Note 1071 — Chapter VII · Corinth

Cypselus may have been chosen rather than a more general name or a name derived from some other shape, owing to the huge size of the cypsele. Modern potters have a great respect for a man who can throw a particularly large vase. So, too, had the ancients, as is shown by the proverb ἐν τῷ πίθῳ τὴν κεραμείαν ἐπιχειρεῖν μανθάνειν, Plato, Gorg. 514e. What is probably the earliest allusion to actual Corinthian vases in all Greek literature speaks of a parasite hurrying to dinner and not stopping to admire his host’s κάδοι. “οὐδὲ δοκιμάζω τοὺς Κορινθίους κάδους,” Diphilus ap. Athen. VI. 236b. The κάδος was a vessel of large size and might be of pottery; cp. Athen. XI. 472e, 473b and especially Κλείταρχος ἐν ταῖς Γλώσσαις τὸ κεράμιόν φησιν Ἴωνας κάδον καλεῖν. For the archaic period the large number of furnaces depicted on the Penteskuphia tablets suggests that the furnace cypsele may have been an article of much importance, assuming that all the furnaces were provided with cypselae for use as occasion required. Their comparatively rare appearance in the pictures is sufficiently explained on artistic grounds if the flames blazed up better when they were removed.