geometric styles gave way by about 700 BC to the influence of the Near East; in the following Orientalizing period the Greeks learned how to tell a story in pictures;and by the 6th century various regional studios were competing with the dominant Corinthian and Athenian potters and painters for markets east and west. Early Greek vases display the craft at its most mathematical, it most colourful, and in its most directly story telling mode. They closely mirror the history and culture of their day. The later achievements of Greek art can only be fully understood in the light of this formative period of variety, competition and experiment. There are three companion volumes to this handbook, all by Sir John Boardman: Athenian Black Figure Vases, Athenian Red Figure Vases: the Archaic Period, and Athenian Red Figure Vases: the Classical Period.