Greek Civilization: Pottery

This web page discusses the shapes of Greek pottery and their uses.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Ancient Greek Pottery

Some Facts About Clay

Making Pottery in Ancient Greece

Shapes

Quick Index

Pot Styles and Descriptions

More Sites to Look At

Bibliography

Introduction to Ancient Greek Pottery

Clay was a very important part of ancient Greek culture. Back then they did not have glass or plastic to make containers out of. Luckily clay was easy to find in Greece. Once clay is fired it is almost indestructible (unless broken) and also fairly waterproof. These features made clay a perfect material to make containers out of. It was used for big storage containers, buckets, cups, perfume bottles, wine bottles, jewelry boxes, and any other type of container for storing things in. All of these uses made the potters in ancient Greece very busy. Their skills became so refined that they were just as important as the clay itself, although they were often poor people or even slaves.

Some Facts About Clay

Clay is rock that has been weathered and crumbled into dust. When clay is found in its original place it is called 'primary' clay. In the Mediterranean, where Greece is, primary clay is not usually found. Most of it has been moved around by glaciers or just plain erosion. Along the way the clay picks up impurities that color it. This kind of clay is called 'secondary' clay. Different clays with different impurities fire into different colors. For instance, iron in clay makes it turn red when it is fired. This makes it easy for us to figure out where the clay comes from.

Making Pottery in Ancient Greece

Let's follow a potter through the process of making a pot and firing it. The first thing a potter needs is clay. When clay is first dug out of the ground it is full of rocks and shells and other stuff that needs to be removed. To do this the potter mixes the clay with water and lets all the impurities sink to the bottom. This is called levigation or elutriation. This process can be done many times. The more times this is done the smoother clay becomes after it is fired.

The clay is then kneaded by the potter and placed on a wheel. A wheel is a machine that the potter uses to spin the clay and form it into shapes. Once the clay is on the wheel the potter can shape it into any of the many shapes shown below or anything else he desires. The pots were usually made in sections such as the body and feet and spout. Even the body, if it were larger than 30 centimeters, might be made in separate sections and glued together later with a thin watery clay called slip.

After the pot is made then the potter paints it with a very pure black slip (made from the same clay) and a brush. To learn more about the different styles of painting click here.

Greek pottery, unlike today's pottery, was only fired once, but that firing had three stages. After the pottery is stacked inside the kiln our potter can start the first stage. He heats the kiln up to around 800°C with all the vents on the sides open to let air in. This turns the pottery and the paint red all over. Once the kiln reaches 800°C the vents are closed and the temperature is raised to 950°C and then allowed to drop back to 900°C. This turns the pottery and the paint all black. The potter then starts the third and final phase by opening the vents and allowing the kiln to cool all the way down. This last phase leaves the slip black but turns the pottery back to red. This happens because when the clay is given air it turns red, but when the black slip is heated to 950°C it no longer allows air in. So the slipped area stays black while the bare areas stay red.

Shapes

Most Greek pottery was shaped for a particular function or a number of functions. They were used around the house, or for ceremonies, or even entertainment. This web page discusses the shapes of Greek pottery and their uses. If you click on the pictures you will get a more detailed image of the pot.

The Greeks thought of the pots as if they were people, too. They used human terms to describe parts of the pots. For example - handles were called ears and bases were called feet. Today we continue to use some of the terms like mouth, lip, neck, shoulder, and body. The mouth is the opening at the top. The lip is the edge of the pot right around the mouth. Below the lip is the neck. The shoulder is where the neck expands to the size of the body and the body is the main part of the pot.

Quick Index

This is an index of all the styles of pots on this page. Click on one to jump to it or just scroll down to browse them all. The red arrows bring you back to this index. Note: The pictures on this page are not photographs of real Greek pottery, they are drawings to help describe what the shape of the pot looks like.
Note again: Not all of these terms correspond to the ones the Greeks actually used, but they are the words used by modern art historians.

Alabastron
Amphora
Aryballos
Hydra
Krater
Kylix
Lekythos
Oinochoe
Pyxis
Stamnos

Pot Styles and Descriptions

Alabastron

This is a small vase for perfume or oil. It had a broad flat mouth, a narrow neck, and a thinly made body. A dipstick was used to get the contents out.

Amphora

Meaning to carry on both sides. They always have two vertical handles, a wide body, and a narrow neck. They come in all sizes and some even have lids. They were used to store and transport liquids, like water and wine, and solids, like grain and olives.

Aryballos

This type of pot was used by athletes to hold oil. Each athlete most likely had his personal Aryballos. It was typically drawn suspended from the athlete's wrist. It is ball shaped and has one or two handles. Some are shaped like a head, an animal, or a bird.

Hydria

The name Hydria is from the word hydor or 'water'. A hydria was used to fetch water. They usually have oval bodies, two horizontal handles, and one vertical handle.

Kraters

The name Krater is taken from a word meaning 'mix'. The pot was a large bowl used for mixing water and wine. Wine was then ladled into cups from the Krater. This type of pot was probably common at drinking parties.

Kylix

A Kylix is a large wine cup with a shallow bowl. It has two horizontal handles. Attaching the bowl to the foot is a high stem.

Lekythos

This is an oil bottle. The name Lekythos is used conventionally to describe a pot that has a tall and squat shape, a foot, a single vertical handle, a narrow neck, and a small mouth.

Oinochoe

This pot's name means 'wine-pourer'. This jug was used to pour wine. It usually had one handle along its side.

Pyxis

These boxes are round like a cylinder. They usually have lids. They where used to store toiletries such as cosmetics, powder, or even jewelry.

Stamnos

This name is usually used to describe a pot that is used for storing and mixing. It has two small horizontal handles on its side. The body is rather round and it has a short neck.

More Sites to Look At

Pottery and Time

Page design: Darin Glatt
November 1996