Graeco-Persian

At ancient banquets horn-shaped rhyta made of clay, ivory, silver, and even gold were popular drinking cups. The horn was filled with wine through the open top, but the reveler drank from the spout at the front. A rhyton without a base, such as this one, was passed from hand to hand until empty.

This rhyton was made in the form of a zebu, a hump-backed wild bull. In Near Eastern royal hunt imagery, zebus and lions were vanquished by the ruler, symbolizing his protection of the kingdom from threats. This Persian imagery is combined in this rhyton with typically Greek floral decoration, providing a glimpse of the lavish artistic achievements of the Hellenistic Near East following the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great in 333 B.C.

Silver with foil gilding, 200-100 B.C.
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1988.23