Calyx Krater
About 350-340 B.C.E.
Earthenware with slip decoration
Python (Greek, from Paestum in southern Italy)
1990.7

Classroom Writing Prompts:

1. This earthenware vessel is over 2,300 years old. Lots of people keep old things around their houses. Think of one thing you have in your house that is over 20 years old. Do you have anything in the house that is older than 40 years old, 50 years old, or more? What is the object and why do you think your family has kept it that long? Do a survey of different people in your family, or friends, and find out who has the oldest object in their possession. Make a bar graph of your results.
2. This piece of pottery was made of clay. Have you ever made anything with clay? What was it? What did it feel like to work with clay? Explain the process of making a lump of clay into an object using numerical order directions. First step…second step…third step…
3. If you were going to sell this piece on ebay, what kind of a description would you write for it? What price reserve would you put on it? (A reserve is the minimum amount you will sell the piece for.) What would you hope to have bid on the piece and why do you think it is worth that much?
4. You are a newspaper reporter who has just found this Greek urn in an antique shop. Write a news article about the fantastic find, where you found the piece, and the shop where you found it, the storeowner, and the details of its history.
5. This side of the piece you are looking at was decorated with various designs and the images of two figures. Why do you think the maker of this vase put these two figures on his vase? If you were to create a similar urn today, what kinds of designs would you put on it?
6. Pottery was generally created for a utilitarian purpose. What kinds of pottery do we use everyday in our homes? What use does pottery have in our lives today? What kinds of materials are dishes, pots and pans, serving pieces, vases, etc. made of today?
7. Research different companies making pottery and the history of earthenware in the United States today. Choose a particular kind of pottery (Rookwood, Hadley pottery, Louisville Stoneware, Lenox, Oneida, etc.) and write a feature article about what you found out.

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