Medicine Bottle.

Handle and half of neck and mouth missing.

Flat base with string marks. Irregular, barrel-shaped body with slightly angular shoulder. Short, thick neck; plain, slightly outturned rim. Originally a strap(?) handle from rim to belly. On lower body, stamped within lozenge: Νικι'ας λυ'κιος ἐπ" «ἐ»γγυ'αι Fine, sandy, micaceous, reddish yellow fabric (7.5YR 7/6); dull red glaze on neck and inside mouth.

The shape of this and the two following bottles is paralleled by three bottles from Egypt stamped Διονυσι'(ου), Διονυσι'ου, and Διονυσι'ου λυ'κ[ιον⟧, respectively (Rowe 1942, no. 16, p. 59, pl. XVIII, and p. 62, said to be from a 3rd-century context; Perdrizet 1921, no. 352, p. 128, pl. CXXVI); a bottle in Beirut stamped Δημε'ας λυ'κιος (Calvet 1982); and a bottle from Mirmeki stamped ⟧αυ'γου λυ'κιον ἐπ" ἐγγυ'ἡἰ (Prouglo 1966, pp. 192--202, figs. 1, 2). Although the epsilon is lacking in the Agora stamp, its last line may tentatively be read as suggested above on analogy with the latter. The inscription seems to confirm that the reason for the stamp was to guarantee the contents. The name Νικι'ας occurs also on medicine bottles of other shapes (IG XIV 2406:4b; Calvet 1982, p. 282; Ephesos IX, ii/ii, O 27, pp. 149, 152, pl. 214) and, according to Virginia Grace, on bottles in the Benaki collection and from the island of Rhodes (Benaki M 3; MS 555--557, 564) naming Νικι'ας τοῦ Θευδο'του. The variant Νεικι'α λυ'κιον is also recorded (IG XIV 2406:4a). Intriguing, but of uncertain relevance, is the fact that Νικι'ας is also the name of a doctor the poet Theokritos knew on Kos in the 3rd century (Idyll 11.2, 5; Idyll 28). Bottles of a somewhat similar shape but with a pointed bottom instead of a flat resting surface have been found at Priene, stamped with the names Isodoros, Proteos, and Charidem[, though without the word λυ'κιον (Priene, pp. 425--426, nos. 93--96, fig. 543); other pots name Krates, Thrasys, Aristeos, Straton, and Kosmos (Calvet 1982, p. 282) but omit the name of the drug. Other purveyors of λυ'κιον known from stamps on terracotta, lead, or copper bottles are Mousaios, Herakleios, Iason, Artemidoros, Klean(thes?), Akestias, Lykias, Simakon, and Alypou (the last perhaps the name of a pharmacist but also the name of a drug) (see IG XIV 2406:1, 2; H. A. Thompson 1948, p. 191; Guarducci 1952; Sjöqvist 1960, p. 82, fig. 15, pl. 20; Prouglo 1966, p. 13, fig. 2; Hershkovitz 1986, no. 1, pp. 47, 50; Smith 1992, p. 166, note 38; Panayotou and Chrysostomou 1993, no. 12, pp. 381--382, figs. 17, 18). For a good discussion of the medicine lykion, its uses, and the containers, see Sjöqvist 1960, pp. 78--83.