Greek Pottery

I will be the first to comment on my knowledge of Greek pottery. “This guy knows nothing!” But that will not stop me from sharing what little I know. After tromping through several museums and archaeological sites I am convinced that what put Greece on the map in the ancient world can be boiled down to two items. And no, they do not include democracy (they coined the term but not the idea) or statuary (early Greek statues were greatly influenced by the Egyptians!). No the two big contributions that put them on the ancient world trade map were olives and pottery. Laws were passed to insure greater olive output as early as the 8th century BC. But their pottery production and expertise were legendary and shipped everywhere throughout the ancient world. The following is a sort of timeline of examples of Greek pottery and its development over the milenia. The terms that describe the pottery are the terms also used to describe the historical periods of Greek culture. Like I said, I know nothing, so these dates are pretty rough and there are several sub-periods within each general period. Take it all with a grain of salt.

Neolithic Period (8500-3000 BC)

Geometric Period (3000-600 BC)



Archaic Period (6th Century BC)



Classical Period (Early 5th Century BC) Black Figure



Classical Period (Early 5th Century BC) Red Figure



White-Ground Lekythoi (Late 5th Century BC)