I’ve come to the conclusion that the ancient Greeks were both thinkers and drinkers. It wasn’t until a near trademark infringement situation that I realized the Greeks had a plethora of vessels for wine. The Athena (mother) of all wine carrying vessels was the amphora, a large two handled carboy used in shipping large quantities of wine. Next, and slightly smaller, was the crater, a large bowl used to mix the wine with water before drinking. What’s up with that? The kylix, a gallon size wine jug, was used for transporting wine from the crater to the oinochoe, a one handed pitcher. Finally, the smallest of all wine vessels was the cantharos, a two handled cup for drinking the wine.
This leads me to think that there was a vast amount of wine being made, transferred and consumed by the Greeks during this particular era in history. However, I also think that the Greeks were more concerned about quantity than quality, which may say something about Greek wine today. My feeling is that if the ancient Greeks even thought about quality, it was probably only after drinking it in quantity.