A man of an ancient time ties his sandals and cinches the belt around
his garment for a tighter fit. He peers into a looking glass and.
satisfied with what he sees. struts off to the local tavern for a
brew. Only your finest, he says slapping down a coin of the realm.
And the tender sweeps the money off the counter and shoots over a
foaming crowned bit of brew contained in a gold rhyton. They didn’t
have Styrofoam cups in them thar days and had to make to with what
they had. When born in primitive times. one must make do with
primitive implements.
Ah but oh. what magnificent primitivitosity we have here. Yeah yeah
yeah. I know. Primitivitosity. You have a better word. pass it on.
Gold rhytons were intricately carved by metal-smiths of the day. Were
it only that I had a dozen of them in my pantry. what a headily
joyous celebration I would have.
The Persians had a stunning array of wealth. Carpets and statues and
thrones and more. Persepolis–City of Persians–was the ceremonial
capital of Persia and held within its coffers more gold artifacts
than were even owned by even Alexander the Great. Until–of
course–he marched in toward the Persian Gates. a formidable rock
formation that protected Persepolis. Alas for the inhabitants. Alex
made it through and decimated the populace.
And then. as is written in The Great Handbook for Imperious Invaders.
Alex strode purposefully into the palaces of the empire and beheld
the richest city under they sun … and then promptly looted the
place bare. It’s what invaders do.
But as is my tendency. I digressed off my targeted path. This is
about rhytons and not Alex or Peresopolis. though if truth be told.
that is where many rhytons were found.
The metal-smiths of the day were extraordinarily talented and rhytons
came in many shapes and forms. each one usually more magnificent that
the one before it. I had trouble finding one that suited me. so I
chose two. The one on the right is what seems to be an ewe and came
from Persepolis and the other is a Thracian Stag. I do not know
exactly from whence it came. Somewhere in Turkey. Somewhere in
Thrace. But they’re both made of gold.
Truth is. if I had to quaff my thirst with a cold brewsky. I would be
hard put to decide which gold vessel to use to with which to tipple.
And yet. does it matter? What matters is that they’re unique. and
different. and not subject to today’s blandness which favors economic
preferences over beauty. Also what matters is that the brewsky be
cold. and with that view in mind. I suspect modernism wins out.
Okay. Finito. You are familiar with the rest. Yes? No? The visit to
the image. also known as the viewing experience. You know where. Home
page. http://www.tyler-adam.com. Scroll down. Left side. Tidbits.
Click. And there for your sensory optic pleasure you will see two
gold rhytons from a time long past.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week.
Benjamin Mark