hydria

• a jug, ewer, urn: argenteae, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 19, § 47: in hydriam sortes conicere, id. ib. 2, 2, 51, § 127: farris, Sulp.Sev.r. Hist. Sacr. 1, 43. Of the cinerary urns in tombs, Inscr. Orell. 4546 sq.—
• II Hydria, a comedy of Menander, Quint. 11, 3, 91.

• , ὑδρία, a jug, ewer, urn: argenteae: in hydriam sortīs conicere.

HY´DRIA(ὑδρία) is a generic term for any water-jar or water-pot, but specifically applied to a form of vessel more or less nearly resembling the AMPHORAThe hydria, however, had a rounder body and a shorter neck than the amphora. Another distinctive mark is its having three handles ; a pair of small ones (ὦτα or ὠτία) at the shoulders, and a large vertical one either at the neck or in the middle of the side. Hence it is called by the Italians vaso a tre maniche. The calpis (κάλπις) is regarded by some German writers as identical with the hydria (Guhl and Koner ; Blümner); according to Dennis, The name hydria is applied to those of the earliest style which have a squareness about the shoulders, while a later and more elegant variety, with the shoulders rounded off, is generally called calpis: it is admitted, however, that this distinction is conventional. Compare Birch, p. 364.

Both forms occur frequently in vase-paintings, in which girls are represented carrying water on their heads, aided by a pad (τύλη, σπεῖρα) resembling a porter's knot (see cut under ARCULUM; a scene of water-drawing in Birch, p. 195). The large third handle made it easier to dip into the water and lift to the top of the head; the two small ones helped to balance it when carried. The hydria as the older form is found mostly on vases with black figures, the calpis with red figures, though the latter sometimes shows archaic designs. For other points of difference, see CALPIS

The material was in general pottery, but a costly bronze ὑδρία is mentioned ([Dem.] c. Everg. et Mnes. p. 1155.52). For the use of the water-jug (in this case κάλπις) in Athenian weddings, see MATRIMONIUMVol. II., p. 136 a. The hydria was employed as a cinerary urn (Plut. Phil. 21; Lucian, Demosth. Encom. 29; κάλπις, Anth. Pal. 12.74); and as the urn from which the dicasts were drawn by lot (Isocr. Trapez. § 33). In Plutarch (Ti. Gracch. 11) it is apparently the Roman voting-urn, properly called cista [CISTA]. A golden or gold-mounted κάλπις was used for unguents (Antiphan. fr. 106 M.; Plb. 31.3.17); this, of course, must have been much smaller than the ordinary size. Vases of all shapes are found in miniature in Etruscan tombs, and must have served a similar purpose. (Guhl and Koner, ed. 5, p. 191; Hermann-Blümner, Privatalterth. p. 163; Birch, Anc. Pottery, ed. 1873, p. 364; and especially Dennis, Etruria, ed. 1878, pp. cx., cxi.)

(ὑδρία). (1) A vessel for holding water.

(2) A balloting-urn in the Attic law-courts. (See sitella.)

(3) A cinerary urn.

A three-handled water jar used for drawing water, as cinerary urns and as ballot boxes.

Shape: It has a vertical handle at the back for dipping, carrying , or pouring, and two horizontal handles set on the sides for lifting. In size, hydriai correspond to amphorae. There are two distinct types of hydria: one where the neck is set off from the body, called a neck hydria; and the other where the neck and body form a continuous curve.

History: The tall slim version, called a loutrophoros-hydria, a ritual vessel, had a long and early history in Athens, but the more typical variety- the one with the globular body and cylindrical neck- appears to have been borrowed from Corinth in the early sixth century B.C. In Attica a modified version develops in the middle sixth century B.C.; the shoulder becomes progressively flatter, with the neck set off from the body, and this becomes the standard black-figure type. This style lasts into the second quarter of the fifth century B.C.

A related shape, the kalpis, is also commonly used to carry water. Vessels of this shape often appear in vase-painting, usually depicting women drawing water at a fountain-house (but this does not preclude their being used for other purposes). In a representation on the Francois vase (Troilos being pursued by Achilles) a jar of this shape, with its neck set off from the body, is inscribed "hydria". They were also used as cinerary urns, as attested by the cemetery at Hadra, near Alexandria, where many were found containing the ashes of the dead. They were also used as ballot boxes, into which names were placed.

Term: The name hydria is satisfactorily attested for this type of vessel, as is the name kalpis.

• Aristoph. Lys. 327, 358uses the words kalpis and hydria interchangeably; see also Plutarch, Demetrios 53. But no further information is given regarding their forms. About hydria as ballot boxes, see: Xen. Hell. I.7.9; Isoc. 17.33; Korinna, Frag. 4, I.20.

• Amphora
• Loutrophoros
• Kalpis