Carchesium (container)

A carchesium (Latin), carchesion, or karkhesion (Greek: καρχήσιον, karkhḗsion) was a kind of drinkware of the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is variously glossed as a cup,^[1] beaker,^[1] or goblet.^[2]

Carchesia seem to have had several different forms^[3] but were generally somewhat elongated and narrower in the middle than at the top or bottom.^[4] They were used for wine in ancient Greece^[5] and Rome,^[6] as well as milk.^[7] They sometimes bore narrow handles.^[8] Carchasia were notably used in ritual libation, with Vergil having Aeneas pour out 2 of pure wine, 2 of fresh milk, and 2 of sacred blood over the tomb of his father Anchises.^[9] It was also used for pouring out offerings of honey.^[1] In late Antiquity, Sidonius associated the vessel with the Chaldeans of Babylonia.^[10]

The cup gave its name to the version of a crow's nest used on Greek and Roman ships and to the crane mechanism that could be operated from it.^[2] It was glossed in Old English as bune,^[11] which appeared repeatedly in the dragon's hoard in Beowulf, probably to denote its antiquity and exoticness to listeners.^[12] A large carchesium was given by King Charles the Simple of France to the Abbey of Saint Denis in the early 10th century.^[13]

• Frank, Roberta (2005), "Three 'Cups' and a Funeral in Beowulf", Latin Learning and English Lore..., vol. I, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 407–420, ISBN 978-0-8020-8919-9.
• Rich, Anthony (1849), "Carchesium", The Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary and Greek Lexicon..., London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, pp. 119–120.
• Whitehouse, David (1997), "130. Cup with Two Handles", Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. I, New York: Hudson Hills Press, pp. 90–91, ISBN 978-0-87290-139-1.
• Yates, James (1842), "Carchesium", A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: Taylor & Walton, pp. 197–198.