Thanks to its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the lovely archaeological record of Ancient Greece , and because there is so much of it (some 100,000 vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum) it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society. Little survives, for example, of ancient Greek painting except for what is found on the earthenware in everyday use, so we must trace the development of Greek art through its vestiges on a derivative art form. Nevertheless the shards of pots discarded or buried in the first millennium BC are still the best guide we have to the customary life and mind of the ancient Greeks. The pottery also has wonderful designs, such as the key symbol. Some were beautifully handcrafted, while others were unique and their patterns could not be described.
Aegean styles
See also: Minoan pottery, Minyan ware, Mycenaean pottery, and Sub-Mycenaean potteryDevelopment of Vase Painting
Protogeometric Styles
See also: Protogeometric StyleVases of protogeometrical period (c. 1050-900 BC.) represent the return of craft production after the collapse of the Mycenaean Palace culture and the ensuing Greek dark ages. Indeed, it is one of the few modes of artistic expression besides jewelry in this period since the sculpture, monumental architecture and mural painting of this era are unknown to us. Yet by 1050 BC life in the Greek peninsula seems to have become sufficiently settled to allow a marked improvement in the production of earthenware. The style is confined to the rendering of circles, triangles, wavy lines and arcs, but placed with evident consideration and notable dexterity, probably aided by compass and multiple brush. Attic production was the first to resume and influence the rest of Greece, especially Boeotia, Corinth, the Cyclades (in particular Naxos) and the Ionian colonies in the east Aegean. The site of Lefkandi is one of our most important sources of ceramics from this period where a cache of grave goods has been found giving evidence of a distinctive Euboian protogeometric which lasted into the early 8th century.
Geometric Style
See also: Geometric ArtGeometrical art flourished in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. It was characterized by new motifs, breaking with the iconography of the Minoan and Mycenaean periods: meanders, triangles and other geometrical decoration (from whence the name of the style) as distinct from the predominantly circular figures of the previous style. The best examples we have were grave goods, which often allows us to differentiate Attic, other mainland and island styles since we may assume they were produced in a batch for the sole purpose of burial. However our chronology comes from exported wares found in datable contexts overseas.
With the Early geometrical style (approximately 900-850 BC) one finds only abstract motifs, in what is called the “Black Dipylon” style, which is characterized by an extensive use of black varnish, with the Middle Geometrical (approx. 850-770 BC), figurative decoration makes its appearance: they are initially identical bands of animals (horses, stags, goats, geese, etc.) which alternate with the geometrical bands. In parallel, the decoration becomes complicated and becomes increasingly ornate; the painter feels reluctant to leave empty spaces and fills them with meanders or swastikas. This phase is named horror vacui and will not cease until the end of geometrical period.
In the middle of the century there begin to appear human figures. The best known representations of which are those of the vases found in Dipylon, one of the cemeteries of Athens. The fragments of these large funerary vases show mainly processions of chariots or warriors or of the funerary scenes: πρόθεσις / prothesis (exposure and lamentation of dead) or ἐκφορά / ekphora (transport of the coffin to the cemetery). The bodies are represented in a geometrical way except for the calves, which are rather protuberant. In the case of soldiers, a shield in form of a Diabolo, called “Dipylon shield” because of its characteristic drawing, covers the central part of the body. The legs and the necks of the horses, the wheels of the chariots are represented one beside the other without perspective. The hand of this painter, so called in the absence of signature, is the Dipylon Master, could be identified on several pieces, in particular monumental amphorae.
At the end of the period there appear representations of mythology, probably at the moment when Homer codifies the traditions of Trojan cycle in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Here however, the interpretation constitutes a risk for the modern observer: a confrontation between two warriors can be as well a Homeric duel as a simple combat; a failed boat can represent the shipwreck of Odysseus or any hapless sailor.
Lastly, we have the local schools that appear in Greece. Production of vases was largely the prerogative of Athens - it is well attested that as in the proto-geometrical period, in Corinth, Boeotia, Argos, Crete and Cyclades, the painters and potters were satisfied to follow the Attic style. From about the 8th century BC on, they created their own styles, Argos specializing in the figurative scenes, Crete remaining attached to a more strict abstraction.
Orientalizing Style
See also: Orientalizing PeriodThe orientalizing style was the product of cultural ferment in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean of the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Fostered by trade links with the city-states of Asian Minor the artifacts of the East influenced a highly stylized yet recognizable representational art. Ivories, pottery and metalwork from the Neo-Hittite principalities of northern Syria and Phoenicia found their way to Greece, as did goods from Anatolian Urartu and Phrygia, yet there was little contact with the cultural centers of Egypt or Assyria. The new idiom developed initially in Corinth (as Proto-Corinthian) and later in Athens between circa 725 BC to 625 BC (as Proto-Attic). It was characterized by an expanded vocabulary of motifs: sphinx, griffin, lions, etc, as well as a repertory of non-mythological animals arranged in friezes across the belly of the vase. In these friezes the painter also from now on applies lotuses or palmettes. Depictions of humans were relatively rare; of these we most commonly find figures in silhouette with some incised detail, this was perhaps the origin of the incised silhouette figures of the black-figure period. There is sufficient detail on these figures to allow us to discern a number of different artist’s hands. Geometrical features remained in the style called proto-Corinthian that embraced these orientalizing experiments, yet which co-existed with a conservative sub-geometric style.
The ceramics of Corinth were exported all over Greece, and their technique arrived in Athens, prompting the development of a less markedly eastern idiom there. During this time described as protoattic, the orientalizing motifs appear but the features remain not very realistic. The painters show a preference for the typical scenes of the Geometrical Period, like the procession of chariots. However, they adopt the principle of line drawing to replace the silhouette. In the middle of 7th century BC there appears the black and white style: black figures on a white zone, accompanied by polychromy to render the color of the flesh or clothing. Clay used in Athens was much more orange than that of Corinth, and so did not lend itself as easily to the representation of flesh. Attic Orientalising Painters include the Analatos Painter, the Mesogeia Painter and the Polyphemos Painter.
Crete, and especially the islands of the Cyclades, are characterized by their attraction to the vases known as “plastic”, i.e. whose paunch or collar is moulded in the shape of head of an animal or a man. At Aegina, the most popular form of the plastic vase is the head of the griffin. The Melanesian amphoras, manufactured at Paros, exhibit little knowledge of Corinthian developments. They present a marked taste for the epic composition and a horror vacui, which is expressed in an abundance of swastikas and meanders.
Finally one can identify the last major style of the period, that of Wild Goat Style, allotted traditionally to Rhodes because of an important discovery within the necropolis of Kameiros. In fact, it is widespread over all of Asia Minor, with centers of production at Miletos and Chios. Two forms prevail: oenochoes, which copied bronze models, and dishes, with or without feet. The decoration is organized in superimposed registers in which stylized animals, in particular of feral goats (from whence t
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