By means of petrological and micromineralogical examination and spectrographic analysis, Hellenistic glazed wares from several southern Italian sites in Apulia and Lucania were compared with sherds from the Athenian Agora. Black-glazed ware was generally selected. It proved possible to distinguish Attic from Apulian sherds by their Ni, Cr and Ca concentrations. A computer program, GLADIS, was employed which compares the elemental composition of sherd pairs and expresses the similarity of a pair by the Euclidean distance, Dij. Dij values are transformed into similarity-levels which it is then possible to put into groups. Only very generalized conclusions could be drawn concerningthe origin of the pottery from the petrological evidence; the micromineralogical data showed that interesting differences existed between pottery from the main Italian sites, but these could equally reflect natural variations occurring within fairly homogeneous clay deposits.