Usually artisans were interested in portraying an animal’s fierce nature. However, the three lions in the centre of this phiale are shown in a half-crouched position with mouths shut. Filled with wine, the phiale was used either to pour libations to the gods during religious ceremonies or in the symposium as a drinking cup. It had a hollow knob in the middle, like a navel or omphalos, to facilitate pouring.
The lion was a popular motif during the ‘Orientalising’ period (ca 700–600 BCE) when Greek artisans began to imitate and adapt the animals that decorated ivories and textiles from the Ancient Near East, which they obtained through trade.
