Jar (pelike) with Odysseus and Elpenor Jar (pelike) with Odysseus and Elpenor A pelike was a ceramic container that the Greeks used as storage/transportation for wine and olive oil. As seen in the picture on the right, it had a large belly with thin, open handles. Unlike other transportation jars (like the amphora), a pelike would have a flattened bottom so that it could stand on its own. Pelikes often had one large scene across the belly of the jar with minimal distractions around. This would focus the viewers eyes to the center of the pelike which was often a mythological scene of sorts. This red-figure
Stirrup jar had uncovered them from the Troy VI layer at Troy (destroyed 1250 BC). The handles look like stirrups. The neck between the stirrups is a false one, leading to the synonym "false-necked jar." The real spout projects from the upper flank. There is a mechanical advantage to holding the stirrups and tilting the jar up from the bottom to pour from the side, over turning the flasks with similar stirrups but a real neck nearly upside down to pour. Stirrup jars are made of clay, which in unworked form occurs in beds of particles of a certain size formed from