Attic pottery of the Classical period can be divided into several categories, depending on what the surface decoration is. These categories are: red-figure pots; black-figure pots;white - ground vessels, black-glazed pottery; and unglazed pottery for common use. These categories were already familiar in the Archaic period. In the Classical period, however, craftsmen developed the possibilities of the medium still further, at the same time improving the variety of decorative patterns. The influence of major painting is obvious in composition of scenes with several figures. The influence of the sculptures of the Parthenon is confined to a few figures only. From lekythoi and other white-ground pots we can get some idea, in a limited way, of how the best-known major painters of the time were experimenting with colour.

The black-figure remained alive until well into the 4th century B.C. Its function was now exclusively to decorate Panathenaic amphoras. The inspiration and originality were no longer there. Lastly there was black-glazed and unglazed pottery - the commonest output of the Kerameikos if we go by volume. Of these two types, only the first was exported - throughout the whole Hellenic world and even beyond its boundaries. Its shiny black glaze set it apart from the various local imitations. It often had impressed geometric or floral decorations.