CÀNTARO. — From the Greek π ἀ νϑ α ρ ° ς, a type of drinking cup with a wide opening; it is also used to designate the basin from which water flows in Roman houses or in front of temples. It was placed in the atria of Christian basilicas, protected by a small roof (*tegurium*) supported by columns, and served for the ablutions of the faithful. St. Paulinus of Nola, in the year 397, describes the *càntaro* arranged in the atrium of the Vatican Basilica (CSEL, XXIX, pp. 94-95). In the letter to his friend Severus on the arrangement of basilicas, he repeats that *Cantharus intrantumque manus lavat, amne ministro* (CSEL, XXX, p. 290). A *càntaro* also stood in the atrium of the Basilica of St. Paul, and the inscription placed there by St. Leo the Great (440-61) invited the faithful to wash their hands: *ablue fonte manus* (G. B. De Rossi, *Inscriptiones christianae*, II, 1, Rome 1888, pp. 80-81). An inscription on the *càntaro* of Blera admonishes: *Christiane inva manus et oro*.
Pope Symmachus (498-514) adorned the existing *càntaro* in front of the Vatican Basilica and placed another outside in the field.
In Tebessa in Africa, in the atrium of the Byzantine basilica, the remains of a *càntaro* were discovered, and another was found in Tunisia at Zaghouan. It is known that a *càntaro* was also located in the atrium of the rebuilt Basilica of Hagia Sophia in the time of Justinian. Another is recognized in the mosaic of St. Vitalis in Ravenna, where the Empress Theodora is depicted.
In the Middle Ages, the *càntaro* in front of the Vatican Basilica was replaced by the bronze *pinea*, of which Pietro Mallio and Filippo van Winghe have left descriptions. Two *càntari* still remain in Rome: one in the atrium of the Basilica of St. Cecilia, the other in the cloister of the SS. Quattro Coronati (see ablution).
In many Christian tombstones, the *càntaro* is depicted as the vessel of life, from which doves (souls) drink. Later, the term *càntaro* was also applied to a type of candle holder; hence in the *Liber Pontificalis* we often find the expressions *canthara*, *cereostata*, *fara canthara*, etc. (e.g., *Liber Pontificalis*, I, 173).