Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Patĕra

（φιάλη.) The broad, flat dish or saucer used by the ancients for drinking and for offering

Greek Φιάλη. (British Museum.)

libations. It had no foot or stem, and thus resembled a large saucer. Among the Romans, one form of patera had a handle, as shown in the second

Roman Patera. (Pompeii.)

illustration. The post-Homeric φιάλη seems to have had a small knob in the centre like an acorn, and was hence called βαλανωτή and καρυωτή (Athen. xi. 502 b). The patera was made of earthenware or metal (gold, silver, bronze). See Calix; Sacrificium; Vas.