Roman Pottery

Roman pottery began with Etruscan-style pottery, but soon developed a tradition of its own. In general, pottery in Italy tended to be made in one color, rather than painted as in Greece, and the decorations were molded into the clay rather than painted.

Campanian Pottery

Throughout the Roman Republic, most Roman pottery was made near where it was going to be used. This piece, from Southern Italy, is typical - black slip, over a red fabric.

Arretine pottery from Arezzo

But in the time of Augustus, people began to build big pottery factories, where they made lots of good pottery to sell to other places. There were some factories in Italy, near a town called Arezzo, and some in southern France.

South Gaulish pottery

This pottery was made in a new way, which the Italians had learned from West Asian potters in the recently conquered eastern areas of the Empire. Instead of being black like earlier pottery, it was red. And the decoration was created by pushing the clay into plaster molds, instead of by painting it on. Molding the decoration was much faster and cheaper than painting it, so these factories could make great quality pottery and sell it very cheaply. This pottery was a big hit, and the factories made a lot of money.