Alabastron

The terms "alabastrum" and "alabastron" refer to the same type of ancient vessel, primarily used for "holding perfumes or oils". In the mystery rite, it's a medical applicator for, pharmakon medicines, subtle difference, those substances were active, and intended to be absorbed by the soft/thin tissues.  

Both words are derived from the Greek word "alábastron". "Alabastron" is the more common spelling in English, while "alabastrum" is the Latin form. 

• Search for Alabastron at British Museum

What Is an Alabastron?

An alabastron (ἀλάβαστρον) is a small vessel used from the Bronze Age through to late antiquity, primarily associated with perfumed oils and ointments. They typically have:

• No handles or sometimes small side lugs for cords.
• Round or pointed bottoms, which means they were stored upright in stands, niches, bags, or slings.
• A narrow neck and opening, often flared or pinched to control pouring or dipping.
• A slender vertical body, sometimes very elegant in shape.

They were made of:

• Alabaster (from which the name derives), a soft stone
• Glass
• Ceramic
• Faience
• Ivory or bone (rare)
• Sometimes even metal, in luxury versions

Plungers or Stoppers?

• Many alabastrons had stoppers, often of wood, wax, cork, leather, or cloth tied with twine. Organic materials rarely survive, which is why they're missing in museums.
• Some glass or ceramic plungers/rods have been found, especially in Hellenistic and Roman contexts. These resemble ancient cosmetic applicators, unguentaria droppers, or medical pipettes.
• The "plunger" might have functioned more like:
  • A dabber (to apply oil/perfume to the skin)
  • A dropper (for precise dosing of a drug or essence)
  • A mixer/stirrer (for shaking or blending thick substances)
  • A ritual tool (e.g. to apply unguents/salves to (or inside) a specific body part in a rite)

But many smaller alabastrons may have just been poured or dabbed directly without an insert.

Did All Have Plungers?

Not all alabastrons had plungers, but many probably did, especially for ritual or high-value contents. The absence in archaeological finds is likely due to:

• Material decay (wood/leather doesn’t last)
• Post-use repurposing
• Museum curation choices (non-integrated items are sometimes stored separately)

What's Probable: plungers were common, and we’ve just lost the record of many.

Were Alabastrons Used Only in Temples or Rites?

Definitely not. But also definitely yes—they were used in both contexts:

Everyday Use

• Used by both men and women for:
  • Applying perfumes
  • Massaging oils before or after bathing
  • Skin treatments, sometimes even medicinal balms
• Found in graves, often as grave goods, which might suggest symbolic value in the afterlife.
• Sometimes carried as part of a toiletry kit.

Sacred / Ceremonial Use

• Strong connections to:
  • Mystery cults (e.g. Eleusinian rites, Dionysian rites)
  • Sexual mystery rituals (which might include applications of aphrodisiacs or hallucinogens)
  • Funerary rituals, especially where perfumed oils were poured or smeared on the body
  • Divine anointing and initiation practices
• Substances associated: opium, henbane, mandrake, myrrh, nard, tyrian purple, resins, even snake venoms

Their small openings suggest careful dispensing, which aligns well with precious or dangerous substances.

What Would the Plunger Be Made From?

Most likely materials:

• Glass – sometimes found with matching alabastrons
• Wood – especially olive, juniper, or cedar (symbolically resonant woods)
• Ivory or bone – rare, elite versions
• Possibly reed (in Egypt, like early kohl applicators)

Length?

• Likely as long as the vessel body, sometimes slightly shorter
• Long enough to reach the bottom, unless the vessel was mostly poured out

Some may have spatulate tips, others rounded, hollow, or dropper-like ends.

No standard length is preserved today because even glass ones often shatter.
Those that survive are usually incomplete or displayed without context.

Use in Sexual Rites?

Alabastrons as devices for applying medicinal substances (or perhaps capturing sexual fluids)

• Mystery cults such as those of Dionysos or Isis combined sex / drugs / music / poetry to achieve the sacred.
• Small-mouthed vessels with ritual association may have:
  • Held semen, menstrual blood, vaginal secretions, or psychoactive anointments
  • Been used on the womb, forehead, genitals, or tongue during rites
• The vessel itself may have had symbolic vaginal associations (fluid capture and containment)
• Some alabastrons may be designed to fit intimately (either phallic plungers or vaginal containers)

This is not mainstream scholarship (in 2025) but is consistent with esoteric interpretations (see LadyBabylon) of oracular rites, especially among Gnostics, Orphics, and Egyptian-influenced initiatory traditions.

DIMENSIONS: Typical Ranges

Feature	Size Range	Notes
a. Rim diameter (outer lip)	2.5 – 6 cm	Wider in ceramic or alabaster vessels; often flared or flat-lipped to allow tying of stoppers or for fingertip dabbing.
b. Mouth opening (internal)	0.3 – 2.5 cm	Narrower for oil/drug control; glass vessels often under 1 cm. Many are just wide enough for a slender rod or dabber.
c. Base bulb (widest body point)	3 – 7 cm	Some squat, some elongated; Hellenistic glass types can taper more extremely.
d. Vessel height	8 – 20+ cm	Small ones under 10 cm for personal use; taller alabasters for funerary or ritual.
e. Plunger length (if full-length)	6 – 18 cm	Estimated based on matching vessel heights. Plunger must reach most of the internal chamber.
f. Plunger width	0.2 – 0.5 cm	Thin enough to enter the mouth; sometimes with slightly wider or spatulate tip.

Notes on Plungers

Most recovered plungers (or rods):

• Are glass, bone, or wood (usually gone)
• Appear slightly shorter than full vessel height, to avoid protrusion
• Are sometimes solid, sometimes hollow (dropper-style)
• Tapered or bulb-tipped ends may help in dabbing or dipping thick unguents

Museum

A note about glass color technology

Real gold is a fundamental element in color glass . The periodic table of elements was conceptualized in a Siberian glass factory. All color glass is a formula of pure elements and sand. Borosilicate and soda lime glass are the two most common base forms. Gold will bring rich amber color, silver will make pearl white to a ghost yellow. Iron = red. Cobalt = blue. Chromium gives you green.

Conclusion and Remaining Open Questions

When considering the alabastron in the context of the mysteries, for sexual rites of applying a medicated salve or ointment (thonasimon or otherwise), to a priestess, to produce the visionary communion drug that is then given to the initiate... (See Breakdown of the Mystery)

Logistics of the rite, with respect to the production of the thonasimon, exactly.

• burning purple plus collection of fluids from (vag) into (alabastron), application from alabastron's plunger to initiate's (rectum/vag, or other?), collection of fluids from (breast) into initiate (somehow?)
• We are unsure what type of alabastron was used in the sexual context of the mystery rite.
  • if inserted to stimulate while capturing fluids - that 3cm rim looks appropriate
    • THOUGHTS: could see extra stimulation being useful for the rite, they certainly are overstimulating the priestess with the music and poems and smoke and drugs and everything. The priestess is a parthenos/virgin, but in pre-christianity that word didn't mean "broken hymen", it meant "fertile but no children".
  • if constant leaking induced by the venoms - that flared rim could work
    • THOUGHTS: if the venoms cause leaking constantly from the skenes glands. then. you wouldn't need to insert the alabastron base into the vag to capture fluids (while stimulating as a dildo). you could use the flared top alabastron then, and simply hold it to the vag to collect what comes leaking out
• It seems clear that the plunger would be the applicator for the burning purple / thonasimon (death-bringing visionary drugs). Not the vessel part of the alabastron.
• It's unclear how the fluids were captured from the priestess, the cupbearer (e.g. to give to the initiate). e.g. from breast, from vag, from both...
• The cup/vag and breast leaking fluids were both used to drug the initiate - Drink one (thonasimon - the storm), and then the other (galene - the calm).
  • Maybe the cup and breast were two different vessels (or different women)?
  • If the alabastron collected "the cup" fluid, how was the breast fluid given to the initiate, directly or via another (or same) vessel?
• Recipe for the thonasimon? Do we have this?

Assumption to check:

• The cupbearer is the priestess, and the cup is both the priestess and a physical cup the initiate drinks from.
• Only one priestess? Or two? (one for both thonasimon / galene; two for each, etc...)