rhyton

American  

[rahy-ton] / ˈraɪ tɒn /

noun

rhyta plural

1. an ancient Greek drinking horn, made of pottery or metal, having a base in the form of the head of a woman or animal.

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rhyton British  

/ ˈraɪtɒn /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a horn-shaped drinking vessel with a hole in the pointed end through which to drink

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• rhyta
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rhyton

1840–50; < Greek rhytón, noun use of neuter of rhytós flowing, akin to rheîn to flow

Example Sentences

A ceremonial libations vessel, or rhyton, that depicts a stag’s head, purchased from the Merrin Gallery of Manhattan for $2.6 million in November 1991.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2021

Before them kneels another figure with the face, pointed animal ears and hair of a Greco-Roman satyr, yet he drinks from a Greco-Persian vessel called a rhyton, made of a beast's head and neck.

From Time Magazine Archive

One holds up a rhyton terminating in a ram's head; the other stretches out his right hand to a long table which stands before the couch.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

A man, bearded, reclines on a couch, and holds up a rhyton in his right hand.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

Janet Scudder       With the rhyton, the Greek drinking-horn in his hand, Cupid stands above       the globe, his little toes holding on firmly so that he will not slip.

From Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts by James, Juliet Helena Lumbard