Nestor's Cup

Nestor's Cup

The "Cup of Nestor" was unearthed in Grave Circle A, Shaft Grave IV in Mycenae, and was named by Heinrich Schliemann who led the excavations in 1876.

He named it "The Cup of Nestor" because it bare resemblance to a cup described by Homer in the Iliad:

"And there in the midst the midst the grand, glowing cup the old king brought from home, studded with golden nails, fitted with handles, four all told and two doves perched on each, heads bending to drink and made of solid gold ad twin supports ran down to form the base. An average man would strain to lift it off the table when it was full, but Nestor, old as he was, could hoist it up with ease." -- (Homer, The Iliad, 317).

Gold; 14.5 cm tall, Mid-16th c. BCE. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece.