Happy Greek Orthodox Easter! This was a rather uneventful week, as we only had classes on Monday and Tuesday and were left to enjoy Greek Orthodox Holy Week. Our only organized site visit of the week was a return to the National Archeological Museum, this time for a lecture on pottery by Will Austen.
Pottery is an essential piece of the puzzle of many ancient civilizations because, though it can be broken, it can never be entirely destroyed, allowing us to collect its fragments and put them together to understand the lives of our distant ancestors. Ancient Greek pottery was characterized by the primary use of two colors: reddish-orange and black, both of which were the product of different amounts of iron-oxide contents in the clay itself that, when fired properly, would produce these different colors.
The first major style of ancient Greek pottery, the protogeometric, dates back to the 11th century BCE with the invention and spread of the potter’s wheel. During this time, potters figured out that higher temperatures produced a deeper black color and took advantage of that to decorate their creations. New tools, such as a compass-looking brush, were also introduced during this time and were quickly embraced by artists everywhere who used them to make iconic circles and spiral motifs.
The geometric period, which began in the 9th century BCE, is in turn divided into three stages: early geometric, middle geometric, and late geometric. Early geometric pottery was very linear and used lots of black tones, emulating its protogeometric predecessor. Middle geometric pottery saw more complex linear patterns and the first depictions of animals and humans, though these were still few and far between. It was the late geometric style that fully committed to animal and human representations, opening the gate to pottery as a way of recording contemporary and historical scenes, from funerary traditions and religious rituals to mythological stories and naval battles.
It is said that art imitates life and, as far as we can tell, this was certainly true for ancient pottery. The rise of depictions of human scenes in pottery during the 8th century BCE coincided with the rise of the polis, signaling an increased interest in self-referentiation and perhaps even a sense of communal belonging and social history. During the 7th century BCE, as trade networks across the Mediterranean and beyond were strengthened, influences from the East began showing up in pottery, including certain floral styles and spiral figures. Because there is no recorded history of this time period, one must ask whether visual tradition transformed into oral (and, later, literary) tradition, if the latter preceded the former, or if these two were developing in parallel.
The last phase of ancient Greek pottery is known as the post-geometric style, during which the artist’s individuality and subjectivity were for the first time considered relevant. More artists than ever before, even if still a large minority, signed their names on their pieces and they begin taking creative liberties in their representations of various scenes, including well-known historical or mythological figures (Theseus, for instance, becomes one of the most popular heroes to paint). Technological innovations during this time also resulted in the popularization of red-figure painting, wherein everything but the human or animal figures was painted, a significant contrast to the black-figure style that had reigned supreme up until then.
Truth be told, this might have been the most necessary lecture we have had. I mentioned in a previous post that pottery samples blend together in my mind after a while, so Will’s lecture was key in helping me better understand the peculiarities of not only each pottery style but also the various vases and other artifacts that they made out of clay. I am now much more appreciative of the distinct techniques of each time period and geographical location and though I cannot lie and say that I will be carefully inspecting each pithos I come across, I will definitely look forward to being able to contextualize them.
I spent the rest of the week quietly in Athens, enjoying a respite from the business of the city and catching up with friends and family back in the Americas. My most adventurous journeys of the week included a fun afternoon at the Museum of Illusions, a visit to the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation with Stella, a solo trip to the Temple of Poseidon, only to find out it was closed for the holidays, and a delightful evening and sunset dinner at the top of Mount Lycabettus with Susie! I wrapped it all up with the Easter Church service, an interesting albeit incredibly confusing (I don’t speak Greek, after all) experience that I look forward to digesting and sharing with my fellow Christian friends back on campus.
