Lekythion

The lekythion also has a catalectic form known as the ithyphallic, of which the pattern is – u – u – x.

In Euripides and Aristophanes

The term lēkythion literally means "small oil-flask" (from ληκύθιον, the diminutive form of λήκυθος, lēkythos). The term was coined in reference to a passage in the comedy The Frogs by Aristophanes, in which the two poets Aeschylus and Euripides are engaged in a comic debate criticizing each other's works. Aeschylus makes Euripides recite the beginnings of seven of his tragic prologues (all in iambic trimeter), each time interrupting him and interjecting the same phrase "... lost his little oil flask" (ληκύθιον ἀπώλεσεν), wherever the verse offers an opportunity, which is frequently the case because of Euripides' propensity to use a metric caesura after the first five syllables.

Below, as an example, is one of the original passages of Euripides (from the prologue of Iphigenia in Tauris):

Πέλοψ ὁ Ταντάλειος ἐς Πῖσαν μολὼν

θοαῖσιν ἵπποις Οἰνομάου γαμεῖ κόρην.

Pélops ho Tantáleios es Pîsan molṑn

thoaîsin híppois Oinomáou gameî kórēn.

— — u — | u — u — | — — u —

u — u — | — — u — | u — u —

("Pelops, son of Tantalus, coming to Pisa

with swift horses, married Oenomaus' daughter.")

Aristophanes' parody, as it occurs in the Frogs, is as follows:

"Πέλοψ ὁ Ταντάλειος ἐς Πῖσαν μολὼν

"θοαῖσιν ἵπποις" – "ληκύθιον ἀπώλεσεν"

"Pélops ho Tantáleios es Pîsan molṑn

thoaîsin híppois" – "lēkúthion apṓlesen"

— — u — | u — u — | — — u —

u — u — | — — u uu | u — u —

("Pelops, son of Tantalus, coming to Pisa

with swift horses" – "lost his little oil flask.")

The shape of flask indicated by the word lekythion has been debated by scholars, but it is believed by many that the lekythion was probably the small round flask known to modern scholars (although not to ancient writers) as the aryballos.

The point of the seven times repeated joke has also been much debated, but the majority of scholars believe that as well as poking fun at the style of Euripides' prologues, there is probably a sexual innuendo, giving the meaning "became impotent", "lost his testicles" etc.