Nestor's Cup
Encyclopedia
The term Cup of Nestor or Nestor's Cup can refer to:
of Homer
describes a magnificent golden cup (depas) that belongs to Nestor
, the king of Pylos
:
(translation by Ian Johnston)
excavated Grave Circle A
at Mycenae
, and in several shaft graves
he found rich deposits of grave goods, including many golden objects. Shaft Grave IV yielded the richest finds, and among these Schliemann found a golden vessel which he identified as the "Cup of Nestor" as described in the Iliad. Schliemann believed that the shaft graves dated to the time of the Trojan War
, and identified Shaft Grave V as the tomb of Agamemnon
. However, Schliemann's identification of the shaft graves with Homeric heroes was not accepted by many archaeologists in his own day. The shaft graves are conventionally dated to ca. 1600-1500 BC, some three centuries before the date of the Trojan War (if the war is to be considered as a historical event). Thus the "Cup of Nestor" from Mycenae would have been buried hundreds of years before Nestor supposedly made use of it at Troy.
The cup found at Mycenae differs from Homer's description in several respects, apart from being much smaller. The cup from Mycenae has two handles, whereas Homer's cup has four. Homer's cup has two doves per handle, but the cup found in the shaft grave has a single bird for each handle, and instead of the doves found on the Homeric cup, the birds on the Mycenae cup are falcons.
This cup is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
, Greece.
The so-called Cup of Nestor from Pithekoussai is a clay drinking cup (kotyle) that was found by Giorgio Buchner in 1954 at excavations in a grave in the ancient Greek site of Pithekoussai on the island of Ischia
in Italy
. Pithekoussai was one of the earliest Greek colonies in the West. The cup is dated to the Geometric Period (c.750-700 BC) and is believed to have been originally manufactured in Rhodes
. It is now kept in the Villa Arbusto museum in the village of Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia, Italy.
The cup bears a three-line inscription that was scratched on its side at a later time, and it was later used as a burial gift for a young boy. The inscription is now famous as being one of the oldest known examples of writing in the Greek alphabet
, side by side with the so-called Dipylon inscription
from Athens. Both inscriptions are dated to c.740-720 BC and have been linked to early writing in the island of Euboea
.
The inscription is fragmented, as some shards of the cup are lost. It is written in the early Euboea
n form of the Western Greek alphabet, written from right to left in three separate lines. The text runs:
This is usually transcribed (in later classical orthography, with the missing parts in brackets) as:
The second and third lines form a hexameter
verse each, although the scansion
of the second line is slightly irregular. Modern scholars agree that the text is meant as a humorous contrast between the richness of the legendary Cup of Nestor and the simplicity of the clay drinking cup. There are several interpretations, some of which make use of textual emendations, to explain the humorous effect of the perceived incoherence between the first line and the others. One emendation is that the beginning should read: "" ('Nestor's cup may be good, but...'), or "" ('Nestor's cup, begone!'). A third hypothesis is that the text was the result of a "drinking-party game
": One player wrote the first line, then a second player was challenged to complement the poem with a second line, and so on. This is reinforced by the phrasing of the last verse, which says, albeit very elegantly, that the drinker will become sexually aroused
.
The inscription has often been seen as a reference to the Iliad. Barry B. Powell calls it "Europe’s first literary allusion." Other scholars, however, deny that the inscription refers to the Iliad, arguing that descriptions of Nestor's Cup existed in mythology and oral tradition independent of the Homeric poems.
- A golden mixing cup, described in HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's IliadIliadThe Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, belonging to NestorNestor (mythology)In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris and the King of Pylos. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's siblings...
, the king of PylosPylosPylos , historically known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former...
. - A golden goblet, found at MycenaeMycenaeMycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
, which the excavator, Heinrich SchliemannHeinrich SchliemannHeinrich Schliemann was a German businessman and amateur archaeologist, and an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns...
, identified as the cup of Nestor described in the Iliad. - A clay drinking vessel of the 8th century BC found at Pithekoussai, Magna GraeciaMagna GraeciaMagna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...
, which bears a famous inscription calling itself Nestor's cup.
The Cup of Nestor in the Iliad
The IliadIliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
describes a magnificent golden cup (depas) that belongs to Nestor
Nestor (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris and the King of Pylos. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's siblings...
, the king of Pylos
Pylos
Pylos , historically known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former...
:
- Beside these she set a cup,
- a magnificent work Nestor had brought from home,
- studded with gold. There were four handles on it,
- around each one a pair of golden doves was feeding.
- Below were two supports. When that cup was full,
- another man could hardly lift it from the table,
- but, old as he was, Nestor picked it up with ease.
(translation by Ian Johnston)
The "Cup of Nestor" from Mycenae
In 1876, Heinrich SchliemannHeinrich Schliemann
Heinrich Schliemann was a German businessman and amateur archaeologist, and an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns...
excavated Grave Circle A
Grave Circle A, Mycenae
Grave Circle A in Mycenae is a 16th century BC royal cemetery situated on the southeast of the Lion Gate, the main entrance of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece...
at Mycenae
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
, and in several shaft graves
Shaft tomb
A shaft tomb or shaft grave is a type of burial structure formed from a deep and narrow shaft sunk into natural rock. Burials were then placed at the bottom...
he found rich deposits of grave goods, including many golden objects. Shaft Grave IV yielded the richest finds, and among these Schliemann found a golden vessel which he identified as the "Cup of Nestor" as described in the Iliad. Schliemann believed that the shaft graves dated to the time of the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
, and identified Shaft Grave V as the tomb of Agamemnon
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
. However, Schliemann's identification of the shaft graves with Homeric heroes was not accepted by many archaeologists in his own day. The shaft graves are conventionally dated to ca. 1600-1500 BC, some three centuries before the date of the Trojan War (if the war is to be considered as a historical event). Thus the "Cup of Nestor" from Mycenae would have been buried hundreds of years before Nestor supposedly made use of it at Troy.
The cup found at Mycenae differs from Homer's description in several respects, apart from being much smaller. The cup from Mycenae has two handles, whereas Homer's cup has four. Homer's cup has two doves per handle, but the cup found in the shaft grave has a single bird for each handle, and instead of the doves found on the Homeric cup, the birds on the Mycenae cup are falcons.
This cup is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
National Archaeological Museum of Athens
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek...
, Greece.
The "Cup of Nestor" from Pithekoussai
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Pithekoussai was one of the earliest Greek colonies in the West. The cup is dated to the Geometric Period (c.750-700 BC) and is believed to have been originally manufactured in Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
. It is now kept in the Villa Arbusto museum in the village of Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia, Italy.
The cup bears a three-line inscription that was scratched on its side at a later time, and it was later used as a burial gift for a young boy. The inscription is now famous as being one of the oldest known examples of writing in the Greek alphabet
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
, side by side with the so-called Dipylon inscription
Dipylon inscription
The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to ca. 740 BC. It is famous for being the oldest known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet...
from Athens. Both inscriptions are dated to c.740-720 BC and have been linked to early writing in the island of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
.
The text of the inscription
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
n form of the Western Greek alphabet, written from right to left in three separate lines. The text runs:
- ΝΕΣΤΟΡΟΣ:...:ΕΥΠΟΤΟΝ:ΠΟΤΕΡΙΟΝ
ΗΟΣΔΑΤΟΔΕΠΙΕΣΙ:ΠΟΤΕΡΙ..:AΥΤΙΚΑΚΕΝΟΝ
ΗΙΜΕΡΟΣΗΑΙΡΕΣΕΙ:ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΕΦΑΝΟ:ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΕΣ
This is usually transcribed (in later classical orthography, with the missing parts in brackets) as:
- Nestor’s cup I am, good to drink from.
Whoever drinks this cup empty, straightaway
the desire of beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize.
The second and third lines form a hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
verse each, although the scansion
Scansion
Scansion is the act of determining and graphically representing the metrical character of a line of verse.-Overview:Systems of scansion, and the assumptions that underlie them, are so numerous and contradictory that it is often difficult to tell whether differences in scansion indicate opposed...
of the second line is slightly irregular. Modern scholars agree that the text is meant as a humorous contrast between the richness of the legendary Cup of Nestor and the simplicity of the clay drinking cup. There are several interpretations, some of which make use of textual emendations, to explain the humorous effect of the perceived incoherence between the first line and the others. One emendation is that the beginning should read: "" ('Nestor's cup may be good, but...'), or "" ('Nestor's cup, begone!'). A third hypothesis is that the text was the result of a "drinking-party game
Drinking game
Drinking games are games which involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages. These games vary widely in scope and complexity, although the purpose of most is to become intoxicated as quickly as possible...
": One player wrote the first line, then a second player was challenged to complement the poem with a second line, and so on. This is reinforced by the phrasing of the last verse, which says, albeit very elegantly, that the drinker will become sexually aroused
Sexual arousal
Sexual arousal, or sexual excitement, is the arousal of sexual desire, during or in anticipation of sexual activity. Things that precipitate human sexual arousal are called erotic stimuli, or colloquially known as turn-ons. There are many potential stimuli, both physical or mental, which can cause...
.
The inscription has often been seen as a reference to the Iliad. Barry B. Powell calls it "Europe’s first literary allusion." Other scholars, however, deny that the inscription refers to the Iliad, arguing that descriptions of Nestor's Cup existed in mythology and oral tradition independent of the Homeric poems.
See also
- History and symbolism of Alpha
- History of the Greek alphabetHistory of the Greek alphabetThe history of the Greek alphabet starts with the adoption of Phoenician letter forms and continues to the present day. This article concentrates on the early period, before the codification of the now-standard Greek alphabet....
- National Archaeological Museum of AthensNational Archaeological Museum of AthensThe National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek...
- Pottery of Ancient GreecePottery of Ancient GreeceAs the result of its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...
External links
- Epigraphy database Transcription
- Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali: Description and image of the cup
- Transcription and image of the writing
- Pithecusae Archeological Museum set in Villa Arbusto, Lacco Ameno, Ischia