Principles and Methods: Seminar week 4
Iconography v. Archaeology: Problems with Athenian Pottery
This seminar will be based on two presentations, lasting 10 minutes each. The two students presenting should
prepare a PowerPoint presentation and a hand out.
EVERYONE should familiarise themselves with the two topics and come up with some questions for the
presenters.
1.
The Symposium on Athenian pottery
 Choose three painted pots to illustrate the theme of the symposium
 Use the book listed below and provide three points to answer the following questions;
What type of information can we learn from these images?
How has this information informed our understanding of the symposium?
Why might this information be misleading?
Beazley online archive; http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/index.htm
Athenian red figure vases : the Archaic period : a handbook / John Boardman (1975)
Athenian red figure vases : the Classical period : a handbook / John Boardman (1975)
The history of Greek vases : potters, painters and pictures / John Boardman (2001)
The aesthetics of the Greek banquet : images of wine and ritual / François Lissarrague (1990)
Greek vases : the Athenians and their images / François Lissarrague (2001)
Sympotica : a symposium on the symposion / edited by Oswyn Murray (Oxford, 1994)
Looking at Greek vases / edited by Tom Rasmussen and Nigel Spivey (1991)
2.
Issues with the archaeology of Athenian Pottery
 The majority of the most famous Athenian pots have been excavated from outside Athens, especially
in Italy.
 Use the books listed below and provide three points to answer the following questions;
Beazley online archive; http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/index.htm
Athenian red figure vases : the Archaic period : a handbook / John Boardman (1975)
Athenian red figure vases : the Classical period : a handbook / John Boardman (1975)
The history of Greek vases : potters, painters and pictures / John Boardman (2001)
The red and the black : studies in Greek pottery / Brian A. Sparkes
Ancient Greek pottery / Michael Vickers (1999)