WHO DRANK FROM NESTOR’S CUP?
Feb 12, 2022
1 minute
—ERIC A. POWELL
he eighth-century B.C. settlement of Pithekoussai on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples was the earliest Greek colony in the western. The clay drinking vessel is inscribed with a short poem that makes a bawdy reference to the aphrodisiacal properties of the legendary cup of the king of Pylos, Nestor. For his part, Homer describes Nestor’s cup as “a beautiful cup…studded with golden nails,” a striking contrast to the modest vessel from Pithekoussai.
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