Kylix (drinking Cup) - Purpose

Purpose

Because the primary use for the kylix was at a symposium - a "drinking party" - in the ancient Greek world, they are often decorated with scenes of a humorous, light-hearted, or sexual nature that would only become visible when the cup was drained. Dionysos, the god of wine, and his satyrs or related komastic scenes, are common subjects. The shape of the kylix enabled the drinker to drink whilst recumbent, as was the case in the symposia.

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