Ancient Roman pottery
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Over the centuries the different manufacturing techniques have changed from initial pottery modeled by hand to the introduction of the tome and later the use of molds. The decorations as well as the backing techniques have been also changed over the centuries making possible to use the pottery to date the age of an archeological area. In the Roman period ceramics were produced and used in enormous quantities and the literature on the subject in numerous languages is very extensive. Most of these wares were widely distributed and produced on an industrial scale with kilns that could fire up to 40,000 pieces at a time. This massive output undoubtedly used a high degree of specialization within the workshops.
The designation fine wares is used by archaeologists for Roman pottery intended for serving food and drink at table as opposed to those designed for cooking and food preparation storage transport and other purposes. Arretine ware made at Arezzo in Tuscany was the pre-eminent type of fine pottery in the 1st century BC and early 1st century AD. It was succeeded by samian ware manufactured in a number of centers in Gaul modern France and Germany. These vessels have fine fairly hard and well-fired buff to pink fabrics with a naturally glossy surface slip ranging in color from light orange to quite a bright red. Cnaius Ateius was an especially prominent producer at Arezzo but wares with his stamps can be shown by modern analysis of their clay to have been produced in Pisa in Tuscany and at branch factories at both Lyon and La Graufesenque in modern France. The site of La Graufesenque in South Gaul near Millau has been extensively studied and excavated. Its products had an immensely wide distribution in the later 1st century AD and sherds have been found from India to the Sudan and Scotland.
Amphorae were used during Roman times to transport food on long and short distances. The content was generally liquid olive oil or wine in most cases but also garum the popular fish sauce and fruit sauce. Usually amphorae are two-handled terracotta containers with a globular cylindrical body a rim of various shapes and a spiked or less commonly flat base. The spike was suited for a stable storage arrangement in the ship and it worked as a third handle in the process of emptying the container. The first type of Roman amphora Dressel 1 appears in central Italy in the late 2nd century BC. This type had thick walls and a characteristic red fabric. It was very heavy though also strong. Around the middle of the 1st century BC the so-called Dressel 2, 4 starts to become widely used. This type of amphora presented some advantages in being lighter and with thinner walls. It has been calculated that while a ship could accommodate approximately 4,500 Dressel 1 it was possible to fit 6,000 Dressel 2, 4 in the same space. Spanish amphorae became particularly popular thanks to a flourishing production phase in the late Republican times. The Baetica and Tarraconensis regions south-western and eastern Spain were the main production
areas between the 2nd and the 1st century BC.
Artificial lighting was commonplace in the Roman world. Candles made from beeswax or tallow were used but seldom survive archaeologically. Lamps fueled with olive oil and other vegetable oils survive in great numbers however and have been studied in minute detail. Most of these clay lamps were shaped using molds in workshops that turned out large numbers of standardized products. Some of the most popular forms incorporated a central disc a circular area usually around 4, 6 cm in diameter that incorporated the filling-hole and could be ornamented with pictorial motifs in low relief. The range of decoration included pagan deities myths and legends genre scenes from everyday life animals hunting public entertainments such as gladiatorial combat and chariot-racing erotic encounters and in late-Roman times some Christian symbolism. One well-known name is that of Fortis and his products were evidently copied outside his own workshop in Italy. The Gaulish lamp found in London is stamped on the base with the name of the maker Atimetus. Each region of the Empire produced terracottas in distinctive local styles but all had rather similar ranges of subjects above all the standard religious themes of gods goddesses and their attributes.
Two manufactured materials were of great importance in Roman architecture: concrete and fired
clay in the form of structural bricks and tiles and to a lesser extent in architectural decoration. These materials were used in buildings all over the Roman Empire and in many areas they fell out of use again after the Roman period only to be rediscovered centuries later. Like other mass-produced Roman ceramic objects bricks and tiles were often marked with inscriptions that indicate their manufacturer or the organization or authority military or civilian for which they had been made. Roof-tiles were of distinctive shapes the tegula which was a large thin tile almost square with upturned flanges on its longer sides and the imbrex of slightly tapered half-cylindrical form. The imbrices interlocking because of their tapered form were laid over the raised flanges of the tegulae and together formed the characteristic ridged tiled roof still to be seen in Italy and southern France today. Roman hypocaust heating systems made extensive use of fired clay elements. The space beneath the floor of a room to be heated was supported on robust pillars pilae usually made of small square bricks mortared together so that the heat from the adjacent furnace could circulate freely.
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Common questions
What was the primary purpose of pottery produced in ancient Rome?
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome mostly for utilitarian purposes. Most wares were widely distributed and produced on an industrial scale with kilns that could fire up to 40,000 pieces at a time.
When did Arretine ware become the pre-eminent type of fine Roman pottery?
Arretine ware made at Arezzo in Tuscany was the pre-eminent type of fine pottery in the 1st century BC and early 1st century AD. It was succeeded by samian ware manufactured in a number of centers in Gaul modern France and Germany.
How many Dressel 2 4 amphorae could fit into a ship compared to Dressel 1 amphorae?
It has been calculated that while a ship could accommodate approximately 4,500 Dressel 1 it was possible to fit 6,000 Dressel 2 4 in the same space. This advantage came from the Dressel 2 4 type being lighter and having thinner walls than the earlier thick-walled Dressel 1.
What decorative motifs appeared on Roman clay lamps during late-Roman times?
The range of decoration included pagan deities myths legends genre scenes animals hunting public entertainments such as gladiatorial combat and chariot-racing erotic encounters and in late-Roman times some Christian symbolism. One well-known name is that of Fortis and his products were evidently copied outside his own workshop in Italy.
Which regions of Spain produced Spanish amphorae between the 2nd and 1st century BC?
Spanish amphorae became particularly popular thanks to a flourishing production phase in the late Republican times. The Baetica and Tarraconensis regions south-western and eastern Spain were the main production areas between the 2nd and the 1st century BC.