Greece 1050–520 BC

Begin with the decoration on a pot. Repeated geometric patterns and later painted figures offer different ways of organizing its curved surface. The gallery follows changes in Greek objects after the Bronze Age palace systems, as communities developed and contacts across the Mediterranean grew. Athens, Sparta and Corinth appear alongside material connected with East Greece and Egypt. Jewellery, sculpture and coins widen the view beyond pottery. They bring different places and kinds of making into the same period of change. As you compare pieces, notice what has travelled. An object may have been made locally while borrowing a shape or image from elsewhere. Writing and the growth of city-states also belong to this history. The dates on the room cover several centuries, so allow for changes within the gallery as well as differences between regions.