Limestone head of a man wearing a helmet

Limestone head of a man wearing a helmet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The face has a smiling expression, the nose is slightly hooked, the eyes almond-shaped, the eyebrows high and thick, the ears schematic, the frontal locks jagged. The tall helmet has a smooth surface and the peak is nothing more than a stump. On the back is just a bit of the hair that projected below the helmet.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Limestone head of a man wearing a helmetLimestone head of a man wearing a helmetLimestone head of a man wearing a helmetLimestone head of a man wearing a helmetLimestone head of a man wearing a helmet

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.