The best Greek pottery came from Athens and Corinth where a high-quality clay was used which fired to a beautiful reddish-brown colour. Much of this pottery, painted with wonderful pictures, has survived from antiquity. Athenian potters lived in a quarter of the city called the 'Kerameikos'. They produced much pottery, using a potter's wheel, both for export and for the domestic market.
The styles of pottery and vase painting are divided into various categories. Geometric patterns were popular from 1000 to 700 BC. Oriental motifs then came into fashion, notably at Corinth. Black-figure vases produced at Athens became especially popular in the 6th century BC. These featured black silhouette figures on a reddish background. After 520 BC, however, the red-figure technique took over, in which the colours were reversed - red figures on a black background. This black-figure vase depicts a scene from the mythical life of Hercules.
