Pots are for plebs: why vases were cheap in Ancient Greece

“If it’s full of Theory and jargon, put it in the bin”, said the books editor. The trouble with Jeffrey Hurwit’s Artists and Signatures in Ancient Greece is that there is not enough theory, or rather that the theoretical basis for at least some of his analysis is deeply flawed. In the absence, for good reason, of any reference to “vase-painting” in ancient written sources, for example, many beautiful myths have been invented around the supposed careers of the