Some of the most detailed views into the livelihoods of the ancient Greeks can be found on painted vases. Because scenes of industry and commerce comprise only a tiny portion of the extensive imagery developed by Greek painters, it is widely assumed that vases bearing such scenes were specially commissioned by the workshop owners or craftsmen themselves. This small group of vases offers a remarkably fresh look at the workaday world of ancient Athens. Painters used their keen powers of observation to create strikingly realistic representations of tradesmen-including carpenters, butchers, and occasionally even their fellow artists-who can always be distinguished from their customers by their distinctive dress, attributes, and poses.

This black-figure amphora features a pair of workshop scenes. On one side, a view into a shoemaker's shop reveals a young female customer standing on a table for a fitting while an older man, distinguished by his white beard and hair (her father?), leans on his cane and points to the seated cobbler, who gestures back with an open palm. The bearded shoemaker leans forward to cut the leather soles around the woman's feet, while his apprentice works on another sandal. On the opposite side of the vase, a naked, bearded blacksmith wields a sledgehammer, striking a bar of metal held with tongs by another naked man sitting near the furnace. In each scene, samples of the craftsmen's tools hang on the wall above them.

Excavators digging in a corner of the ancient agora (marketplace) in Athens have discovered the remains of a fifth-century-B.C. workshop belonging to a shoemaker named Simon, who played host on occasion to philosophical discussions led by Socrates. Perhaps the owner of this vessel and its painter had such lofty associations in mind.

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