Manufacturing
Commercial Uses of
Pottery
Before the modern era, the bulk of the trade carried
out around the Mediterranean moved by sea. Some objects, including
marble, ivory, timber, bullion and other metals, and perhaps even
wheat, could be loaded directly into ship hulls. Others, such as
finished textiles, flax, animal hides, wool, fruits and legumes,
needed to be bailed up or bagged before shipment by sea.
Many products needed packing in individual
containers both for shipping and for land transport in wagons or on
the backs of pack animals. These included dried fish, cheeses,
spices, pitch, drinking water, wine, oil
and perfume. Once delivered, grains and
other commodities shipped in bulk required storage containers.
Terracotta containers ranged from enormous grain
storage jars to tiny perfume flasks. Oil and wine were shipped in
large plain transport amphoras; by the 7th century BC it becomes
possible to distinguish the containers of the various wine and oil
producing centers.
But Greek vases were also traded as objects of
beauty. The finely decorated Corinthian vases that turn up everywhere
in 8th and 7th century contexts around the Mediterranean and Black
seas clearly possessed their own commercial value. So too did the
Athenian Black and Red Figure vessels that flooded the ancient world
in the 6th and 5th centuries. (large
version)
Attic Red Figure Bell Krater
ca. 430-410 BC
By the Dinos Painter
MS 5682
On the underside of the base of this vase are the names of three
types of vases-kraters, oxides, and pellinia-along
with their unit prices. While the krater is a familiar shape, the
others are less so. The oxis and probably the pellinion were small
bowls without handles. The cost in late 5th century Athens for a
single krater was 4-1/2 obols, for a pellinion 3/8 obol, and for an
oxis 1/6 obol. The krater body depicts four youths as they rest from
the hunt.
H. 32.0; Dia. 33.5 cm. Photos by Maria Daniels for the Perseus
Project.
Attic "SOS" Transport Amphora
Early 6th century BC
Vulci, Italy
MS 562
Storage vessels like this example, which ended up in an Etruscan tomb
in northern Italy, were used to ship wine and olive oil around the
Mediterranean in the 7th and 6th centuries BC They get their SOS
nomenclature from the shape of the pattern decorating the neck.
H. 67.5; Dia. 45.0 cm. UM neg. S8-73379.
Rhodian Transport/Storage Amphora
ca. 100 BC
MS 5720
This vessel's pointed bottom was designed for transport in a ship's
hull. The handles carry partly legible stamps identifying the vase as
Rhodian. Rhodian stamps usually supply two names: one recording the
endorsement of the contents by perhaps its licensed manufacturer, the
other a date that refers to a particular annually appointed official
("in the term of so-and-so") and a month.
H. 80.0; Dia. 35.0 cm. UM neg. S8-122515.
The Ancient Greek World Index
Attic Red Figure Bell Krater