The transition from the sub-Geometric ceramics to that of the Archaic period is more apparent in the type of "bird or rosette kylikes", as they are called, based on their decoration. Presumably that they appeared for the first time in Rhodes at the beginning of the 7th century B.C. and subsequently they were produced in more centres, the most important being that of Clazomenae. Their production stopped around 600 B.C., after they had already spread a significantly around the Black Sea and in Magna Graecia. A similar group were the "kylikes with eyes", the production of which is most probably located in south Ionia at the beginning of the 6th century B.C. Another type of drinking vessels, the known Ionian kylikes, were apparently manufactured mostly in Miletus and in Samos from the last third of the 7th century till the middle of the 6th century B.C.


Another type of written ceramics from eastern Greece is the known "Wild Goat style", which was produced in many workshops between 650 and 550 B.C. It is easily recognised from the parallel friezes with animals and floral motifs. The figures were designed in black glaze an off-white layer that covered the whole surface of the vase. The prevalent classification distinguishes an early, a middle (I, II and III) and a late phase. These phases do not have the same duration in every region, but in broad outline they correspond to the decade 650-640 B.C. for the early one, to the period 640-580 B.C. for the middle and to the period 580-550 B.C. for the late one. The most important production centres were located in Miletus, in Clazomenae, in Teos, in Chios, in Aeolis and in eastern Doris. The ceramics of the Wild Goat style spread from the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea to Italy and north Africa. This explains the existence of numerous imitations, among which were those of Caria, Etruria and Thasos.

During the first half of the 6th century B.C., Chios was an important centre of ceramics with peculiar shapes -such as the famous Chian chalices- and with a variety of "experimental" styles, such as the black-figure one. However, the black-figure style had a more significant application in the workshops of Clazomenae, which most probably were inspired by Attic standards. They mainly produced large vases, such as amphoras and craters, between 560 and 520 B.C. Besides the vases, the technique of the black-figured style was also applied to the famous Clazomenaean clay sarcophagi. Located in the same period is also the production of a group of small-scale kylikes and kantharoi that are attributed to a Samian workshop, as well as that of the "Fikellura style", which was a product of a Milesian workshop. The vases of Fikellura style combine geometrical and plant motifs with pictorial representations, whereas quite often they are characterized by a humorous disposition and less careful design.

Among other workshops we can note those of Rhodes, from which come the "group of Vroulia" with red and white floral motifs over a grey black coating. Some groups of vases with rich representations and careful design, which have been found exclusively in Etruria, were occasionally associated with workshops of eastern Greece. These are the Caeretan hydries, as well as the groups of Northampton and Campana. The latter two groups are associated with Clazomenae, whereas those of hydries to Phocaea. However, the most probable theory is that all these vases were created by ceramists emigrating to Italy, most probably during the time of the wave of migration created by the Persian conquest of Ionia.



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