THE WORLD OF THE GREEKS

GREEK POTS: HOW THEY WERE MADE

SHEFTON MUSEUM

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Why are pots important?

The Greeks often painted their pots with patterns and pictures. Some of these tell stories about Greek myths. Others have pictures of daily life and can tell us about the way the Greeks lived. Others have pictures of gods or mythical monsters.

Making pots

Greek pots were made using a potter's wheel. Each bit of the pot - body, base, handles, neck - was made separately, then stuck together.

Painting pots

Some Greek pots were just covered with a dark glaxe, but many were decorated. The dark colour was not black paint. It was a glaze made of clay, mixed with water until it was a thin liquid. The painter painted this onto the pots.

On some pots, the pictures were painted in glaze. This is called Black Figure pottery.  On others, the background was painted. This is called Red Figure pottery. Then pot was baked until it was hard in a kiln (a special oven for pots).

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