With respect to the 7^th cent. BC, the finds from the Agora mainly come for burials. The period between 700 and 600 BC approx., the so-called Orientalising period, is represented by few, but extremely interesting, findings. During this period we have the predominance of the so-called Protoattic style, which, unlike the Geometric artefacts of the city, exercised minimal influence outside Attica. It is divided in three phases: Early (700-675 BC), Middle (675-650 BC) and Late Protoattic style (650-620 BC). The early phase appears to develop smoothly from the Late Geometric tradition of workshops active around 700 BC. During the Middle Protoattic phase the so-called black-and-white style is dominant, the best examples of which have been discovered outside Attica, namely on Aegina. A special find comes from the Athenian Agora; this is a multicoloured clay funerary relief tablet, bearing a depiction of a cloaked goddess with uplifted hands flanked by two snakes. This artwork has been compared to the creations of one of the best painters of the black-and-white style, the Aegina oinochoe Painter.

 

In the Agora there are also examples of the Late Protoattic style, especially the Nessus Painter, whose artefacts have been unearthed in the Dipylon cemetery and in the Nymph shrine on the Acropolis. An Agora grave has also yielded a beautiful amphora of a continuous profile, decorated with a winged sphinx. The idiom prevalent in this period is the so-called black-figure style, which was invented in Corinth around 700 BC, and introduced to Athens in the 2^nd half of the 7^th cent. BC. In this technique figures are silhouetted in black against the red clay background, while the outlines and details were scratched on with an engraving tool.

 

The black-figure style reaches its apex in the 6^th cent. BC. A great number of such wares have been unearthed in the Agora area, but in terms of quality these cannot be compared to the pottery dedicated by the ceramists on the Acropolis or exported to Italy and other overseas markets. The smaller vessels are almost complete, although rarely intact, and the style is represented by finds of almost all shapes and by almost all painters and groups. Of particular importance are the early finds, unearthed in relatively large numbers in sites such as the Kerameikos and the Acropolis.

 

The main body of Archaic finds comes from the dozens Agora wells, which were sealed with material cleared from residences, sanctuaries and workshops destroyed during the Persian invasion. The pottery finds are numerous: these originate from houses as well as workshops.

 

The Athenian black-figure style follows, until 570 BC approx., the black-figure style of Corinth. The ‘Corinthianising’ tendency all but disappears after the middle of the 6^th cent. BC, when the Attic black-figure style reaches its acme. The greatest painters of the black-figure style are Exekias, Lydos and the so-called Amassis painter. Unfortunately, most of their extant creations are extremely fragmentary. We could, however, mention an olpe (a type of oinochoe, a vessel for serving wine) by the Amassis painter, which bears signs of ancient repairs. Its decoration depicts a couple of symposiasts reclining on a couch framed by an aulos player and a servant.

 

The vast majority of the black-figure pottery from the Agora date to the late 6^th and the early 5^th cent. BC. Most wells were sealed after the destruction of 480-479 BC, and as a result material from this period is more common. The predominant vessel type is that of the lekythos, an oil jar used in funerary rites. Out of the hundreds humble specimens of this type, a particular lekythos dating to c.510 BC stands out; it depicts Athena presenting Hercules to her father and the other Olympian gods, so that they can approve Hercules’ deification.

 

In about 530-525 BC, the Athenian ceramists and pottery painters introduce certain innovations. Most important among these is the invention of the red-figure style. This technique consists in a reversal of the approach used in the black-figure style: the figures are depicted in the red fabric of the clay against the black varnish background with which the rest of the ware is infilled. The outlines are defined by a thick line, the so-called relief line), while a line of diluted ink was used for rendering anatomical details. This technique allowed the overlapping of figures and a more precise representation of the human body in complicated postures. Pottery compositions are thus liberated from the conventional constraints of the black-figure style.

 

The first painters of the red-figure style are not represented in the Agora. The kylix is the shape prevalent during the Archaic period. A group of kylikes bearing interesting depictions of mythological and ritual themes is exhibited in the Agora Museum: a naked woman burning incense on an altar, a hoplite pouring a libation over an altar, a young man running with two amphorae over his shoulder, a satyr on a donkey, a naked hetaera bolting with her boots in her hands, two boxers. The most beautiful vase of this category is a kylix, thought to be the earliest work of the greatest pottery painter of the early 5^th cent. BC, the so-called Berlin Painter. The medallion depicts a young man holding a hare, while on the exterior it is decorated with a Dionysian scene and a mythological duel.

 

Imported pottery is extremely rare in the Agora of Athens. Worth mentioning is an impressive amphorisk from Miletus, of the so-called Fikellura style, featuring intricate geometric and vegetable decoration on its body. Another pot of probable Ionia provenance is the relief balsamarion representing a kneeling young athlete tying a ribbon round his head; this is an exquisite artwork, wonderfully preserved.

 

Stone and clay sculpture artefacts are very rare in the Agora area and the extant examples are in a poor condition.