In Israel, as in other ancient nations, it was customary to dedicate persons or objects to sacred use by anointing them with oil. Thus Samuel anointed Saul king, as Moses had hallowed the tabernacle and Aaron the high priest before, and Abraham had sanctified Isaac. As we hold it in our hands today, admiring its simple beauty, we are aware of the touch of other hands long ago. Who might have held it when it was new? Were the dreams and emotions that guided their lives so very different from our own? The vessel's graceful unadorned shape appeals as much to the contemporary eye as it did to the culture that created it. Such artifacts, ordinary enough in their own age, connect us in an intimate way with the world of the past. In its presence, the centuries melt away and the imagination sets out on a journey of discovery. - (SP.280)

Antiquities
Ancient Near East