Pottery is key in almost every culture, as a way to create drinking vessels, plates to eat from, vases for flowers, containers for dried goods, and many other functions. As the culture progresses, so does the intricacy and beauty of these clay goods. In the Greek culture, between the 600 - 400 BC range, Greek pottery truly found some of its finest expressions.
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This pottery was not heavily glazed, but instead was done in a style with a brown-red base and dark black figures painted on it, or visa-versa. It then had a light gloss over it to protect those images. These works tell us a lot about the legends of the Greeks as well as their daily life. A large number of the works give details about events in Greek legends and history. Other works portray scenes from famous stories and plays of the time.
One group of pottery, from Attica, often had the signature of the potter on the pieces. This helps to trace the evolution of changes over time and to compare potters to each other.
