Rhyta were ritual vessels with two holes, one for filling with liquid and one for its outflow. They were used for offering libations (wine, olive oil) to the gods and are found frequently in sanctuaries and in graves. They were common throughout the Near East and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age, although their shapes vary among regions. Zoomorphic rhyta were particularly popular in Cyprus. Indeed, those in the shape of a bull are considered to be distinctively Cypriot creations (even though they are common in Crete, too). Pig-shaped rhyta, such as the smallest one here, are very rare. All three examples belong to the class of Base-Ring Ware and carry painted linear decoration. The bull was one of the paramount religious symbols of Eastern Mediterranean peoples in the Bronze Age and was linked with fertility as well as with supernatural strength. It frequently assumed the form of major male deities, such as Apis in Egypt, Anu in Mesopotamia, El in Canaan, while in Minoan Crete it developed into a symbol of both religious and royal authority. In Cyprus, the religious connotations of the bull were attested already from the Early Bronze Age, when clay bucrania were placed on top of sanctuary models. They became even more obvious in the Late Bronze Age with the production of several bull rhyta and the adornment of altars with stone or clay bull horns.