Psykter

The psykter, as distinct from other coolers, is a vase which has a mushroom-shaped body, and was produced for only a short period of time during the late-sixth to mid-fifth centuries, with almost all of this type dating to between 520 and 480 BCE.

The fact of its brevity combined with there being a number of simpler methods of cooling wine suggests that this shape was merely a fad.

Although the psykter did have its specific function, nevertheless, it was almost certainly something of a whimsical device, an objet du jour, which will have given the symposion's guests some aesthetic titillation and the host kudos for good taste.

Because the process of cooling wine could be achieved in a number of other ways, none of which required the psykter, its redundancy appears to have quickly made it obsolete.

Whilst neither one is conclusive, the first option is appealing because it does not alter the ancient Greek tradition of wine being mixed in the krater.