�@Since 16th century BC, Greek pottery workshops started producing painted vessels[1]. Although the style is strongly influenced by that of Crete (fig.1), the latter's naturalistic representations became more stylised which expecting the tradition of later periods. The end of Mycenian civilisation in 12th century BC leads so-called dark age with less archaeological sites and objects than the previous and succeeding periods. From the excavations at Kerameikos, Athens, however, testified continual development of the style from the Bronze age[2].

Fig.1

This new style is called "Geometric style" after the way of decoration; dividing the surface into several friezes filled with geometric patterns such as meanders, diamonds and lattices[3]. Pottery before the birth of the geometric style has concentric circles or semi-circles and the style is called Protogeometric. This Geometric pottery was produced at many regions of Greece and her colonies and their styles share similar characters. In the late Geometric period, figure decoration is introduced and battle and funeral scenes were depicted [4] (Fig2, Fig3, Fig4).

Fig2


Fig3


Fig4

In the 8th century with more strong connection with Near East, the old tradition of the geometric style ceased and eastern patterns were adopted. This Orientalizing style was introduced by Corinthian workshops and then spreaded to other regions.