• 48 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Ancient Greece Art Ideas

Press the button for one real piece of ancient Greek art to draw, with a checked fact.

Ancient Greece Art Ideas

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  1. A water jar with three handles: two to lift, one to pourA hydria is a water-carrying vessel with two horizontal handles at its sides and a vertical one at the back.

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All 48 ideas

Pottery shapes and painting 12

  • A black-figure vase: dark silhouettes on orange clay In black-figure pottery the figures look like silhouettes and fine contours are incised into the paint.
  • A jar banded with zigzags and triangles from top to foot Geometric art, about 900 to 700 BC, is named for the geometric motifs of its vase painting.
  • A large clay storage jar, drawn bigger than the rest Pithos is the Greek name of a large storage container.
  • A pot painted in the four usual colors of Greek vases Firing limited the colors that could be used on pots: black, white, red and yellow were the most common.
  • A prize jar with its contest painted on the back Panathenaic amphorae held olive oil given as a prize; the back showed the event it was awarded for.
  • A red-figure vase: clay-colored figures on a black ground In red-figure pottery the background is painted black. It developed in Athens around 520 BC.
  • A round lidded box with no handles A pyxis is usually a cylindrical box with a separate lid, used to hold cosmetics or trinkets.
  • A slim oil flask with one handle and a narrow neck A lekythos is a vessel for storing oil, especially olive oil, with a narrow body and one handle.
  • A vase scene of two heroes bent over a board game An amphora now in the Vatican shows Achilles and Ajax playing a board game, their names written beside them.
  • A vase with the potter's signature lettered on it Greek pottery is frequently signed, sometimes by the potter and only occasionally by the painter.
  • A water jar with three handles: two to lift, one to pour A hydria is a water-carrying vessel with two horizontal handles at its sides and a vertical one at the back.
  • A white vase with figures drawn in fine outline In the white-ground technique figures appear on a white background. It dates to about 500 BC.

Temples and columns 12

  • A Corinthian column top wrapped in curling leaves The Corinthian order has elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls.
  • A Doric column: grooved shaft, plain top, no base The Greek Doric column was fluted and had no base, dropping straight onto the platform.
  • A frieze of grooved blocks and square panels by turns Triglyphs are the vertically channeled blocks of a Doric frieze; the spaces between are metopes.
  • A grand gateway of columns at the top of a ramp The Propylaia, built between 437 and 432 BC, was the monumental gateway to the Acropolis of Athens.
  • A low stone triangle resting on the beam of a temple A pediment is a gable, usually triangular, set above the horizontal beam the columns carry.
  • A porch held up by six stone women in place of columns The Porch of the Maidens on the Erechtheion in Athens has six sculpted female figures as supports.
  • A round temple ringed with columns The Tholos of Delphi is a circular temple; twenty Doric columns stood around its outside.
  • A small stone treasury building at a sanctuary The Athenian Treasury at Delphi was built by the Athenians to house offerings to the sanctuary.
  • A theater from above: a fan of seat rows around a circle The theater at Epidaurus, from the late 4th century BC, is admired for its acoustics.
  • A theater stepped into a hillside below a citadel The Theater of Dionysus in Athens is built on the south slope of the Acropolis hill.
  • A tiny temple with four columns at each end The Temple of Athena Nike, built around 420 BC, is the smallest temple on the Acropolis of Athens.
  • An Ionic capital: a cushion ending in two rolled scrolls The Ionic capital is characterized by its volutes, the two scrolls.

Statues and reliefs 12

  • A band of spiky acanthus leaves carved in stone The acanthus is one of the most common plant forms in ornament that comes from Greece and Rome.
  • A bronze chariot driver standing with the reins in hand The Charioteer of Delphi is a bronze statue of around 470 BC that stands 1.8 meters tall.
  • A face with almond eyes and a small fixed smile Sculptors of Archaic Greece gave faces the archaic smile, especially in the 6th century BC.
  • A fan of palm-like leaves carved on top of a stone slab The palmette is a motif that resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree.
  • A marble girl in a long dress, with her paint put back The Peplos Kore, made around 530 BC, was originally colorfully painted, and traces of paint remain.
  • A small clay figure of a woman in a cloak and sun hat Tanagra figurines are mold-cast terracotta figures showing women in everyday dress, some with hats or fans.
  • A sphinx perched on top of a tall column The marble Sphinx of Naxos stood on a 10 meter column at Delphi from about 560 BC.
  • A statue of a man carrying a calf The Moschophoros, or calf-bearer, of about 560 BC was found in pieces on the Acropolis of Athens in 1864.
  • A stone gateway with two lions carved above the door The Lion Gate at Mycenae, of around 1250 BC, is named for the relief of two lions above its entrance.
  • A strip of riders and horses carved in low relief The Parthenon Frieze was 160 meters long when complete and 1 meter high.
  • A temple statue with gold robes and ivory skin Chryselephantine statues were built around a wooden frame, with carved ivory and gold attached.
  • A winged figure landing on the bow of a ship The Winged Victory of Samothrace, of about 190 BC, stands on a base in the shape of a ship's bow.

Masks, coins and daily life 12

  • A bronze helmet with slits for the eyes and mouth The Corinthian helmet was bronze and in its later styles covered the entire head and neck.
  • A coin with an owl and an olive sprig The Athenian tetradrachm had an owl with an olive sprig on its back for more than two centuries.
  • A doodle scratched on a broken piece of pot An ostracon is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase.
  • A golden face from Mycenae, found in 1876 The Mask of Agamemnon is a gold funerary mask found at Mycenae in 1876.
  • A long ship with three rows of oars on each side A trireme was an ancient vessel named for its three banks of oars.
  • A small harp-like lyre with a shell for its sound box The chelys, the common lyre of the ancient Greeks, had a convex back of tortoiseshell.
  • A water clock, drawn as two pots and a thin stream A water clock is also called a clepsydra, from Greek words for to steal and water.
  • A winner's wreath of olive leaves The olive wreath, a branch of wild olive bent into a circle, was the prize at the ancient Olympic Games.
  • All the Greek capital letters lettered in two neat rows The Greek alphabet has 24 letters, each with an uppercase and a lowercase form.
  • An actor's mask: big eye holes and a gaping mouth The Greek word for a mask is prosopon, face. Vase paintings of the 5th century BC show actors' masks.
  • An upright loom with weights hanging from the threads On a warp-weighted loom the warp hangs from a bar and is kept tight by loom weights.
  • The other side of the coin: a head wearing a helmet The front of the Athenian tetradrachm showed the helmeted head of Athena.

How it works

Greek art left clear shapes to draw: a vase for every job, three kinds of column, statues that still show traces of paint. These are real pots, buildings, sculptures and everyday things, each with one checked fact.

Read the full guide

Ancient Greek art ideas, from a jar to a temple

Pottery shapes and painting runs from a slim oil flask to painted scenes. Temples and columns holds the three orders: Doric with no base, Ionic with scrolls, Corinthian with leaves. Statues and reliefs comes next, then Masks, coins and daily life.

Art ideas of classical Greece from Athens

Many of these are from Athens: the porch held up by six stone women, the smallest temple on the Acropolis, the theater on its south slope and the coin with an owl. Easy is a choice under More filters.

Questions and answers

Which Greek vases with stories are easy to draw?

The simplest is the black-figure vase, filed under Medium: its figures are dark silhouettes with details scratched in. A prize jar, filed under Hard, showed on its back the event it was won for.

What are the three Greek columns?

Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. A Greek Doric column is fluted and has no base. An Ionic capital has scrolls called volutes. A Corinthian capital is carved with scrolls and acanthus leaves.

Were Greek statues white?

Not all of them. The Peplos Kore, a marble statue made around 530 BC, was originally colorfully painted, and traces of the paint remain.

What did ancient Greek coins show?

The tetradrachm of Athens kept one design for over two hundred years: Athena's helmeted head on the front and, on the back, an owl with an olive sprig.

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