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With it’s durable nature, Greek Pottery has been critical in the world’s understanding of the ancient Greek society. Mostly found in the Etruscan Tombs, Greek Vases and Greek Pottery are canvases that paint a portrait of the world of ancient Greece.  While much of ancient Greek art is forever lost, Greek vases offers a glimpse into both the mythology and every day life of ancient Greece.

Starting with the Minoan civilization that existed in Crete, the Minoans made remarkable contributions to Greek way of life; especially, in the crafstmanship of pottery and vases. Minoan potters designed pottery for food gathering and storage. Functional necessity became a vehicle for articistic expression, with the potter looking to nature to  influence the designs that transformed the piece creating art from what was once only a utensil.

As time progressed, Minoan’s created vases in shapes that were used for specialized purposes. For example, the Amphora vase is a wide-bodied vase with a wide mouth and two opposing handles. It was used to carry and store oil, wine and other liquids. Decorated with grass and flowers, and life of the sea, the Minoan’s created the standard for future designs.

During the Protogeometrical Period, Greek vases were adorned with simple designs that consisted mainly of circular patterns. The Geometric style followed with new concepts, building upon the latter with wavy lines and triangles. In the middle of the 11th Century, the first depictions of human figures were seen adorning the Greek vase, and by the end of the artistic era, mythological figures were central to the decorate elements of Greek pottery.

The Orientalizing Style came after trade-links with Asian Minor islands. The rise of human depictions slowed during this time, and the artisan used the Greek vases for depicting lions, griffins and sphinx with lotuses as accents.

Through the Corinthian creation, the Greek black-figure process, artists used iron-rich clay that became reddish-orange at high temperatures. They then sketched the design as an outline, and filled it in with clay. The Greek Pottery would be fired in a kiln at a temperature of around 800 degress Celsius. The pottery would turn a reddish-orange color. Next, the temperature was raised another 150 degrees, and the piece would turn black. Finally, the kiln vents were opened to allow the oxygen to flow, and the pottery would return to the reddish-orange color, but the paint layer remained black.

The Corinthian used these vases to depict animal friezes.  It was the Athenian painters who developed a narrative method, depicting battle scenes, mythology and legends.

Following the black-figure method, the red-figure method was introduced in Athens. Simply, the process is exactly the opposite of the black-figure method. Scenes were applied to the Greek vases, but to unfired pieces after they were dried. The Athenians drew outlines on the pottery or vase with a blunt scrapper. It was erased during the kiln process, but after the contours remained and were filled with a glossy clay slip.

The Greek methods for creating pottery resulted in Greek vases that not only inspire potters and artists, but left the world with a path to the past.