Thymiaterion

For the ancient city founded by Hanno the Navigator, see Thymiaterium.

Etruscan bronze thymiaterion (late 6th–early 5th century BCE, Metropolitan Museum, New York

A woman sprinkles incense on a thymiaterion (Roman funerary altar, 2nd century CE, Skulpturensammlung, Dresden))

A thymiaterion (from Ancient Greek: θυμιατήριον from θυμιάειν thymiaein "to smoke"; plural thymiateria) is a type of censer or incense burner, used in the Mediterranean region since antiquity for spiritual and religious purposes and especially in religious ceremonies.

The first attestation of the word in ancient texts is found in Herodotus. Today, the term is used not only for the censers of ancient Greece, from where the term comes, but also to describe the censers of other peoples of the ancient world, such as the Phoenicians and Etruscans.

Thymiateria could take a wide variety of forms, ranging from simple earthenware pots to elaborate carved, wheel-turned or cast items made from clay or bronze.

Various types of thymiateria are still used in the Greek Orthodox rituals in churches, homes, cemeteries etc. They are commonly known also as "livanisteria" (from the word Livanos, incense).

Bibliography

• Morstadt, Bärbel (2007). "Thymiateria als Zeugnisse des Orientalisierungsprozesses im Mittelmeerraum unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der zyprischen Funde" [Thymiateria as evidence of the orientalisation process in the Mediterranean region with special consideration of Cypriot finds]. In Rogge, Sabine (ed.). Begegnungen. Materielle Kulturen auf Zypern bis in die römische Zeit. Münster: Waxmann. pp. 15–37. ISBN 978-3-8309-1922-3.
• Zaccagnino, Cristiana (1998). Il thymiaterion nel mondo greco. Analisi delle fonti, tipologia, impieghi [The thymiaterion in the Greek world. Analysis of sources, typology, uses]. Rom: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider. ISBN 88-8265-009-X.
• Wigand, Karl (1912). "Thymiateria". Bonner Jahrbücher. 122: 1–97. doi:10.11588/bjb.1912.0.60539.