The pottery of ancient Greece has provided us with some of the most distinctive pottery shapes and striking decoration from antiquity. This collection begins with the Minoans whose love of the sea and flowing, vibrant forms can be seen on the famous Marine Style askos. In the archaic period geometric designs gained popularity until designers eventually began to experiment with human figures. These would become more and more expressive and detailed with the black-figure style which first appeared in Corinth and then spread across Greece. Finally, the red-figure style added yet more details and greater variety in colours to pottery decoration and saw more ambitious attempts made at achieving depth and perspective. For more on this fascinating subject see Ancient History Encyclopedia’s definition on Greek pottery.

Minoan Pottery

Archaic Pottery

Black-figure Pottery

Red-Figure Pottery

All images were taken by the author and can be found on the Ancient History Encyclopedia website.