This article offers some methodological and historical considerations concerning the problem of dating and classifying the Gnathian pottery. Particular attention is paid to the importance of combining different research approaches in the study of Hellenistic Apulian pottery. This seems especially crucial in the case of Gnathian vases with a 'standard" decoration, because they are difficult to place stylistically. As far as the chronology of the "Late Gnathian" is concerned, it is necessary to avoid a "Tarento-centric" viewpoint, i.e. a viewpoint focused exclusively on the situation in Tarentum. While it has been convincingly demonstrated that Gnathian pottery continued to be produced in Tarentumn after 272 B.C., the situations in other centres (for instance in Messapia) require diverse approaches. As regards the dating of the ribbed vases, their automatic classification as Late Gnathian seems debatable.
