Ivory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in India

Ivory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in India

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dionysos, a son of Zeus, rides in his chariot overseeing his conquest of India as described by the fifth-century Egyptian poet Nonnos of Panopolis: "Lord Bacchus [Dionysos] spoke…Indian slaying servants of invincible Dionysos! Bind them all fast unresisting, the sons of the Indians, take them all prisoners in bloodless conflict."

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ivory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in IndiaIvory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in IndiaIvory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in IndiaIvory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in IndiaIvory Pyx with the Triumph of Dionysos in India

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.