Hera – Pythagorean Cup

Pythagorean Cup – Hera it is hand made Greek souvenir from Samos island.

Tradition says Pythagoras, during water supply works in Samos, around 530b.C., moderated the workers’ wine drinking by inventing the “fair cup”. When the wine surpasses the line, the cup totally empties, so the greedy one is punished.

Pythagorean cup or Pythagoras cup or Greedy Cup – Tantalus cup. (Greek Handmade SOUVENIR) is a form of drinking cup which forces its user to imbibe only in moderation. Credited to Pythagoras of Samos, it allows the user to fill the cup with wine up to a certain level. If the user fills the cup only up to that level he may enjoy his drink in peace. If he exhibits gluttony, however, the cup spills its contents out the bottom (the intention being: onto the lap of the immodest drinker).

Form and function A Pythagorean cup looks like a normal drinking cup, except that the bowl has a central column in it – giving it a shape like a Bundt pan in the center of the cup. The central column of the bowl is positioned directly over the stem of the cup and over the hole at the bottom of the stem. A small, open pipe runs from this hole almost to the top of the central column, where there is an open chamber. The chamber is connected by a second pipe to the bottom of the central column, where a hole in the column exposes the pipe to (the contents of) the bowl of the cup.

When the cup is filled, liquid rises through the second pipe up to the chamber at the top of the central column, following Pascal’s principle of communicating vessels. As long as the level of the liquid does not rise beyond the level of the chamber, the cup functions as normal. If the level rises further however, the liquid spills through the chamber into the first pipe and out the bottom.

Hydrostatic pressure then creates a siphon through the central column causing the entire contents of the cup to be emptied through the hole at the bottom of the stem. It is also sold in some toy stores as a practical joke gift.