ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, Bull's-Head Rhyton Room 04B

As you can see, the “Bull’s-Head Rhyton” is a magnificent work. It was made around 1600 BC and placed in a royal tomb in Mycenae together with some exceptionally fine funerary accoutrements, befitting the warrior princes of Mycenae, referred to as the “golden” city by Homer.

The Rhyton is a container for liquids. What is unusual about it is that it cannot be set down because it does not have a base, and that it has a hole in the lower part so that drinking could not be interrupted until it had been drained of all the liquid inside. In Antiquity, these vessels were often fashioned in the shape of a horn, or the head of an animal.

As you’ll have realized, this was not an object for everyday use, and was for special occasions and only had ritual purposes. The one before you, in gold and silver, undoubtedly belonged to a noble family, bound to the aristocratic values of hunting and war. Once filled, the entire contents of the Rhyton had to be drunk immediately, which of course led to a state of inebriation....