Gold capsule in the form of a grasshopper

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A recurrent object of the Archaic and Classical periods--part amulet, part jewelry--is the small capsule worn as a pendant. It is a Phoenician type particularly well represented in Carthaginian jewelry. The purpose of the capsule was to hold a text that would protect or assist the wearer. It is unclear whether the examples found in Cyprus were made there or imported from the Levant.

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