Hellenistic Pottery

The second of two volumes on the Hellenistic fine ware unearthed in excavations in the Athenian Agora, this book presents the Hellenistic wheelmade table ware and votive vessels found between 1931 and 1982, some 1,500 Attic and 300 imported pieces. An introductory section includes chapters devoted to fixed points in the chronology of the pottery, to a general discussion of the decoration of Hellenistic pots, both stamped and painted, and to the question of workshops. The author dedicates much of the text to a typology of Attic Hellenistic fine ware, carefully examining the origins, development, chronology, forms, and decoration of each shape. The ordering of the material by function rather than by the form of vessels provides insight into life in Hellenistic Athens. Especially important is the development of a chronological framework that builds upon and refines the author’s earlier work in this area.

The importance of a good book on the dating of Athenian Hellenistic wares can hardly be underestimated. The Hellenistic period was the time in which large Hellenistic states had replaced the Greek poleis and Greece became incorporated in the Roman state. To those who wish to study the effects of these far-reaching changes on the various Greek societies at close quarters, the presence of a good chronological framework for the most common household ceramics is rather essential.
Douwe Yntema, BABesch 75 (2000), pp. 208-209.

Susan I. Rotroff is the Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor in Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis.