Ancient Greek Pottery plays an important role in Greek civilization. It was used for storing wines, wheat, grains and so on. In early Greece (1000 BC to 700 BC) pottery was made with clay, having geometric designs.

Ancient Greek Pottery

The early part of the Greek civilization had Egyptian influences on the designs of their pottery, but the latter half had a strong Athenian influence which included the Greek gods and the goddesses as well as scenes depicting real life.

It included clay which used to turn red when it dried up. The Athenians made the pottery popular by using black and red combinations to make it look beautiful.

Greek Pottery Designs

It was produced in many regions of Greece which Athens and Corinth had produced the finest pottery. Amphora, which is also known as the two handled, tall, storage vessel was used to store wine, oil, honey, and corns. Even container ships used amphora vessels in large numbers but these potteries did have any distinct design or any design for that matter.

Ancient Dipylon Vase

A giant amphora known as Dipylon Vase was used in the tomb of aristocrats and wealthy people, having geometric figures of the deceased family and friends.The vases were sold in the area which was known as Keramikos and it took around one to two drachmas, depending on the design to buy one. Alabastron which was a small vase with a narrow neck and flat, broad mouth was used for storing perfume and oil.

Uses of Greek pottery

For fetching water from the fountains or public places, they used Hydria which had an oval body, with two horizontal handles. Krater was a large bowl which was used for mixing wine and water, commonly used at drinking parties.Now ancient Greek pottery also had a pouring jug which was called Oinochoe which was used in wine parties for pouring purposes.

For storing cosmetics, power, and jewelry, the woman used a box with a lid called Pyxis. The 7th century saw the development of black figures on the vase which was called the Arabic style. Now with the start of the Persian war, the black figures were replaced by red ones.