Bothros

In archaeology, similar items are also referred to by this name and interpreted depending on their context as altars, locations for sacrifice or storage pits.

In the Odyssey, the handmaidens of Nausicaa wash their clothes in one,[1] and at the advice of Circe Odysseus digs one for the offering of libations to the dead in the underworld - first honey and milk, then wine, then water.

[3] Archaeological findings considered to be bothroi are often round or D-shaped, partially lined in a complicated form with stones, and can vary greatly in size and shape.

Important sites include Korakou, Gonia and Zygouries around Corinth, at Asine and in Lerna in the Argolis, in Eutresis and Orchomenos in Boeotia,[4] where so many were found that the excavator spoke of "bothroi levels".

Reflecting its meaning of "recess" or "pit" bothros has been incorporated into the names of species and structures in biological taxonomy which show similar features.