The Phoenician practice of adapting Greek drinking vessels (Skyphoi and Kotylai)

Over the past 25 years a lively debate has been going on as to the correct interpretation of the Phoenician / Punic adaptations (also termed ›copies‹) of Greek drinking vessels, in particular the skyphoi and the kotylai. This contribution to the debate brings in new statistical evidence, mainly from excavations in Carthage, leading to five conclusions: 1) these adaptations are mainly a phenomenon of the 7th and first half of the 6th century BCE, 2) they were made for a primarily non-Greek, Phoenician / Punic clientele, 3) they were made by Phoenician / Punic potters and painters, 4) they do not copy Thapsos class or Euboean Late Geometric drinking cups, neither formally nor stylistically, and definitely not contemporarily, and 5) the paces of introduction and varying levels of popularity of skyphos and kotyle adaptations in different Phoenician settlements may be explained by varying levels of access to Greek originals