Terracotta rhyton (vase for libations or drinking) 460 BC

This terracotta rhyton, or drinking vessel, was made by the Cow-Head Group. What does it mean for the front of a vase to be shaped like an animal head? Well, drinking vessels in the shape of animals have been found across the ancient world, from Persia to Crete. What they have in common is a link between the ritual of communal drinking and the natural world. The act of drinking together creates a symbolic link between people, but also between humanity and the natural world that sustains it. Vases like this one can tell us a lot about the history of social rituals in ancient Greece. If we wanted to learn more, we could read the work of classical scholars such as Walter Burkert, or the historians who study the material culture of ancient Greece, like Joan Greenhalgh.