Grey-Ware Ceramic Cup

Reassembled fragments of a grey-ware ceramic cup, with a smoothed surface and incised decoration consisting of vertical strokes.

Grey-ware pottery is one of the most widespread ceramic classes found in the Roman settlement of Capo Colonna and in the surrounding territory between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Imported from major production centers along the northwestern Ionian coast—such as Metapontum, Tarentum, Heraclea, and Thurii–Copiae—it is characterized by a grey fabric, ranging from compact to friable, and by a slip varying in color from black to light grey. The most common forms include cups, bowls (paterae), beakers, oil lamps, and other vessels intended for everyday domestic use.