Limestone stele (shaft) with the head of Hathor

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The lower part of the shaft has been cut off; two dowel holes on the upper surface permitted an additional element to be fastened. Stone shafts incorporating the head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor occur particularly often at Amathus. Their appearance may be connected with the advent of Egyptian rule over the island. They played a role in the cult of the Great Goddess of Cyprus who, like Hathor, afforded protection against death and harm. The shafts also occur in funerary contexts.

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