Amulet pendant, djed sign

Amulet pendant, djed sign

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Symbolic objects used for amulets include a menat-pendant, the djed-sign, a papyrus capital are all common in Egyptian architecture. Also, a pectoral, such as is used on mummies, a bunch of grapes, or other clusters of fruit, and an inscribed bead are common shapes.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Amulet pendant, djed signAmulet pendant, djed signAmulet pendant, djed signAmulet pendant, djed signAmulet pendant, djed sign

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.