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In the 7th Century BC on the northern shores of the Black Sea there lived a barbarian society known as the Thracians who regarded idleness as being noble and agricultural work as being dishonorable and who considered their society's elite to be their horse-riding warriors. Warfare and plundering were the highest acts of the illustrious.
It was during this time that the Greeks came along and began to establish colonies among these people and they discovered an even lower class of cultivators among these Thracians who had produce the Greeks were keen to acquire in exchange for such desirables as wine and gold and silver vessels from which to drink.
It is thought by those who have vivid imaginations that the peasants of the land did all the work while the elite sat back and drank the rewarded wine. This would of course have to preclude the notion that men are fair creatures who would never dream of taking from their fellow men the just fruits of their labors. Only the most primitive of the primitive would indulge in such practices.
And then the Persians came along ... and they too pandered to the Thracian taste for wine in exchange for using Thracian mercenaries in their wars against the Scythians. Wine--it would appear--had great influence upon the warrior people of these Balkan regions ... and it was not long before it became eminently apparent that it might be a tad more convenient ... and even a bit more aristocratic ... if one had a handsome vessel at hand from which to imbibe this heady nectar.
It was to this aim that Rhytons were born ... vessels in the form of animal heads used for imbibing that dizzying refreshment known upon occasion to lower the inhibitions. Gorgeous hollowed containers sculpted to perfection made for filling and drinking in order to facilitate reveling and carousing. How much better could life get? A couple of wars ... some raping and pillaging ...and all was well with the human condition.
I have one such Rhyton folks. Made of gold and formed in the shape of a deer's head ... gleaned from the Thracian hoard found at Pangyurishte in Bulgaria. Wanna see? Once viewed ... you will all give up your morning paper coffee cups and demand ... one and all ... light and sweet in a Rhyton please.
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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