🍷 Kylix

The kylix is an ancient Greek wine cup. It is a wide, shallow bowl on a short stem with two horizontal handles. People drank from it at the symposium, a drinking party with conversation and music.

Kylikes were made of clay and painted. Inside the bowl there was often a scene or a face that appeared when the wine was drunk. In ancient Greece wine was usually mixed with water, so a wide cup suited small sips.

The kylix belongs to the story of ancient Greece and wine: a culture where wine was both a drink and a reason to gather. Today kylikes are kept in museums, and their paintings tell us about Greek life. The shape also influenced later drinking cups. The kylix's wide, shallow shape survives on many Greek vases, and scholars use them to study daily life and festivities of the time.