Thoughts on the Capacities of Goblets and Consumption Practices in Middle Helladic and Early Mycenaean Settlements

Abstract

This article focuses on ceramic goblets found in settlement contexts, using their capacity as a leading criterion for a better understanding of drinking practices and consumption patterns in the MH-LH IIIA1 periods. It compares goblets of various sizes and capacities obtained by calculation methods with other individual open shapes and explores their use within wider ceramic assemblages. In total, the capacities of over one hundred goblets and more than 400 vessels of other shapes have been calculated. I argue that the largest goblets, at least those exceeding three litres in capacity, were certainly shared by several individuals in commensal activities, passing from hand to hand, as was probably the case at small-scale gatherings at Asine in the MH III period. From LH I onwards, this practice may have coexisted with the use of kraters for mixing drinks subsequently distributed in smaller individual drinking vessels, goblets included, among the participants at feasts or ceremonial drinking. The large number of drinking vessels and the wide capacity range of the LH IIB-IIIA1 goblets from the Menelaion of Sparta support this idea. This constitutes a milestone in the development of drinking events, which reached their peak in LH IIIB within the framework of huge feasting ceremonies organized by the Mycenaean palaces.