Dinos

A dinos is a large, deep round-bottom bowl that curves into a wide, open mouth, used for mixing wine. Some may be provided with a high stand, which may be elaborately turned. Many metal examples of dinoi, in addition to terracotta, are preserved, either in one piece with their tripod or separate from it. Probably these metal bowls were used in cooking, whereas the terracotta ones served for mixing wine, much like a krater. Vessels of this shape are depicted in vase-paintings, both as prizes given at games and as serving bowls for wine in banquet scenes. The shape occurs in pottery from the middle of the seventh century until the late fifth century B.C.

Literary evidence also shows use of the term lebes, so the name can be confidently applied to vessels of this shape. On a fragment from a vase found on the Acropolis is a tripod with a bowl inscribed "lebes". The name dinos is frequently used by modern scholars to describe vessels of this shape, but the only ancient literary evidence regarding the name seems to indicate that the dinos was a kind of drinking cup.