Did you know that different styles of Greek ceramics reflect their purpose?
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia! My name is Kelly and today's video is all
about the history and development of ancient Greek pottery. Don't forget,
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Nothing can tell us more about the cultural beliefs, practices and even daily life of the
ancient Greeks than the surviving pottery. Looking between circa 1000 and 400 BCE,
after the age of the Minoans and Mycenaeans, we have tens of thousands of pots and fragments
surviving from this period, and it's just lucky for us that treasure hunters saw no value in
ancient Greek pottery, so it was often left alone when burials or tombs were robbed. Ancient Greek
pottery has survived in many, many distinct forms which all would have had specific functions in the
daily life of Greece, and although these pieces of pottery may be sitting in glass boxes now, in
their heyday they would have been used regularly. Not only have decorations painted on the surviving
pottery given modern day scholars invaluable insight into cultural and religious beliefs,
and practices, but they have been super helpful in determining a chronology for ancient Greece.
So, what did the ancient Greeks use their pottery for? What were they decorated with?
And who were the people who made them? Stick around to find out the answers and much more!
The pottery produced in ancient Greece was for practical use, so once physical
shapes of different types of pottery had been perfected for a particular purpose,
the shape was maintained and copied. Greek pottery was crafted in a bunch of different shapes
and sizes, and all had specific functions and were used in specific circumstances; from the
symposium - which was an all-male drinking party - to domestic uses, storage, transportation
and rituals. Often the intended usage of the pottery was made clear in the decoration.
Here are some examples of the more popular forms of Greek pottery and their specific functions.
Let's start with the amphora, which is one of the most common forms of Greek pottery. They were
produced in a number of shapes and sizes, although they always sported two vertical neck handles.
Amphorae were used for storage and transporting goods, like oil,
wine and olives. They often were accompanied by a lid, but most of these haven't really survived.
This black figure amphora shows Athena in a chariot being drawn by four horses on one side,
and Dionysus with a satyr and a maenad on the other, and dates to circa 540 to 530 BCE.
Sticking to the domestic sphere, we have the alabastron, which is a small vessel used to
store perfumes, often depicted with women on them, they were used by women - frequently being carried
by a string looped around the neck of the vessel. This particular example is a red figure alabastron
with a woman inside her domestic quarters, and dates to between circa 440 and 430 BCE.
Moving to popular types of pottery used primarily in the symposium: first we have the krater,
which is a large open-mouthed vessel used to mix wine and water. There are four different types
of krater: bell, column, calyx and volute, and these specific names are based on their shape.
This krater we have is a column krater, with one side depicting a youth holding an amphora
and a kylix, or drinking cup, and the other side a youth holding a skyphos, or deep drinking cup,
and a fillet or band. This red figure krater has been attributed to the painter known as Mason,
and dates to circa 480 BCE. Of course, once the wine and the water had been mixed, it was poured
into drinking vessels using an oinochoe or jug. There were a bunch of different types of oinochoe
but this one is a red figure terracotta jug, dating to circa 400 BCE. Now that the wine is
finally ready to drink after being mixed in the krater, and is in the oinochoe ready to be poured,
it's time to get your kylix ready. A kylix is a stemmed cup with two horizontal handles,
a stemmed foot, and is used for drinking wine. This particular kylix was made in circa 480 BCE.
It was signed by the potter Hieron and has been attributed to the painter Makron. On the outside
of this red figure kylix, is a full illustration of the symposium or all-male drinking party,
and on the inside, an image known as a 'tondo' shows a maenad and a satyr playing the lyre.
Next, we have a couple of pottery types with specific ritual or ceremonial function,
starting with the lekythos. Lekythoi were the most popular containers for storing oil and perfumes,
and were placed in or or around graves. By the fifth century in Athens, the
white-ground - so-called because it has a white background - cylindrical lekythos, like this one,
was the quintessential funerary vase. Since it was used for funeral and burial purposes,
they were then decorated with related images. This white-ground lekythos from the early 5th century
and attributed to the Vouni Painter, shows a woman and a youth at two graves marked by stelai.
Next, we have the pyxis: the pyxis is essentially a small round box with a lid for holding ceramics
and jewellery. They were often decorated with wedding scenes and may have been given as wedding
gifts, and have also been found at sanctuaries. This particular pyxis from circa 465 BCE,
is a tripod pyxis with its three concave legs, and has been attributed to the Penthesilea Painter.
It has been painted in the white-ground technique and depicts the story of The Judgment of Paris.
Finally, we have a very specific type of amphora worth mentioning, known as the Panathenaic
Prize Amphora. Every four years in Athens, the Panathenaic Games were held and the winners of
the events held during the festival were given a large decorated amphora, filled with olive oil.
Each Panathenaic Prize Amphora had the same decoration of Athena, the patron goddess of
Athens on one side and some type of event on the other. Dating between circa 520 and 500 BCE,
this black-figure Panathenaic Prize Amphora shows a chariot race on the other side, and has been
attributed to the Kleophrades Painter. Of course, there are many, many other types of Greek pottery,
but these are just a small taste into the wide range and styles of ancient Greek pottery.
Where we get the word 'ceramics' from is from the Greek 'keramos' which means 'clay',
and 'kerameikos' which means 'pottery.' The clay used to make Greek pottery was available
all over Greece, but the finest clay was Attic clay with its high volume of iron, giving it
the iconic orange-red colour. Greek pottery was made on the potter's wheel and each part of the
pot - like the foot, the lower and upper body, the neck, and the handles would all be made separately
and then would be joined together later. After the sections were joined with a clay slip, it was put
back on the potter's wheel to smooth the joints and for its final shaping, before being decorated.
The choice of decoration depended on a few things, including what style was popular at the time,
and the type of vessel it was. After it was painted, it would be ready for the kiln,
which was a very precise skill that could literally make or break your vessel.
The vessel would first be oxidised, so it was fired in an oxidised fire with good ventilation.
This step was to make sure the red-orange colour came to the fore. Next, it would be re-fired but
starved for oxygen to ensure the paint, especially the black, darkened in colour. This step was known
as the 'reduction stage.' The third and final firing was once again with plenty of ventilation.
Unlike the form, painters had far more opportunity to exercise their creativity and versatility in
the form of pottery decoration. Since so many examples have survived throughout Greece,
the decoration on Greek pottery can be split into four very broad groups - some of which
have been already mentioned. Proto-geometric, geometric, black-figure and red-figure pottery.
The proto-geometric designs often included precise circles and semi-circles, horizontal
lines in black, and large sections of the vase solely painted in black.
The upright triangular points, which began in the proto-geometric phase, would endure for centuries
and eventually became a staple of the black-figure pottery design. Beginning in Athens but spreading
throughout the wider Greek world, the geometric style began around 900 BCE, and with the circles
and triangular points, geometric style also boasted bold linear designs, elegant long-legged
animals and figures, and vertical line decoration. These figures can all be seen on this geometric
krater from Cyprus, dating to the mid-8th century BCE. Towards the end of the geometric period,
between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, we see the so-called 'Orientalising Style' which became
popular in Corinth more than anywhere else, although Athens did follow the popular trend.
This decoration style saw a greater influence from the Near East through their trade connection and
pottery began to boast stylised plants like palm and lotus, exotic animals like lions, and curved
lines copied from ancient Egyptian and Assyrian pottery. By the end of the 7th century BCE,
the Proto-Corinthian pottery had reached new heights of technique and quality, and it was
with the black stylised figures found on these vessels that black-figure pottery was born.
Although Corinth first produced black-figure pottery, it was the painters of Attica that
excelled above all others and dominated the Greek market for the next 150 years. Black-figure
pottery is exactly what it sounds like; figures painted in black on top of a red background,
although not all figures were painted black, with the skin of women often painted white, and clothes
and accessories painted in purple-red. This style focused more on details like muscles and hair, and
the posture of the figures were given the grace and poise of a person moments before movement
or resting after exertion. One of the most famous examples of black-figure pottery, is the amphora
of Exekias of Achilles and Ajax playing a board game during the Trojan War, made in circa 530 BCE.
In around 530 BCE, the popular black-figure technique was replaced by the red-figure
technique, which would endure as the most popular style of decoration for the next 130 years or so.
Red-figure, which is the exact opposite of black figure - where the background
is black and the figures are red - allowed painters to attempt depicting human figures
more realistically; anatomical detail, diverse facial expressions,
greater detail in clothing, as well as overlapping figures, and depicting
everyday life like education and sports are all characteristic features of red-figure pottery.
It was more often than not, that the potter and the painter were different people,
although it wasn't always the case and there are examples of long-lasting partnerships,
like the potter Ergotimos and painter Kleitias. Some potters, and less frequently painters,
signed their work but most Greek vessels were unsigned. Individual artists have been identified
through the dedication of Professor J.D Beazley in the 20th century, who distinguished more than 500
unsigned artists through careful observation of their individual styles. Beazley's systematic and
comprehensive cataloguing of Greek pottery has been instrumental in the study of its evolution
in techniques, designs and decoration. Painters worked in workshops throughout Greece
and were generally under the supervision of one master potter. Many potters and painters made
a huge number of vessels with some artists being identified with over 200 pieces. A good Greek vase
would have been worth a day's wage and most of the pottery workers would have been paid no more than
any other labourer, although there were certainly some artists who were more in demand than others,
which meant their goods were sold both locally and throughout the wider Mediterranean world.
Sometimes, potters would move to other cities or colonies and they would often
take their regional style with them, based on the comment found on a vase stating "better
than Euphronios could ever have done", it is clear that there was also some rivalry between
artists. Do you have a favourite type of ancient Greek vessel? Which design technique do you like
the most? Let us know down in the comments below! If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it
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