Pottery dish, red clay with  black glaze.

Athenian era. Examples of ancient Greek pottery forms: (A) bell krater, (B) lebes, (C) skyphos, (D) aryballos, (E) hydria, (F) volute krater, (G) kantharos, (H) psykter, (I) kylix, (J) stamnos, (K) alabastron, (L) oinochoe, (M) lekythos, and (N) amphora. We may say that not only has Greek pottery given us some of the most distinctive, influential, and beautiful shapes and designs of antiquity but it has also given us a window into the lives, practices, and beliefs of a people long gone and of whom we very often have no contemporary written record. These everyday objects, unlike those other archaeological survivors’ literature, sculpture, and architecture, allow us to feel a little closer to the ordinary people of the ancient world, those who could not afford fine art or precious jewellery but could indulge in possessing a finely made object such as a Greek vase.