diff --git a/podman/domain/containers_create.py b/podman/domain/containers_create.py
index 867406a4..b6b1fadd 100644
--- a/podman/domain/containers_create.py
+++ b/podman/domain/containers_create.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("podman.containers")
 
+NAMED_VOLUME_PATTERN = re.compile(r'[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_.-]*')
+
 
 class CreateMixin:  # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
     """Class providing create method for ContainersManager."""
@@ -683,8 +685,21 @@ def parse_host_port(_container_port, _protocol, _host):
                     raise ValueError("'mode' value should be a str")
                 options.append(mode)
 
-            volume = {"Name": key, "Dest": value["bind"], "Options": options}
-            params["volumes"].append(volume)
+            # The Podman API only supports named volumes through the ``volume`` parameter. Directory
+            # mounting needs to happen through the ``mounts`` parameter. Luckily the translation
+            # isn't too complicated so we can just do it for the user if we suspect that the key
+            # isn't a named volume.
+            if NAMED_VOLUME_PATTERN.match(key):
+                volume = {"Name": key, "Dest": value["bind"], "Options": options}
+                params["volumes"].append(volume)
+            else:
+                mount_point = {
+                    "destination": value['bind'],
+                    "options": options,
+                    "source": key,
+                    "type": 'bind',
+                }
+                params["mounts"].append(mount_point)
 
         for item in args.pop("secrets", []):
             if isinstance(item, Secret):
diff --git a/podman/tests/integration/test_container_create.py b/podman/tests/integration/test_container_create.py
index eb5c6f35..45f2f202 100644
--- a/podman/tests/integration/test_container_create.py
+++ b/podman/tests/integration/test_container_create.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def tearUp(self):
         for container in self.containers:
             container.remove(force=True)
 
-    def test_container_volume_mount(self):
+    def test_container_named_volume_mount(self):
         with self.subTest("Check volume mount"):
             volumes = {
                 'test_bind_1': {'bind': '/mnt/vol1', 'mode': 'rw'},
@@ -52,6 +52,33 @@ def test_container_volume_mount(self):
                 for o in other_options:
                     self.assertIn(o, mount.get('Options'))
 
+    def test_container_directory_volume_mount(self):
+        """Test that directories can be mounted with the ``volume`` parameter."""
+        with self.subTest("Check bind mount"):
+            volumes = {
+                "/etc/hosts": dict(bind="/test_ro", mode='ro'),
+                "/etc/hosts": dict(bind="/test_rw", mode='rw'),
+            }
+            container = self.client.containers.create(
+                self.alpine_image, command=["cat", "/test_ro", "/test_rw"], volumes=volumes
+            )
+            container_mounts = container.attrs.get('Mounts', {})
+            self.assertEqual(len(container_mounts), len(volumes))
+
+            self.containers.append(container)
+
+            for directory, mount_spec in volumes.items():
+                self.assertIn(
+                    f"{directory}:{mount_spec['bind']}:{mount_spec['mode']},rprivate,rbind",
+                    container.attrs.get('HostConfig', {}).get('Binds', list()),
+                )
+
+            # check if container can be started and exits with EC == 0
+            container.start()
+            container.wait()
+
+            self.assertEqual(container.attrs.get('State', dict()).get('ExitCode', 256), 0)
+
     def test_container_extra_hosts(self):
         """Test Container Extra hosts"""
         extra_hosts = {"host1 host3": "127.0.0.2", "host2": "127.0.0.3"}