An Jiang

This project contextualizes the painted ceramic vases in ancient Greek sanctuaries by rethinking the human experience that has often been severed from our understanding of these sacred objects in the modern contexts of scholarship and curatorial display. By investigating how these vases were actually used, viewed, repaired and relinquished by the Greeks, this research seeks to recover the ancient lives of these vases from the moment that they were destined for the sacred spaces to the termination of their religious functions. The Greek vases are not considered here as isolated artistic creations, nor as passive archaeological dating tools, but as potent agents that actively played diverse roles in the various processes of the religious experience of the ancient Greeks in their sanctuaries.