The decorations on the pottery from two cities, Athens and Corinth, particularly stand out. In Corinth, the pottery was influenced by travelers from West Asia. However, the Athenians were not as interested in the West Asian style of pottery as the Corinthians were, so the Athenians created scenes taken from mythology.
Greek myths began appearing on pottery during the Geometric age. The age was given this name, according to Lois Fichner-Rathus, because of the geometric designs on the pottery. Scenes from Homer's Iliad and Greek mythology appeared on Athenian pottery.
According to Lois Fichner-Rathus in "Understanding Art," scenes of mythology and daily life sometimes blended on the pottery. Figures of women weavers from the Iliad and the Odyssey are shown on the pottery, and according to Fichner, this not only showed the role of women in society, but also that women had a creative outlet -- weaving.
Most of the scenes of mythology appear on pottery from the Geometric, Black-Figure and Red-Figure ages.
In addition to the Iliad and the Odyssey, other myths show up on Greek pottery, including Niobe's slain children, Artemis and Actaeon and Aias and Achilleus, according to the University of South Florida Web site.