Roman Pottery

( Originally Published Late 1800's )

Roman pottery owes it origin, as do all the Roman arts, to the Greeks. Both potters and artists were brought to Rome as prisoners, were liberated, and induced or forced to produce. The result was a Greco-Roman Art. The most interesting development of pottery due to the Romans are the terra-cotta bas-reliefs, with which they ornamented their houses. That these decorations were first executed by Greeks is indicated by the subjects, but the development is due to Roman taste. Little terra-cotta figures of heroes and gods were placed in every house-hold, after the habit of the Greeks.