The historic events and readjustments which took place in the wider Aegean region from the twelveth to the eight century BC, had a great effect on social life and artistic creation.
In the eighth century BC the first signed vases appear, a fact meaning that the artist has started becoming aware of his individuality, therefore he proclaimes himself a creator through his signature. The inscription of the artist’s name on works of sculpture, that occurs from the sixth century on, has presented us a long, interesting list of sculptors, while poetry and history has also transmitted to us the first eponymous personalities. The first attempts for the representation of realistic figures with individual features appear in the fifth and fourth centuries. The art of portraiture, which flourishes during the Roman period, assigns the prominent role in artistic creation not to the artist but to the work of art.
