This study is generalization of the study of Miles[Physica 11D, 1984, pp.309-323]on the resonant motion of a spherical pendulum, which is equivalent to a particle on a spherical container subject to a linear, horizontal excitation. This study covers an arbitrary shape of container and a more general excitation (horizontal but elliptic motion). The averaging method is applied to reduce the governing equations to an autonomous system with cubic nonlinear terms, under the assumption of small amplitude of the container motion. It is shown that both the container shape and the excitation pattern affect the particle dynamics. Under the linear excitation, the anharmonic motion of the particle is possible only for a certain finite range of the parameter a controling the container shape. Stability of the particle"s harmonic motion is also influenced by the excitation pattern; as the excitation trajectory becomes closer to a circle, the particle"s motion has a stronger tendency to become stable and to follow the rotational direction of the excitation. Under a circular excitation, the motion is always stable and circular with the same rotational direction as the excitation. Analogy between the present model and that of the surface wave inside a circular is studied quantitatively.