An ancient Greek vessel or container, typically made of pottery and shaped like a wineskin, used for storing and serving wine or oil.
From Greek askos (ἀσκός), originally meaning wineskin made of leather. Potters created ceramic versions that mimicked the leather containers, and the shape became iconic in Greek pottery.
The askos is a perfect example of how ancient technology preserves itself in art—once Greeks started making ceramics, they couldn't help but recreate the exact shape of leather wineskins they'd used for generations, giving us a preserved memory of an older technology!
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