Large open containers used for mixing wine and water during the symposium. In Greek settlements overseas, kraters were also used as containers of the ashes in burials.
The column-krater is the earliest type of krater. It is named after its column-shaped handles and was introduced to Athens from Corinth.
The volute-krater is known in clay from about 570. It takes its name from the form of the handles which spiral into volutes.
The earliest known Athenian clay calyx-krater was made by Exekias (c. 530), who may have invented the shape. The name derives from the handles which resemble the calyx of a flower.
The bell-krater,
named after its bell-shaped body, may haved been invented by the Berlin Painter
at the beginning of the fifth century.
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Athenian
red-figure column-krater ht. 35cm.
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Athenian
red-figure calyx-krater ht. 39.5cm
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Athenian red-figure volute-krater ht. 46.5cm.
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Athenian
red-figure bell-krater ht. 35cm.
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