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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

POTTERY

The manufacture of clayware and earthenware.

History and Development

The first pottery was made by hand, molded into the desired shape and dried in the sun. There are no records describing the work of the ancient potter and his or her place in society, although the walls of tombs and palaces in Egypt abound with pictures of potters at work and a great deal can be learned by observing the activities portrayed. The first potters are thought to have been women who, out of necessity, produced vessels for food preparation, while the men were out trying to bring in the food. This still seems to be the pattern in places like Africa, Anatolia, Kurdistan, and the southwestern United States. Eventually, the making of pottery became a profession, apparently practiced by certain people in a large village and often by itinerant craftsmen moving from village to village making pottery to meet the demand and then moving on.

The discovery that moved pottery making from an occasional activity of a housewife to that of a profession was the invention of the potter’s wheel. The speed with which vessels could then be made industrialized the craft, and it eventually became primarily a male occupation, although there is evidence that people (one would assume women) continued to make some vessels at home. Until the discovery of the potter’s wheel, the techniques of making pots by laying coils of clay, one on top of the other, was the predominant method used, especially for large vessels. The first potter’s wheel found in excavations in the lands of the Bible come from Ur in Sumer around 3500 to 3000 BC. It may have been developed in emerging urban settlements due to a greater market for pottery. Jeremiah speaks of a potter’s workshop in the sixth century BC: “So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again” (Jer 18:3-4, NLT). There is evidence in Greece of large workshops in the classical period employing more than 50 workers.

Clay must be spun at least 100 revolutions a minute to create the centrifugal force necessary to “throw” the vessel. The oldest wheels were made of two stones, a lower one with a hole in the center and an upper one with a protrusion that fits into the lower hole, allowing the upper stone to be turned. The upper stone, with a larger board attached to it on which the vessel rested, was undoubtedly turned by an apprentice. By the Hellenistic period, after 300 BC, the foot wheel was invented.

Another technique used in ancient pottery making was the mold. Molds were carved out of soft stone or made from clay for use in mass production of the same kind of vessel. Lamp molds are rather common in museums of the Middle East from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Small oil lamps were made in two parts in the molds, an upper half and lower half, and then fused together before firing. Herodian lamps also had spatulated spouts that were formed independently of the other two parts.

The amount of diversity in both the size and shape of ancient pottery is remarkable. An average ancient home would have within it large vessels (amphorae and pithoi) to hold liquids such as wine or water. These were pointed on the bottom and designed originally to lie against the slope of a ship’s hull while being transported. In homes of the common people they were partially set into the ground and leaned against the wall. In taverns in Pompeii and Herculaneum they were stored in wooden racks. Large, open-mouthed jars would be partially buried in the ground to keep the liquid contained in them cool. Also, grains of various kinds could be kept in these, some of which were four feet (1.2 meters) in height and three feet (.9 meter) wide. Smaller water decanters holding a quart (.9 liter) or more were commonly used. Globular jugs were used to serve wine, having spouts that prevented spilling the precious liquid. Round canteens, with handles on either shoulder, were used to carry water on a journey. Bowls and dishes were common in various sizes and depths in ancient homes. Large-mouth dishes known as kraters were used for drinking. Cooking was done in medium-sized (about one gallon, or 3.8 liters) pots with rounded bottoms that would sit easily in the fire or in a dug-out place in the floor after being taken from the fire. They also had two looped handles, which allowed them to be hung over the fire.

Vessels were painted in classical Greece with vivid descriptions of religion, sex, warfare, and community life. Earlier vessels of Minoan and Mycenaean cultures contain beautiful artwork in the form of plants, animals, and marine life as well as geometric designs. From earliest times in the Middle East, variations in design were created by the use of dark and light shades of slip painted or poured randomly on vessels.

Pottery in Scripture

There are many references to the potter and his work in the Bible. Typical are the following: “Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand” (Jer 18:6, NLT); “Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand” (Is 64:8, NLT). In the Creation story God is portrayed as a potter making man from the ground (Gn 2:7). His absolute sovereignty in the election of Israel is argued by Paul (Rom 9:20-21) from an illustration used by Isaiah (Is 45:9) concerning a pot arguing with its potter: “Does a clay pot ever argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you are doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be!’ ” (NLT).

Jeremiah graphically prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem by breaking a potter’s earthen flask into so many pieces that it could not be restored (Jer 19:11). The Jews, at the time of the destruction, though precious in God’s sight, were “treated like pots of clay” (Lam 4:2)—an expression of their human frailty; they could be easily broken and destroyed.

A broken pottery vessel in the ancient world was considered so worthless that the pieces were swept aside or thrown out the window and a new one made. The potter’s art was widely known and vessels were readily available at a cheap price. People normally did not transport their vessels when they moved. It was easier to make or buy new ones than to try to carry them, especially the larger ones. Broken pieces, however, were not without some use. Job scraped the secretion from his sores with a potsherd, which is a broken piece of pottery (Jb 2:8). At a much later time, potsherds were used to write notes on and were called ostraca. The psalmist spoke of his strength as having dried up like a potsherd (Ps 22:15)—a reference to the lack of moisture in a dried and fired pottery vessel. The eventual defeat of polytheistic and idolatrous pagan nations is described as vessels of pottery being dashed to the ground and broken to pieces by the righteous (Ps 2:9; Rv 2:27).