Tom Joyce's chamber of the bizarre

I just finished Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies,” which I would highly recommend. In a chapter on the development of writing, he made reference to “Nestor’s cup,” which was a clay drinking cup found at the ancient Greek site of Pithekoussai on the island of Ischia in Italy and dates to about 700 B.C. It’s got three lines of Greek verse scratched into it, reading: “I am Nestor’s delicious drinking cup. Whoever drinks from this cup swiftly will the desire of fair-haired Aphrodite seize him.”

It cracks me up that here’s this object of major archaeological significance, which is basically an ancient version of one of those novelty beer mugs that say “DRINK ‘TIL SHE’S HOT!”