Artifact Exploration: Greek Vases

Welcome to Artifact Explorations with the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Today we're going to talk about Greek vases. Some of the most instantly recognizable artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean are Greek vases. As we explored in ancient Egypt, some of the most commonly and abundantly found artifacts on almost any excavation are those made from ceramics. This is because of the nature of ceramics. After it's fired, it retains its shape even when broken, and it doesn't biodegrade like other natural materials like fiber or wood. Greek vases come in many shapes and sizes, and we are going to explore some of them today, along with two of the most popular design styles from ancient Athens. Let's start with some shapes. We often lump all of these together and call them Greek vases, but that's not really correct. In fact, none of these is considered a vase in our modern sense of the word. Instead, these vessels were used for dining, bathing, and even funerary offerings. When archaeologists look at ceramic vessels, we ask a lot of questions to help us determine its function. Questions like, what size is it? What shape is it? And does the shape affect its function? We also use a lot of body terms when describing a ceramic vessel. We use terms like lip, neck, shoulder, body, and foot. Let's take a closer look at some of these vessels and see if we can determine their function. Let's take a look at these small vessels first. These are called aribolos. So let's ask some questions to see what conclusions we might make about what an aribolos was used for. We can see that it has a small, narrow opening with a flat, wide lip. We can also see that it has a narrow neck which opens up at the shoulders to a bulbous body. We can also see that it has a very small handle and it does not have a foot. So what conclusions might we make about its use? By taking all of these things into consideration, the small size tells us that something precious or expensive probably went inside this. The narrow neck and opening and flat lip indicate that it was some sort of liquid. The narrow neck makes it so that the liquid stays inside and the flat lip enables for easy pouring. We also noted that this vessel does not have a foot which indicates that it was not meant to stand on its own. So putting all of these together, what do you think an aribolos was used for? Aribolos were used by athletes and were filled with perfumed oil. A leather or fiber rope was tied around the narrow neck, fastened in place by the small handle, and tied to the athlete's wrist. Athletes would use the perfumed oil to bathe with. They would spread the oil on their skin, mix in a little bit of dirt to exfoliate, and scrape off the remnants. We also get a hint about the use for aribolos because we see it depicted in vase paintings where we see athletes using them during their bathing rituals. Let's take a look at another type of vessel. Behind me, we have several examples of chylicae or singular chylics. Let's ask those same questions that we asked about the aribolos about the chylics. What size is it and what indications might its shape tell us about its function? Here we can see that the chylics comes in a variety of sizes. Here we have a larger one and here we have smaller examples. All of them, however, have this wide opening and we can see that the bowl itself is actually very shallow. It does have a short stem and a foot and each of them has two small handles on either side. So what conclusions might we make about the function from the shape of the vessel? Unlike the aribolos, we have this wide open mouth. So it probably wasn't for storing liquid inside of it. We see the two handles which indicate that it was meant to be held with two hands and we see that it does have a foot. So it was meant at some point to stand on its own. Sometimes we get a hint about the function of the vessel from the decoration inside. Looking at this vessel here, we can see a young man pressing grapes, which indicates that the use of the chylics had something to do with wine. Chyliki were used during the symposium and other drinking events and were used for wine. The vessel would be filled with a mixture of wine and water and as the person would slowly drink using both the handles, the image inside of the chylics would be slowly revealed as they drank their wine. Just like with the aribolos, we see images of chyliki on other Greek vessels showing us how this vessel was used. So let's talk a little bit more about the decoration styles of these Greek vessels. Beginning around 620 BCE, a style called black figure became popular in Athens. Black figure developed out of an earlier style of Corinthian pottery. It is identifiable by the figures painted in black on a red background as we see here. This vessel is called an amphora and it means carried from both sides in Greek. See the two handles? Amphorae like this one were used for storing or serving wine, although this one ended up in a burial context as grave goods. Some amphora were used as prizes in the Panhellenic and Panathenaic games and were filled with olive oil. Let's take a closer look at the decoration of this amphora. Does anyone recognize any of the characters? This gentleman is the most famous of all Greek heroes, Heracles or Hercules as he was known to the Romans. Heracles was famous for completing 12 labors which were assigned to him by King Eurystheus, his arch enemy. One of those labors was to retrieve the girdle or belt of the queen of the Amazons Hippolyta. The Amazons were a fearsome race of female warriors and when Heracles tried to leave with the queen's girdle they fought back. Here we see Heracles fighting the Amazons. If we look closely, we can see that the Amazons are actually depicted with white skin. This is because in Greek pottery women are usually depicted with white skin. Around 520 BCE, a new painting technique gained popularity. It is called red figure. This is because the figures are left in red while the entire background and any details on the figure are painted in black. Red figure style allowed for more natural lines and a feeling of movement within the decorations. Here we can see several examples of red figure vessels including an image of the goddess Athena on this Lepithos as well as her owl on this Scyphos. While many Athenian vase painters never signed their names to their vases, we have been able to identify several painters by their style of painting. The painter of this amphora behind me is recognized by his work on more than 300 vessels. Some of them are the most beautiful examples of red figure painting. He is known as the Berlin painter, named after his masterpiece now in a museum in Berlin. His simple composition often spotlights one or two figures against a dark background. The scene on this side of the vase probably depicts a sacrifice with the young warrior setting off or returning from battle. The woman facing the youth may be his wife. The reverse depicts an old man with a staff, perhaps the warrior's father. The Greeks loved to put on their pottery the gods and goddesses and scenes from their favorite stories. But they also included scenes from daily life and funerary imagery like those on this volute crater. This vessel would have been used as a grave marker and it depicts the young man whose grave it would have stood over. Here we see the young man sitting in his tomb. He is surrounded by figures who are bringing offerings to him. We can also see some personalized details about the young man who had died. We can see his dog is painted on this vessel, as well as his greens and helmet, indications that he was a soldier. The amazing diversity in shape, size, and decoration tell us so much about the ancient Greeks. They can tell us about their daily lives, what stories were important to them, and what was important to them in death. Thank you for joining us today for Artifact Explorations with the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. We hope you enjoyed this look into Greek pottery and join us again next time.