Patera

Use

Libation was a central and vital aspect of ancient Greek religion, and one of the simplest and most common forms of religious practice. It is one of the basic religious acts that define piety in ancient Greece, dating back to the Bronze Age and even prehistoric Greece. Libations were a part of daily life, and the pious might perform them every day in the morning and evening, as well as to begin meals. A libation most often consisted of mixed wine and water, but could also be unmixed wine, honey, oil, water, or milk.

The form of libation called spondē is typically the ritualized pouring of wine from a jug or bowl held in the hand. The most common ritual was to pour the liquid from an oinochoē (wine jug) into a phiale. Libation generally accompanied prayer. The Greeks stood when they prayed, either with their arms uplifted, or in the act of libation with the right arm extended to hold the phiale. After the wine offering was poured from the phiale, the remainder of the contents was drunk by the celebrant.

In Roman art, the libation is shown performed at an altar, mensa (sacrificial meal table), or tripod. It was the simplest form of sacrifice, and could be a sufficient offering by itself. The introductory rite (praefatio) to an animal sacrifice included an incense and wine libation onto a burning altar. Both emperors and divinities are frequently depicted, especially on coins, pouring libations from a patera. Scenes of libation and the patera itself commonly signify the quality of pietas, religious duty or reverence.

Handled pans

In Roman contexts patera is sometimes used for what is normally called a trulla. These are deep round pans with a single flat handle, for cooking and serving food. The Staffordshire Moorlands Pan is an example, although it has lost its handle.

Gallery

File:Phiale Louvre L210.jpg|Octopus and dolphin motifs on a ceramic phiale (510–500 BC, from Eretria, Euboea) File:Apollo black bird AM Delphi 8140.jpg|Cylix of Apollo, who pours a libation (Attic white-ground kylix, c. 460 BC) File:Phiale69.1.jpg|Silver phiale with Amazonomachy (430-420 BC, Vassil Bojkov collection, Sofia, Bulgaria) File:Met, greek, gold phiale, 4-3rd cventury BC 01.JPG|Gold phiale with repoussé bees, acorns, and beechnuts and Greek and Punic inscription (4th–3rd century BC, Met) File:Etruscan - Priest - Walters 541088.jpg|Etruscan priest with phiale (2nd century BC) File:Pátera ibera de Perotito (M.A.N. 1917-39-1) 01.jpg|Silver patera from Hispania (Roman Spain), 2nd–1st century BC) File:State Museum of History of Georgia (Tbilisi Archaeological Museum) 3.jpg|Patera with Marcus Aurelius (Georgia, 2nd century AD) File:RMW - Opfernder Togatus.jpg|Roman priest, capite velato (2nd–3rd century AD) File:State Museum of History of Georgia (Tbilisi Archaeological Museum) 6.jpg|Phiale from eastern Georgia, featuring a bust of a bearded male, no later than 350 AD.

Architecture

In architecture, oval features on plaster friezes on buildings may be called paterae (plural).

References

References

1. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simon_Janashia_Museum_of_Georgia_122.jpg Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia 122.jpg]
2. There is no meaningful distinction between the two terms: Nancy Thompson de Grummond and Erika Simon, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=hQtbJyFCd40C&pg=PA171&dq=patera The Religion of the Etruscans]'' (University of Texas Press, 2006), p. 171; Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HTSeiXqGKBwC&pg=PA239&dq=patera North Pontic Archaeology: Recent Discoveries and Studies]'' (Brill, 2001), p. 239; Rabun Taylor, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rCKm0OnZr0kC&pg=PA104&dq=patera The Moral Mirror of Roman Art]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 104, 269; Rebecca Miller Ammerma, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=sqaKaLkSz94C&pg=PA64&dq=patera The Sanctuary of Santa Venera at Paestum]'' (University of Michigan Press, 2002), pp. 64, 66.
3. ''Patera'' is not to be confused with the Greek ({{Lang. el. Πατέρας) {{Lang. el-Latn. Patéras or Father.
4. Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel, ''Religion in the Ancient Greek City'', translated by Paul Cartledge (Cambridge University Press, 1992, 2002, originally published 1989 in French), p. 28.
5. [[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'' (Harvard University Press, 1985, originally published 1977 in German), pp. 70, 73.
6. [[Hesiod]], ''Works and Days'' 724–726; Zaidman and Pantel, ''Religion in the Ancient Greek City'', p. 39.
7. Zaidman and Pantel, ''Religion in the Ancient Greek City'', p. 40; Burkert, ''Greek Religion,'' pp. 72–73.
8. Zaidman and Pantel, ''Religion in the Ancient Greek City'', p. 40.
9. Burkert, ''Greek Religion'', pp. 70–71.
10. William D. Furley, "Prayers and Hymns," in ''A Companion to Greek Religion'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), p. 127; Jan N. Bremmer, "Greek Normative Animal Sacrifice," p. 138 in the same volume.
11. Zaidman and Pantel, ''Religion in the Ancient Greek City'', p. 40.
12. Katja Moede, "Reliefs, Public and Private," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), pp. 165, 168.
13. Moede, "Reliefs, Public and Private," pp. 165, 168; Nicole Belayche, "Religious Actors in Daily Life: Practices and Related Beliefs," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', p. 280.
14. Jonathan Williams, "Religion and Roman Coins," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', pp. 153–154.
15. John Scheid, "Sacrifices for Gods and Ancestors," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion,'' p. 265.
16. [https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/49791#1 Portable Antiquities Scheme]
17. "Gold phiale (libation bowl)," Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255122 62.11.1]
18. "22, North Street, Ashford, Kent".
19. Calder Loth. (2010-10-05). "Classical comments: the patera". Institute of Classical Architecture & Art.