Scent bottle depicting a woman holding a dove at The British Museum, London

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The earliest Greek settlers in southern Italy and Sicily produced terracottas that closely resembled those of their ancestral cities on the Greek mainland and in the east. In the archaic and classical periods, they developed their own unique regional specialties. Most Hellenistic terracottas show a strong influence from the mainland Greek 'Tanagra' style. All the Greek cities in the west created their own distinct terracottas. Important production centers emerged in Locri, Taranto, Ruvo, and Canosa. The late Hellenistic figures from Canosa are often large-scale masterpieces. Some must have served as an affordable alternative to statues made of bronze or marble, while others were used as decorative attachments to massive, colorful vases. Islands like Rhodes and Samos, along with the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor, produced terracottas from an early stage. In the archaic period, many terracotta figures took the form of bottles - containers for fragrant oil. These were crafted in Rhodes, Samos, or Miletus and exported throughout the Mediterranean, reaching Italy to the west and the shores of the Black Sea to the north. The most impressive terracotta figures from the Hellenistic world were created at Myrina, a small but significant city situated between Smyrna and Pergamon. Some reflect the latest trends in large-scale sculpture, while a few bear the signatures of their creators on the back. The terracottas of Hellenistic Cyprus showcase the blend of local and international influences characteristic of the island during this period.