemnomeda,
where he says—
The wine of Mercury, which some draw forth
From a large jug, and some from a cadiscus,
Mix'd with pure water, half-and-half.
47. There is also the cantharus. Now, that this is the name of a kind
of boat is well known. And that there is a kind of cup also called by
this name we find from Ameipsias, in his Men Playing at the Cottabus,
or Madness, where he says—
Bring here the vinegar cruets, and canthari.
And Alexis, in his Creation (the sentence refers to some one drinking
in a wine-shop), says—
And then I saw Hermaiscus turning over
One of these mighty canthari, and near him
There lay a blanket, and his well-fill'd wallet.
And Eubulus, who often mentions this cup by name, in his Pamphilus,
says—
But I (for opposite the house there was
A wine-shop recently establish'd)
There watch'd the damsel's nurse; and bade the vintner
Mix me a measure of wine worth an obol,
And set before me a full-sized cantharus.
And in another place he says—
How dry and empty is this cantharus!
And again, in another place—
Soon as she took it, she did drink it up,—
How much d'ye think? a most enormous draught;
And drain'd the cantharus completely dry.
[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]
And Xenarchus, in his Priapus, says this—
Pour, boy, no longer in the silver tankard,
But let us have again recourse to the deep.
Pour, boy, I bid you, in the cantharus,
Pour quick, by Jove, aye, by the Cantharus,[62] pour.
And Epigenes, in his Heroine, says—
But now they do no longer canthari make,
At least not large ones; but small shallow cups
Are come in fashion, and they call them neater,
As if they drank the cups, and not the wine.
48. And Sosicrates, in his Philadelphi, says—
A gentle breeze mocking the curling waves,
Sciron's fair daughter, gently on its course
Brought with a noiseless foot the cantharus;
where cantharus evidently means a boat.
And Phrynichus, in his Revellers, says—
And then Chærestratus, in his own abode,
Working with modest zeal, did weep each day
A hundred canthari well fill'd with wine.
And Nicostratus, in his Calumniator, says—
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