The pottery of Messene traces the city’s history from its founding in the 4th century B.C. through the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. Of particular interest is the pottery from the Hellenistic period, dating from around 320 B.C. to the 1st century B.C., which reflects the styles and general trends of the era. The end of the 4th century B.C. also marks the end—the demise—of painted pottery. It was replaced by monochrome vases, either entirely black (melanophane) or entirely red (erythrophane). The Terra Sigillata, or Pergamenes (from Pergamon in Asia Minor, where they first appeared around 150 B.C. –50 B.C.) and feature impressed or even relief decoration. Their production continued in Italy (where they are called Arretine, from Arezzo) and throughout the East until the 7th–8th centuries A.D. A group of the latter is known as African ware (from workshops in North Africa). These are mainly household items (shallow and deep plates). The category of monochrome black-figure pottery also includes the so-called Megarian (mainly skyphoi) with relief decoration, typically floral, but also featuring animals or scenes from the Iliad, in which case they are called Homeric skyphoi. Megaric skyphoi were very widespread from approximately 250 to 100 B.C.

The most richly decorated vases can be divided into two broad categories: dark-figure (with a dark ground) and light-figure. The first category includes the so-called West Slope vases, which appeared in Attica in the 4th century B.C. and continued to be produced in local workshops until approximately the 2nd century B.C. The light-colored category includes: a) the Lagynos group, found in the eastern Adriatic around 150 B.C. (on a white slip, with mainly plant-motif decorations in black or brown), b) the Hadra vases of Alexandria (circa 260–210 B.C.), mainly hydria whose bodies are covered either with a white slip (in which case they bear multicolored decorations) or with a yellow slip (in which case the decoration is in black or brown). These vases were typically used as urns in tombs.