Drinking horn
A drinking horn is the
Drinking vessels made from glass, wood, ceramics or metal styled in the shape of drinking horns are also known from antiquity. The ancient Greek term for a drinking horn was simply keras (plural kerata, "horn").[3] To be distinguished from the drinking-horn proper is the rhyton (plural rhyta), a drinking-vessel made in the shape of a horn with an outlet at the pointed end.
Antiquity
Both in the Greek and the Scythian sphere, vessels of clay or metal shaped like horns were used alongside actual horns from an early time. A Late Archaic (ca. 480 BC)
During Classical Antiquity, the Thracians and Scythians in particular were known for their custom of drinking from horns (archaeologically, the Iron Age "Thraco-Cimmerian" horizon). Xenophon's account of his dealings with the Thracian leader Seuthes suggests that drinking horns were integral part of the drinking kata ton Thrakion nomon ("after the Thracian fashion").
The Scythian elite also used horn-shaped rhyta made entirely from precious metal. A notable example is the 5th century BC gold-and-silver rhython in the shape of a
Scythian drinking horns have been found almost exclusively in warrior burials. This has been taken as strongly suggesting an association of the drinking horn with the Scythian cult of kingship and warrior ethos. In the influential interpretation due to M. I. Rostovtzeff (1913), the Scythian ruler received the drinking horn from a deity as a symbol of his investiture. This interpretation is based on a number of depictions of a Scythian warrior drinking from a horn standing or kneeling next to a seated woman.[12] Rolle (1980) interpreted the woman not as a goddess but as a high-ranking Scythian woman performing a ritual office.[13] Krausse (1996) interpreted the same scenes as depicting a marriage ceremony, with the man drinking from the horn as part of an oath ritual comparable to the scenes of Scythian warriors jointly drinking from a horn in an oath of blood brotherhood.[14] The Scythian drinking horns are clearly associated with the consumption of wine.[15]
The drinking horn reached Central Europe with the Iron Age, in the wider context of "Thraco-Cimmerian" cultural transmission. A number of early Celtic (Hallstatt culture) specimens are known, notably the remains of a huge gold-banded horn found at the Hochdorf burial. Krauße (1996) examines the spread of the "fashion" of drinking horns (Trinkhornmode) in prehistoric Europe, assuming it reached the eastern
Julius Caesar has a description of Gaulish use of aurochs drinking horns (cornu urii) in Commentarii de Bello Gallico 6.28:
- „Amplitudo cornuum et figura et species multum a nostrorum boum cornibus differt. Haec studiose conquisita ab labris argento circumcludunt atque in amplissimis epulis pro poculis utuntur.“
- "The [Gaulish] horns in size, shape, and kind are very different from those of our cattle. They are much sought-after, their rim fitted with silver, and they are used at great feasts as drinking vessels."
Migration period
The
Some notable examples of drinking horns of Dark Ages Europe were made of the horns of the Aurochs, the wild ancestor of domestic cattle which became extinct in the 17th century. These horns were carefully dressed up and their edges lipped all round with silver. The remains of a notable example were recovered from the Sutton Hoo burial.[18]
The British Museum also has a fine pair of 6th century Anglo-Saxon drinking horns, made from Aurochs horns with silver-gilt mounts, recovered from the princely burial at Taplow, Buckinghamshire.[19]
Numerous pieces of elaborate drinking equipment have been found in female graves in all pagan Germanic societies, beginning in the Germanic
Viking Age
Drinking horns are attested from Viking Age Scandinavia. In the Prose Edda, Thor drank from a horn that unbeknown to him contained all the seas, and in the process he scared Útgarða-Loki and his kin by managing to drink a conspicuous part of its content. They also feature in Beowulf, and fittings for drinking horns were also found at the Sutton Hoo burial site. Carved horns are mentioned in Guðrúnarkviða II, a poem composed about 1000 AD and preserved in the Poetic Edda:
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Beowulf (493ff.) describes the serving of mead in carved horns.
Horn fragments of Viking Age drinking horns are only rarely preserved, showing that both cattle and goat horns were in use, but the number of decorative metal horn terminals and horn mounts recovered archaeologically show that the drinking horn was much more widespread than the small number of preserved horns would otherwise indicate. Most Viking Age drinking horns were probably from domestic cattle, holding rather less than half a litre. The significantly larger aurochs horns of the Sutton Hoo burial would have been the exception.[24]
Medieval to Early Modern period
Drinking horns were the ceremonial drinking vessel for those of high status all through the medieval period[25] References to drinking horns in medieval literature include the
. The Bayeux Tapestry (1070s) shows a scene of feasting before Harold Godwinson embarks for Normandy. Five figures are depicted as sitting at a table in the upper story of a building, three of them holding drinking horns.Most Norwegian drinking horns preserved from the Middle Ages have ornamented metal mountings, while the horns themselves are smooth and unornamented. Carvings in the horns themselves are also known, but these appear relatively late, and are of a comparative simplicity that classifies them as folk art.[26]
The "Oldenburg horn" was made in 1474/75 by German artisans for
Drinking horns remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Early Modern period. A magnificent drinking horn was made for the showpiece of the Amsterdam Guild of Arquebusiers by Amsterdam jeweller Arent Coster in 1547, now kept in the
In 17th to 18th century Scotland, a distinct type of drinking horn develops. One aurochs drinking horn still preserved in Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It was only produced before guests, and the drinker in using it, twisted his arms round its spines, and turning his mouth towards the right shoulder, was expected to drain it off.[28]
German Renaissance and Baroque horns often were lavishly decorated with silverwork. One such example is depicted in a 1653 painting by Willem Kalf, known as Still Life with Drinking Horn.
Modern period
Lavishly decorated drinking horns in the Baroque style, some imitating cornucopias, some made from ivory, including gold, silver and enamel decorations continued to be produced as luxury items in 19th to early 20th century imperial Austria and Germany.[29]
Also in the 19th century, drinking horns inspired by the Romantic Viking revival were made for German student corps for ritual drinking. In the context of Romanticism, a ceremonial drinking horn with decorations depicting the story of the
Ram or goat drinking horns, known as . During a formal dinner (supra) Georgians propose a toast, led by a toastmaster (tamada) who sets the topic of each round of toasting. Toasts are made with either wine or brandy, toasting with beer is considered an insult.[2]
In
Modern-day
See also
- Blowing horn
- Fairy cup legend
- Cornucopia
- Powder horn
- Qanci
- Rhyton
- Sumbel
- Drink portal
Notes
- ^ "friesmuseum.nl" (in Dutch). friesmuseum.nl. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
- ^ a b "bbc.co.uk". bbc.co.uk. 2003-05-13. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
- ^ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. κέρας "III.3 drinking-horn, "ἐκ τοῦ κέρατος αὖ μοι δὸς πιεῖν" Hermippus 43 [...] "ἐξ ἀργυρέων κεράτων πίνειν" Pindar Fr. 166 [?147] [...] "ἀργυρηλάτοις κέρασι χρυσᾶ στόμια προσβεβλημένοις" Aeschylus Fr. 185 [?170]; "ἐκπιόντι χρύσεον κέρας" Sophocles Fr. 483 [?429]".C.f. Pape (1842), s.v. κέρας.
- ^ redrawn from B. A. Rybakov, Язычество древней Руси ("Paganism of Ancient Rus", 1987, fig. 7).
- ^ Kansas City 30.13 (ARV2, 249, no. 1), Campania.
- ^ upenn.edu, kemsu.ru Archived 2012-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a more detailed survey of drinking Scythian drinking horn types was published by E.V. Vlassova, Skifskij Rog, in: S.L. Solov'ev (ed.), Antichnoe Prichernomor'e. Sbornik statej po klassicheskoy arkheologii (2000) 46-67 (= J. Boardman et al. (eds.) Northern Pontic Antiquities in the State Hermitage Museum, Colloquia Pontica 7 (2001) 71-112).
- ^ Wieland (2013) p. 28 (fn. 18).
- ^ Wieland (2013:28–34).
- ^ Wieland (2013:35–45).
- ^ Wieland (2013:47). The high frequency of such depictions in Crimea is contingent on the "Renaissance" of such stelae in general during the 5th and 4th centuries.
- ^ M. I. Rostovtzeff, Predstavlenie o monarchicheskoy vlasti v Skifii i na Bospore, IAK 49, 1913.
D.S.Raevsky (VDI 1980 (1) 95 f.) proposed a ceremony of sacred marriage between the Scythian ruler and the highest Scythian goddess, Tabiti. A survey of later interpretations is presented in A. Vinogradov, Peterburgskij archeologicheskiy vestnik 6, 1993.
- ^ R. Rolle in: Festschrift K. Raddatz. Beiträge zur Archäologie Nordwestdeutschlands und Mitteleuropas. Materialhefte zur Ur-und Frühgeschichte 16 (1980), 290f.
- ^ D. Krausse, Hochdorf III. Das Trink- und Speiseservice aus dem späthallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Eberdingen-Hochdorf (Kr. Ludwigsburg) (1996), 121. See also: Caspar Meyer, Greco-Scythian Art and the Birth of Eurasia: From Classical Antiquity to Russian Modernity, OUP (2013), 246 (fig. 98b) "Gold relief appliqué showing two Scythians drinking from one drinking horn. From Kul-Oba (Inventory 2, K.12h). Rostoftzeff identified the scene with the Scythian sacred oath described in Herodotus 4.70. Fourth century BC. 5 × 3.7 cm, 28.35 gr." (c.f. , Scythian gold statuette depicting the ritual of brotherhood, "Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine"). Both the "blood brotherhood" and the "seated woman" scene are shown on the 4th-century BC gold diadem from Sakhanovka kurgan, Sakhanovka (Sakhanivka), Zvenyhorodka Raion, Cherkasy Oblast. Christian Ellinghaus, Das Goddiadem aus dem Sachnovka-Kurgan: Ex oriente lux? Zur graeco-skythischen Kunst. Archäologisches Kolloquium Münster, 24.-26. November 1995, Münster : Ugarit-Verlag (1997). Caspar Meyer, Greco-Scythian Art and the Birth of Eurasia: From Classical Antiquity to Russian Modernity, OUP (2013), 294 (fig.120) "Gold sheet diadem with relief decoration from Sakhanovka Kurgan 2, Cherkasy region, Ukraine. 350–300 BC. Length 36.5, height 9.8 cm, 64.58 gr. Kiev, Museum of Historical Treasures."
- ^ based on finds of horns in the context of other wine-related implements, e.g. in Kurgan nr. 13 in Velikaja Znamenka, with a kyathos (dipper), a strainer and a deposit of fourteen wine amphorae. See Wieland (2013:46).
- ISBN 978-90-04-11190-5, pp. 416ff.
- ^ "britishmuseum.org". britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
- ^ R.L.S. Bruce-Mitford, The Sutton Hoo ship burial-1, vol. 3 (London, The British Museum Press, 1983)
- ^ britishmuseum.org; J. Stevens, 'On the remains found in an Anglo-Saxon tumulus at Taplow, Buckinghamshire', Journal of the British Archa-2, 40 (1884), pp. 61-71, plates 1, 11-12
- ^ "In Viking Age cemeteries, the combination of the bucket-container for distribution together with long-handled sieve and drinking horn or cup remains very common..." (Enright, pp. 103-104)
- ^ "ancient-scotland.co.uk". ancient-scotland.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
- ^ Guðrúnarkviða II in Old Norse from «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway. The Second Lay of Guðrun, in the Elder Edda (Morris and Magnusson translation)
- ^ Morris' and Magnusson's translation.
- ISBN 978-0-7099-3242-0, p. 152
- ^ Hagen, p. 243.
- ^ Magerøy, p. 70.
- ^ corpus.cam.ac.uk Archived June 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dwelly’s [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary: Còrn
- ^ [1] Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [2] Archived December 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
References
- Enright, Michael J. Lady With a Mead Cup: Ritual Prophecy and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tène to the Viking Age. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 1996.
- V.I. Evison, Germanic glass drinking horns, Journal of Glass Studies-1, 17 (1975)
- Dirk Krausse, Hochdorf, Bd.3, Das Trinkservice und Speiseservice aus dem späthallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Eberdingen-Hochdorf, Theiss (1996), ISBN 978-3-8062-1278-5.
- Hagen, Ann. A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production and Distribution. Hockwold cum Wilton, Norfolk, UK: Anglo-Saxon Books. 1995.
- Magerøy, Ellen Marie. "Carving: Bone, Horn, and Walrus Tusk" in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia. Phillip Pulsiano et al., eds. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 934. New York: Garland. 1993. pp. 66–71.
- Wieland, Anja, Skythisches Gold in griechischem Stil, Bonn (2013), "Trinkhörner und Rhyta", pp. 25–49.