Terracotta jug

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this extraordinary evocative depiction, a woman faces off a horned serpent whose head looks vaguely like that of a ram. The protagonists appear well matched. In many cultures the line between human beings and animals, real or mythological, is permeable. The representation may be associated with an animal fable. Even more, it recalls the dialogue between Eve and the serpent in the Book of Genesis.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art