Fragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the Hydra

Fragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the Hydra

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The plinth is broken on one side. It preserves two fragmentary bodies of snakes, one of which has zigzag scales. A sandaled foot stands on one of the tails and the right hand of the figure cuts the other tail with a sickle (harpe). The foot of a second figure stands on the end of the plinth.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the HydraFragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the HydraFragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the HydraFragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the HydraFragment of a limestone group of Herakles, Iolaos, and the Hydra

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.