Since 18th century 'vasemania', the allure of Ancient Greek pottery, relatively available and affordable, has been strong for collectors of antiquities. The notion of 'Ancient Greek' and indeed 'pottery' can however be tricky to pin down. For the purposes of collecting it can generally be defined as the ceramic vessels and dishes of Greek-identified and some Greek-influenced cultures from about the 9th to 1st century BCE. Sometimes called 'vases' they include: storage, transport and mixing vessels; jugs, cups, plates; containers for cosmetics and funerary urns; their shapes mostly named in modern times following certain conventions. There are also relief and figurative 'plastic' vases. Here we introduce the timeline, categories and terminology that may be of interest to the beginner for further research, for which there is a wealth of source material.
Timeline (variable) of historical phases
Minoan Bronze Age (c. 2800 to 1100 BCE)
Mycenaean Bronze Age (c. 1750 to the Late Bronze Age collapse c. 1050 BCE)
Greek Dark Ages (c. 1100 to 800 BCE) Also known as Iron Age or Homeric Age, being the period later referred back to in the Iliad and Odyssey.
Archaic Period (c. 800, the development of the city-state polis to 480 BCE, the 2nd Persian invasion of Greece) The Greek alphabet was developed in this period.
Classical Greece (c. 480 to the death of Alexander the Great 323 BCE)
Hellenistic Period (323 BCE to 31 BCE, when the Roman Republic's gradual takeover was complete with the defeat of hellenic Egypt)
Aegean forerunners of Ancient Greek pottery
Minoan (c. 2800 to 1100 BCE)
Minoan was an early Bronze Age civilisation centred in Crete producing hand-made pottery including the early and distinctive Vasiliki Ware, which mimicked stone vessels (Ede, 1976, p2). The potter's wheel arrived in early 2nd millenium BCE. 'Palace' culture developed at eg. Knossos with pottery such as the finely made Kamares Ware and Late Minoan massive pots with highly formalised decoration and motifs including the 'Marine style' depicting naturalistic sea creatures. (Nicholson, 1965, p18-19)
Mycenaean (c. 1750 to 1050 BCE)
Mycenaean was a mainland Late Bronze Age early Greek-speaking and writing civilisation that flourished in particular c. 1550 BCE, influenced by Minoan culture then taking over Crete c. 1450 BCE. Mycenaean pottery derives from Minoan and "The output of the Mycenaeans was very extensive and their pottery has been found all over the Mediterranean ..." (Nicholson, 1965, p20).
Popular new types included the stirrup jar and three-handled storage jars. Pieces were mostly small and decoration was less lively than Minoan originals. The human figure first appears, but eventually decoration was only in simple linear patterns. (Ede, 1976, p2)
Proto-geometric (c. 1025 to 900 BCE)
The Greek Dark Ages followed the wider Late Bronze Age Collapse. Historians argue about the causes of this period of societal and cultural decline. Gradually however, Sub-Mycenaean pottery evolved into a new style of monochrome pottery we call Proto-geometric. It was centred around Athens (Attica) and also produced in central Greece with simple abstract decoration, often as broad bands and concentric circles or semi-circles. "Forms become simpler and more practical than those of the earlier cultures". (Nicholson, 1965, p21)
Ancient Greek 'vase-painting'
Geometric (c. 900 to 700 BCE)
The leading centre of production was Athens ... but Geometric pottery was also produced in many other towns in mainland Greece, on the islands and on the coast of Asia Minor.
Ede, Charles, Collecting Antiquities - An Introductory Guide, JM Dent & Sons, London, 1976, p3
From c. 900 BCE, the Geometric period saw pottery quite different from Mycenaean with slimmer shapes, longer necks and handles attached to the neck and shoulders rather than the bowl, mostly biscuit background with black or brown decoration. Characteristic motifs included the hatched meander, zigzag, triangle and swastika. New shapes emerged such as the pyxis and skyphos. (Nicholson, 1965, p21)
Gradually increasing in complexity, decoration by the end of the period covered most of the surface with the pot divided into zones to emphasise form.
By the Late Geometric period (c. 750-650 BCE), stylised human figures and animals in silhouette were included, though in such a way as to form patterns, rather than naturalistic depictions. (Ede, 1976, p3).
Corinth: orientalising & black-figure (c. 725 to 550 BCE)
Entering into the Greek Archaic Period and the development of Greek city-states or poleis, influences from eastern civilisations such as Syrian, Phoenician and Assyrian led to what is known as the Orientalising Period, led by Corinth, where eastern motifs took over from the strictly 'geometric' designs.
The strict mathematical designs of the Geometric era were supplanted by curves, and there is widespread use of Eastern motifs such as palmettes, volutes, spiral hooks and lotus flowers. The 'animal style', for which Corinth is most celebrated, emerged and took the form of horizontal friezes of deer, lions, boars, cocks, eagles, and other birds and beasts, chasing each other, grazing or in confronted groups.'
Nicholson, Felicity, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Pottery and Small Terracottas, The Folio Society, London, 1965, p25.
Corinth was also the intial hub for the black-figure vase-painting innovation from c. 675 BCE, which became the accepted pottery all over the Greek world. It involved painting the figures in silhouette with a slip that turned black during firing, through which delicate detail and contours are incised, which could be highlighted with opaque red and white. The background was left the colour of the clay.
Pieces were small, and favoured forms included piriform aryballos and skyphos. The olpe was introduced and full 'animal style' decoration included other borrowed eastern subjects such as full-face panthers, sphinx and griffin (Ede, 1976, p8).
Corinth as the leading pottery centre and international exporter was on the wane by the mid 6th century BCE, when Athens was ready to take over as the dominant force.
Athens: black-figure, red-figure & white-ground (c. 600 to 404 BCE)
Athens became the leading Greek city-state or polis in the 6th century BCE.
The products of Attic workshops during the sixth and fifth centuries BC, which represent the supreme achievement of the Greek potters, fall into two categories, black-figure and red-figure.
Ede, Charles, Collecting Antiquities - An Introductory Guide, JM Dent & Sons, London, 1976, p 13
Initially Attic black-figure followed Corinthian influence, but an Attic style had emerged by c. 560 BCE when the human figure predominated, rather than the 'animal style', although undecorated pieces of fine quality were also produced (Nicholson, 1965, p28).
Red-figure Ware was developed from c. 530-300 BCE, a technique, in which detail could be painted rather than incised, allowing the painter more freedom. This introduction of this technique is often attributed to Andokides, an Attic vase-painter, who sometimes signed his work. The background was painted black and the design was left in the natural colour of the clay. The detail was brush-painted in various dilutions of black allowing a greater variety of tone. The technique was refined and developed over two centuries.
The Attic White-ground style appeared c. 450 BCE, with detail outlined in black or red on a white slip background. These pieces were generally only for funerary purposes but were liable to flaking, so few survive well. (Ede, 1976, p14)
In 404 BCE the defeat of Athens by Sparta devastated their export markets, and the final phase of Attic red-figure pottery saw Kerch style, with much added colour along with relief and plastic vases usually based on the human figure (Ede, 1976, p14).
Attic styles and techniques however continued around the Greek world, into and throughout Classical Antiquity.
Imagery in 'vase-painting'
Imagery in the 'vase-painting' tradition included scenes from daily life, warfare, social activities and rituals. They also included scenes from mythology and representations of gods and heroes.
Nicholson (1965, p22) suggests that the introduction of figurative silhouettes in the Late Geometric may have been inspired by the Homeric legends. Mythological scenes were a feature in both black and red-figure, Heracles being a favourite character - as above.
Rambo (1922), with reference to pieces in the Penn Museum, discusses the notion of 'illustration' and the development of a 'pictographic system' in the golden age of vase-painting inspired by Greek myths and legends.
Walters (1905, vol I, p378) points out the difficulty of ascribing mythological meaning to what could equally be everyday scenes and suggests " ... it is probable that in many cases the intention was just to produce a sort of parable or idealised picture of events of ordinary life, in order to add more interest to a theme."
Inscriptions
Greek pottery was produced in workshops, with painting and potting as separate skills. A few painters and potters signed their vases, both Corinthian and Attic, the earliest being from early 7th century BCE. Other vases have descriptive inscriptions referring to the designs and even owners' names and dedications. These inscriptions were expressed in a variety of ways and provide their own interesting area of study (Walters, 1905, vol I, p378). Most vases however were not inscribed.
Met Museum NY online collection, no. 10.210.18
Greek colonies of southern Italy - Magna Graecia
During the Archaic period in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, areas around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea were colonised by Greeks, including along the coasts of southern Italy and Sicily, later referred to by the Romans as Magna Graecia. These Greeks would have mixed and worked with resident Italic peoples, bringing their culture, language and Greek identity with them.
The colonies became important centres of trade and industry with their own city-states, at first relying on importing their decorated pottery from the homeland, but from mid-5th century BCE producing their own extensive Attic-style painted vases, mostly red-figure, establishing local schools with considerable output.
There are five main groups of schools: Lucanian, Sicilian, Campanian, Paestan and Apulian, which by the 4th century were developing their own styles with the usual Greek shapes and scenes associated with mythology and everyday life.
South Italian pottery was essentially a 'red-figure' ware ..., and was effective and lavish in style, the free use of white, purple and yellow as accessory colours being one of its characteristics ... The most popular subjects for decoration are Dionysiac and funerary groups, Eros attending women at their toilet, youths conversing, female heads and theatrical scenes. The latter can be tragic - prompted no doubt by the contemporary revival of the plays of Euripides - or based on the broad comedy of the Phlyax plays."
Nicholson, Felicity, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Pottery and Small Terracottas, The Folio Society, London, 1965, p31
One of the notable southern Italian types was Gnathian Ware, named after an Apulian site although produced in several places, decorated with white, ochre and red pigment applied directly onto the glazed surface, often with incised additions. Gnathian Ware was widely traded and production continued into the Hellenistic Period.
From the 3rd century BCE the Roman Republic gradually annexed the city-states of Magna Graecia.
East Greek
Potters from eastern Greek settlements along the coast of Asia Minor and eastern islands such as Rhodes, produced considerable amounts of Geometric pottery, following on from Corinth with Orientalising Ware from the 7th century BCE (Ede, 1976, p8).
The East Greek style was careless and free, and is commonly known as 'wild goat' since this is the animal most often shown ... Never a very prominent centre, in the 6th century East Greek vase painting died out.
Nicholson, Felicity, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Pottery and Small Terracottas, The Folio Society, London, 1965, p31
Hellenistic Period
Following the time of Alexander the Great and the Macedonians, who adopted Greek culture, took over Greece and then conquered and effectively 'hellenised' Ptolemaic Egypt and the Near Eastern world as far as Gandhara (Afghanistan), " ... Greece lost her separate entity and became part of a large Empire. The cultural centres changed from Athens, to Alexandria, Pergamon, Ephesus and Rhodes." Nicholson, 1965, p33.
The rulers of these independent kingdoms had their own royal palaces and cities to decorate.
The most important changes in the pottery of Greece during the Hellenistic period involved a desire to emulate the luxury of the new ruling class, a trend toward baroque detail, and a contrasting tendency toward simpler decoration. The red-figure technique of vase painting of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.E. largely gave way to new techniques and styles, such as mould-made relief pottery ...
Megaria (Aegean), Calene (Campania) and Pergamene (Asia Minor) Ware are the three main types of mould-made relief pottery from this post-Alexander hellenic world. West Slope Ware (lots of which was found on the west slope of the Acropolis), was simply decorated and appeared to imitate metalware, a common approach in the ancient world. Production of painted Gnathian Ware (Apulia) continued into this period.
Plastic vases
'Plastic' refers to vessels that are figurative in shape: mythological, human, animal or plant, moulded or mould-made. " ... the idea of associating the vase form and the human form is a very old one." (Walters, 1905, vol I, p491). They were popular, on and off, throughout the ages, early on under eastern influence in East Greece, Corinth and Rhodes, later in Athens, Etruria and the southern Italian colonies, on into the Hellenistic Period, often with the same technique as other vases eg. Attic red-figure.
In southern Italy "With the decay of painted decoration the plastic element gradually predominates more and more, until the vase form becomes, so to speak, purely accidental." Walters, 1905, vol I, p494.
Although plastic vase shapes do not represent our notion of a traditional pot or vase, their utilitarian purpose as vessels puts them firmly in the category of pottery.
East Greek plastic alabastron of a female figure of the Aphrodite Group type, c. 550-525 BCE.
Greek-influenced
Etruscan (c. 750 BCE to Roman Republic assimilation 3rd century BCE)
Parts of the Mediterranean that were outside self-identified Greek societies were at different times influenced by Greek material culture and traded Greek pottery.
Etruria however took this to another level, eventually setting up its own workshops and markets for Greek-style pottery. Its pottery therefore could legitimately fall within the Ancient Greek category. It is certainly often grouped as such.
Following on from their Iron Age Italic ancestors of the Villanovan culture (c. 1000-750 BCE), the Etruscan civilisation dominated its region in central Italy until assimilated into the Roman Republic. It was a complex, prosperous culture with its own city-states.
As well as improving earlier Impasto (a coarse clay containing stone or mineral chips), Etruscans' principal and highly successful indigenous pottery was Bucchero Ware, initially imitating bronze vessels, fired with a lack of oxygen leading to a black, glossy surface, stylistically developed from c. 700-525 BCE.
Examples of Etruscan red impasto oinochoe (Caeretan c. 625-600 BCE) and bucchero kantharos (c. 625-550 BCE):
Greek colonies arrived further south in Italy from 8th century BCE and Etruscan material culture in general was heavily influenced by their Greek colonial neighbours.
The arrival of the Greeks introduced influential new styles by both objects imported and the presence of craftsmen, some of whom worked in Etruria itself. The only competing style was that of the Phoencians, whose influence was profound but relatively short-lived ... From the eighth century down through the Hellenistic period, to the rise of Rome, Etruscan art otherwise echoed Greek art.
Boardman, John (ed), The Oxford History of Classical Art, Oxford University Press, 1993, p349
Early on, Etruscans imitated Corinthian pottery forms in the orientalising 'animal style'. Then from c 575 to 300 BCE, Attic black-figure (with an early Etruscan form known as Pontic Ware) and red-figure became the main types. Etruscan red-figure pottery did not however match the quality of the Attic equivalents (Ede, 1976, p29).
Bonfante (1986, p155) considers that, in contrast to the native Bucchero pottery, painted vases are the least successful feature of Etruscan art, it being difficult to compete for a variety of reasons with their Attic counterparts. This does not reflect on Etruscan art in general however, as they were highly proficient in other art forms including jewellery, bronzes and figurative sculpture in terracotta.
Cypriot - Classical Period
From the earliest times, influences on Ancient Cypriot pottery were many and varied.
Cyprus, located in the eastern Mediterranean, sat on the crossroads of the major empires and cultures of the ancient world, including Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Anatolia. In spite of the influence of its neighbours and the time it spent under Assyrian, Egyptian and Persian rule, it retained its own distinctive style.
From the late 5th century BCE however, with political alliances, Greek influence was apparent in Cypriot art in general, though maybe less so in pottery.
... Cypriot pottery shows a certain independence maintained by local craftsmen on the island. But the large quantities of Greek pottery that have been found in tombs at Marion, Amathus, and Salamis most likely indicate that a number of Greek potters and painters also were working on Cyprus during this time.
Online essay: Classical Cyprus (ca. 480–ca. 310 B.C.), Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007
Not Ancient Greek pottery
Daunian
Daunian pottery often appears under the Ancient Greek umbrella for convenience, being contemporary and in close proximity to Magna Graecia. It is not however Greek.
The Daunians were an Iron Age people centred in northern Apulia (Italy), who had likely migrated from Illyria (Croatia) at the end of the Bronze Age. They remained culturally linked to this probable Adriatic origin, different to their Italic neighbours, and to the Greeks of Magna Graecia, including in their distinctive pottery.
Unlike other Italic societies of this period, the Daunians appear to have remained reasonably unaffected by Greek and wider Mediterranean influence, suggesting the Iron Age inhabitants of the region retained a strong ethnic identity.
Norman, C. (2011) Abstract for ‘The Tribal Tattooing of Daunian Women’, European Journal of Archaeology, 14 (1–2), pp. 133–157. doi:10.1179/146195711798369328 - abstract
Terracotta figurines or 'terracottas'
Terracotta figurines and sculptures were made throughout the timespan of Ancient Greece and its circle of influence, with their own drivers, purposes and traditions. Despite being pottery in the sense of being made from clay, they are not vessels and so do not usually fall under the pottery category for the purposes of collecting. This is generally the case for other ancient cultures too. They tend rather to be called 'terracottas'.
Oil lamps
Terracotta oil lamps are of course pottery vessels, but for the purposes of collecting, they are usually classified separately.
Bibilography, references and further information:
Boardman, J. (1993) The Oxford History of Classical Art, Oxford University Press
Bonfante, L. (ed) (1986), Etruscan Life and Afterlife - A Handbook of Etruscan Studies, Wayne State University Press, Detroit
Bothmer, D. Von, (1972 rev. 1987), Greek Vase Painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cartwright, M. (2017, February 06). Villanovan Culture. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Villanovan_Culture/
Ede, C. (1976), Collecting Antiquities - An Introductory Guide, JM Dent & Sons, London
Gisela M.A. et al (1935) Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Higgins, R.A. (1967) Greek Terracottas, Methuen & Co Ltd, London
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: The Met Collection
Nicholson, F. (1965), Greek, Etruscan and Roman Pottery and Small Terracottas, The Folio Society, London
Noble, J.V. (1966), The Techniques of Painted Attic Pottery, Faber and Faber, London
Norman, C. (2011) Abstract for ‘The Tribal Tattooing of Daunian Women’, European Journal of Archaeology, 14 (1–2), pp. 133–157. doi:10.1179/146195711798369328 - abstract
Rambo, E.F. (1922) "Stories on Greek Vases." The Museum Journal XIII, no. 1 (March, 1922): 79-86. Accessed January 09, 2025. https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/986/
Trentin S. et al, (2018), Hellenistic Pottery, Department of Classics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Retrieved Jan 2024 from https://www.colorado.edu/classics/2018/06/14/hellenistic-pottery
Vickers, M. (1999), Ancient Greek Pottery, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ISBN: 1854441140
Walters, H.B. (1905), History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan and Roman, based on the work of Samuel Birth. Volume I, John Murray, London
Walters, H.B. (1905), History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan and Roman, based on the work of Samuel Birth. Volume II, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
Hemingway, C (Oct 2002), Minoan Crete, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, online essay
Online essay, (July 2007): Classical Cyprus (ca. 480–ca. 310 B.C.), Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Online essay (Oct 2002), Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Greek city states: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/greek-city-states/
