Lepesta
λεπάστη
Lepesta (λεπάστη), a wine bowl mentioned by Varro among vasa vinaria. He also says, Ubi erat vinam in mensa positum, aut lepestam aut galeolam aut sinum dicebant; tria enim pro quibus nunc dicimus acratophoron
(Varr. ap. Priscian. 6.714). It was therefore, like the acratophoron, filled with pure wine and placed on the table. He speaks, too (L. L. 5.26, 35), of its being used in Sabine sacred rites to hold wine; and says that it was either of pottery or metal (Varr. ap. Non. 547, 26. See also Arist. Pax, 916, and Ath. 484f.). In these instances it seems to be used as a drinking cup. Its shape may be guessed from its connexion with the word λέπας, a limpet,
a more probable source than λάπτω, to swallow.
It may be noticed that conversely the Latin word for limpet is patella. (Marquardt, Privatleben, 654; Becker-Göll, Gallus, 3.410.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.