Sixth Grade Studies Ancient Greece

 

Ancient Greek Pottery

by Emory P.

            Pottery is one of the most famous works of art done by Greeks, and yet used in everyday life. Sixth graders at Blanchard have been studying about Ancient Greece, and for the past week we have been focusing on their wonderful, unique pottery. The pottery is one of historians’ major helps to learning about the ancient civilization and culture. During the Dark Ages, when Greece was taken over, around 1200 BCE-800 BCE, writing and literature was all lost. Nobody wrote anymore, and the only information was gathered from oral tradition. But even though there were no written inscriptions to learn from, there was pottery. On the jugs and pots, there would be paintings of famous myths or stories, such as Athena’s birth or Pandora’s curiosity. That way, historians were also able to learn with pottery!

            Professor Connors, who helped with the sixth graders’ archaeological dig in October and is a professor at Harvard, came in to talk with us on Monday and Tuesday (March 25-26). She taught us about the different types of Greek pottery, their uses, and shared with us her discoveries on her archaeological digs. She told us about types from amphora to krater, all with their own specialty in life. Amphora was used for transporting wine, and has a pointed bottom. The Greeks discovered that with a flat bottom, it would store less wine, as well as the fact that sediment would gather. With a pointed bottom, it would easily hold more wine. Besides amphora, there were also krylix, used to drink wine. The krylix is shaped like a soup plate, with large handles that were used to hold the krylix when drinking. Kraters were large basin-like pots that were used to store grains. Ancient Greek pottery is certainly very widespread, from tiny oil-holding pots to large, grain storing ones, and yet the art is so popular yet important to Greek culture. Thankfully, we are all able to study it today.