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# Iron Age rhyton in the form of a pig's head from a burial at Sheikh Zenad, found in 1924
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/riton-sosud-napodobie-roga-vypolnennyi-v-forme-naklonennoi-golovy-zhivotnogo/
- Published: 2019-04-10T13:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:53:37.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Faith, Museums

The rhyton is a vessel like a horn, fashioned in the form of the lowered head of an animal. This rather rare Iron Age rhyton in the shape of a pig's head was found during the building of a road out of Tripoli in 1924, in a rich burial on the territory of Sheikh Zenad, together with other valuable objects. The vessel, with a small opening in its lower part, had to be held in both hands: one gripped the handle, while the other closed the outflow from the lower spout. With the drink in it, this piglet's head weighed more than two kilograms. Had you set out to drink from this rhyton, you would have been obliged to kiss the pig. Rhyta were used not only as drinking vessels but also for ritual purposes, when wine had to be sprinkled on the earth, on an altar or on sacrificial offerings. All the Mediterranean peoples had rhyta, of various forms and materials, not only clay but also metal, and in time they could evolve into the simpler form of the drinking horn.