Louteria

Vessels probably used for carrying water for bathing or washing, since the name is presumably derived from the Greek word for bath. Louterion also seems to be the ancient name for a laver or washbasin on a pedestal. Today the name is more commonly, although uncertainly, applied to two additional shapes. The first is a large, broad basin featuring a spout and two upright handles. It is primarily an early black-figure shape and is relatively rare. The second shape is known in black- and red-figure but is also rare. It is similar to a lebes gamikos but differs in its spouted rim and high, upright flat handles with looped adjuncts. The latter shape may be connected to funerary rites; it may have held water for an offering to the dead or for the ceremonial bathing of the corpse.