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its extended arms, or on its head. Some refer to this statuette as the manes, since Manes was a
Phrygian slave name; and it would make sense to connect that name with this small figure. But according to Antiphanes, the plastinx should fall onto the manes with a loud noise, which seems unlikely if the manes is the statuette. The player is expected to throw the wine-lees found in the drinking cup, in such a way that it does not break bulk in its passage through the air, towards the plastinx. Success entails making the plastinx fall to the manes, causing a bell-like sound. Both the wine thrown, and the noise made, were called latax (λάταξ).
533:, naming a popular youth as the subject of the toast, might be a joke. Another interpretation of the four hetairai is that these female symposiasts are Spartans. This would account for the Doric dialect used on the inscription and also the absence of couches, which is consistent with the stereotypes about Sparta held by the Athenians. The use of female symposiasts as a humorous trope is consistent with several black-figure vases with figures that are interpreted as Etruscan women. As with Spartan women, they were considered to be uncivilized.
324:
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234:
221:, special circular buildings were established, so the players might easily be arranged around the target, and follow each other in rapid succession. Like all games in which the element of chance found a place, it was regarded as more or less ominous of the future success of the players, especially in matters of love – and the excitement was sometimes further augmented by some object of value being staked on the event. The stake in the game was often a
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441:. The player's words can be a sort of toast or dedication to the person of affection. The toast can serve as a question about the possibility of success in love, which would be answered by the outcome of the throw. It emphasizes the love nature of this game, and the core idea of bonding at the symposium.
547:
as shown on painted pots. But there is a unique kottabos cup in Oxford: instead of a regular foot, this cup has a conical-shaped projection at the bottom. It is said to be a cup customized for playing the kottabos. Wear on the handles accords with the way a kottabos player would employ the cup. With
347:
In
Kottabos with an oxybaphon (Κότταβος δι᾽ ὀξυβάφων), or kottabos in a bowl, the target of the throw is a bowl, or lekane. The lekane is filled with water, and empty shallow saucers (ὀξύβαφα or oxybapha) float on the water. The object is to throw the wine-lees onto the oxybapha, to sink them, which
314:
When playing kottabos kataktos, also called kottabos with a pole, the target is the plastinx (πλάστιγξ), a small disc, balanced horizontally atop a bronze lamp stand. Halfway down the stand is a larger disc called the manes (μάνης). Sometimes a bronze statuette is used, with the plastinx balanced on
428:
Another variation of the kottabos involves a different kind of target. On a red-figure cup by
Apollodoros, it shows some symposiasts aiming at a target with a phallus-headed bird balancing on top of a tripod which is placed on a flat pan. The pan is inscribed KOTABOS, so it is certain which game is
285:
wrote in his play: "the kottabos player puts the index finger of the right-hand through the handle of the drinking cup, palm upwards; and the remaining fingers are spread as playing a flute." The player reclines on the couch, leaning on the left elbow; and, moving only the right-forearm, throws the
860:
A fourth method, in which a set of scales was barraged with wine so that each side of the scale would dip down and touch an image placed underneath, probably never existed and was conceived by a confusion of the plastinx with a scale-pan by reason of its name (which also means "scale" in
356:
There is a special kottabos stand found in Italy, Etruscan with a pole and a bowl at the bottom. It combines the kottabos kataktos with the variation involving oxybapha. The lower was probably the lekane used to float the oxybapha, while the pole can be used to play the original form.
391:
About two-thirds of the way down, the rhabdus was encircled by the lecanis (large saucer). A socket near the top of the rhabdus held the manes (figurine). The manes was in the shape of a man, with his right arm and leg uplifted, sometimes holding a drinking horn (or "rhytum").
348:
is easier than the kottabos kataktos. The player who sank the most was the winner. This form of playing is rarely found on vases, presumably because it would be difficult to paint the interior of the lekane, with oxybapha floating in it, on a vase.
387:
The rhabdus (pole) had a flat base, and the main structure tapered towards the top, with a blunt end (on which the plastinx or manes was balanced). The plastinx (small saucer) had a hole near the edge and was slightly concave in the middle.
253:
The kottabos game seems to have originated in Sicily, or the land of the Sikels, but it spread through Greece, from
Thessaly to Rhodes, becoming especially fashionable at Athens. Evidence of its origin can be found on an Attic
403:
The plastinx (small saucer) was fixed on top of the rhabdus (pole), with the lecanis (large saucer) below. The players tried to fill the plastinx with enough wine to tip it over (with a crash) onto the lecanis.
497:
are sunk. This break in equilibrium symbolizes the uncertainty a person may feel when a lover is present. So when balance is broken, the sound of the plastinx falling onto the manes, and the sunk of the
510:
502:, serves as a good omen, indicating that the love of the player is assured. The successful play of the kottabos game would represent success when pursuing love or being loved by young men and women.
851:
These accounts, contained in the writings of various Greek and Roman authors, should not be assumed as entirely accurate since they were written at a time when kottabos had, in fact, become obsolete
369:
were the rhabdus (ῥάβδος, a bronze pole), the plastinx (πλάστιγξ, a small saucer like that on a balance), the lecanis (λεκανίς, a large saucer), and the manes (μάνης, a bronze figurine).
151:, especially in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. It involved flinging wine-lees (sediment) at a target in the middle of the room. The winner would receive a prize (κοττάβιον or "
420:
Played exactly the same as method No. 1, except that the manes (instead of the plastinx) was fixed on top of the rhabdus, and it was at this that the wine was thrown.
483:(for Lykos)", who was a youth popular at the time, and known from other inscriptions. Apparently, the god is used as a mouthpiece for a human to speak of his affection.
198:, make frequent and familiar allusion to the practice; and it is depicted on contemporaneous red-figure vases. References to the practice by the writers of the
71:
412:
Played exactly the same as method No. 1, except that the plastinx was supposed to hit the manes (figurine) on the way down to the lecanis.
897:
892:
490:(the youth is beautiful)", seems to spring out from the player's cup, and follow the trajectory of the wine that is being thrown.
213:
Dexterity was required to succeed in the game, and unusual ability was rated as highly as corresponding excellence in throwing the
962:
339:
Kottabos kataktos was the traditional and correct way of playing, but there were various modifications that were acceptable:
384:, as well as various representations on Greek vases help explain the somewhat obscure accounts of how kottabos was played.
743:
Glazebrook, Allison (2012). "Prostitutes, Plonk, and Play: Female
Banqueters on a Red-figure Psykter from the Hermitage".
471:
Sometimes painters would use gods as representations of a kottabos player when giving a kottabos toast. On a red-figure
981:
525:
Women were not usually the recipient of the kottabos toast, so a scene depicting women kottabos players, like the four
475:
by the
Copenhagen painter, Dionysus is painted as one of these representations. The inscription beside his arm says: "
269:. One of the hetairai on the vase, Smikra, is swinging her cup, as a kottabos player. The inscription beside her is
770:
Topper, Kathryn (2009). "Primitive Life and the
Construction of the Sympotic past in Athenian Vase Painting".
991:
429:
played. This target is unique, and it emphasizes the erotic side of both the game and the symposium.
914:
A complete treatise on the subject with a full bibliography of ancient and more modern authorities.
50:
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195:
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129:
67:
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its special foot, it would be conveniently carried as a personal kottabos cup to symposiums.
708:
Csapo, E.; Miller, M. C. (1991). "The "Kottabos-Toast" and an
Inscribed Red-Figured Cup".
8:
203:
163:
917:
Higgins, A. "Recent
Discoveries of the Apparatus used in playing the Game of Kottabos".
464:(I am throwing this for you, Leagros)." Leagros was a popular youth frequently named in
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Herman W. Hayley, "The kottabos kataktos in the Light of Recent
Investigations",
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Kottabos involves disruption of equilibrium when the plastinx falls, or the
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Before the kottabos player throws the wine-lees, the turn is dedicated to a
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Woman playing kottabos, plate, by the Bryn Mawr Painter, Attic Greek,
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645:
Sparkes, Brian A. (1960). "Kottabos: An Athenian After-Dinner Game".
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187:
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148:
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Sunken kottabos (Κότταβος κατακτός) is not so simple. The apparatus
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Most of the cups being used to play the kottabos game were regular
460:, Smikra is dedicating her turn to Leagros. The inscription says: "
167:
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
479:(this is for you)." On the left, a satyr completes the sentence: "
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According to Helbig, three games were played with this apparatus:
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The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
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Cooney, John D. (1974). "Way Stations on the Primrose Path".
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901:. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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One of the most famous inscriptions is on the red-figure
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423:
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Vickers, Michael (1974). "A Kottabos Cup in Oxford".
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Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts
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16:Target game played by ancient Greeks and Etruscans
66:for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate
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693:Lissarrague, François (1990). "Drinking Games".
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298:Symposium scene with kottabos player (center).
206:periods show that the fashion had died out. In
842:since the plastinx would likely only graze it.
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697:. Princeton University Press. pp. 80–86.
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486:On another red-figure cup, the inscription, "
155:"), comprising cakes, sweetmeats, or kisses.
376:in 1886) of two sets of actual apparatus in
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600:The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art
372:The discovery in Etruscan burial sites (by
217:. Kottabos was customary, and, at least in
210:literature, it is almost entirely unknown.
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225:attending the symposium with the players.
965:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
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468:on sympotic vases around this period.
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908:Das Kottabos-Spiel der alten Griechen
521:. Sackler Museum, Harvard University.
273:, the dialect used by the Sicilians.
352:Combination of kataktos and oxybapha
289:
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924:Daremberg and Saglios. "Kottabos".
695:The Aesthetics of the Greek Banquet
424:Kottabos with a phallus-headed bird
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947:. Römische Abteilung i. 1886.
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926:Dictionnaire des antiquités
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367:(kottabeion, pl. kottabeia)
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149:symposia (drinking parties)
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665:Vintage: The Story of Wine
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982:Culture of ancient Greece
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933:de Fouquières, L. Becq.
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462:Tin tande latasso leagre
898:Encyclopædia Britannica
506:Female Kottabos players
310:National Museum, Italy.
574:List of drinking games
537:Kottabos cup in Oxford
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416:Method No. 3
408:Method No. 2
399:Method No. 1
304:Tomb of the Diver
290:Kottabos kataktos
265:, depicting four
243:, by Euphronios,
237:Attic red-figure
160:Dionysius Chalcus
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949:(in German)
939:(in French)
929:(in French)
921:, li. 1888.
912:(in German)
647:Archaeology
286:wine-lees.
204:Alexandrian
176:Bacchylides
976:Categories
805:(2): 158.
625:15.665–668
580:References
531:Euphronios
456:. On this
454:Euphronios
319:Variations
306:, 475 BC.
283:Antiphanes
263:Euphronios
256:red-figure
196:Antiphanes
140:played at
116: 510
104:red-figure
617:Athenaeus
477:tot tende
302:from the
188:Euripides
184:Sophocles
180:Aeschylus
153:kottabion
85:July 2021
937:. 1873.
910:. 1893.
893:Cottabus
778:: 3–26.
552:See also
527:hetairai
500:oxybapha
495:oxybapha
450:hetairai
335:, Paris.
267:hetairai
168:Anacreon
146:Etruscan
136:) was a
134:κότταβος
126:Kottabos
963:Smith,
886::
861:Greek).
544:kylikes
473:stamnos
458:psykter
446:psykter
382:Perugia
380:, near
308:Paestum
259:psykter
240:psykter
223:servant
215:javelin
194:, and
164:Alcaeus
77:See why
880:
819:502803
817:
730:148071
728:
378:Umbria
333:Louvre
300:Fresco
229:Origin
219:Sicily
172:Pindar
830:Notes
815:JSTOR
726:JSTOR
481:lykoi
439:lover
329:kylix
271:Doric
208:Latin
200:Roman
108:kylix
202:and
144:and
118:BC,
41:lang
895:".
807:doi
780:doi
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718:doi
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61:IPA
978::
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