Carchesium (container)

A carchesium (Latin), carchesion, or karkhesion (Ancient Greek: καρχήσιον, karkhḗsion) was a kind of drinkware of the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is variously glossed as a cup,^[1] beaker,^[1] or goblet.^[2]

A carchesium from c. 170–250 held by the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, Belgium

A glass carchesium (3rd cent.) held by the Picardy Museum in Amiens, France.

Carchesia seem to have had several different forms^[3] but were generally somewhat elongated and narrower in the middle than at the top or bottom.^[4] They were used for wine in ancient Greece^[5] and Rome,^[6] as well as milk.^[7] They sometimes bore narrow handles.^[8] Carchasia were notably used in ritual libation, with Vergil having Aeneas pour out 2 of pure wine, 2 of fresh milk, and 2 of sacred blood over the tomb of his father Anchises.^[9] It was also used for pouring out offerings of honey.^[1] In late Antiquity, Sidonius associated the vessel with the Chaldeans of Babylonia.^[10]

The cup gave its name to the version of a crow's nest used on Greek and Roman ships and to the crane mechanism that could be operated from it.^[2] It was glossed in Old English as bune,^[11] which appeared repeatedly in the dragon's hoard in Beowulf, probably to denote its antiquity and exoticness to listeners.^[12] A large carchesium was given by King Charles the Simple of France to the Abbey of Saint Denis in the early 10th century.^[13]