Terracotta reilef roundel with head of Medusa

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The central decoration on this roundel is a gorgoneion, the head of Medusa. She is depicted as a beautiful female with wavy locks of thick hair, a sharp change from the monstrous Gorgon of earlier periods. The small wings above her forehead identify her as the Gorgon sister. Traces of pink and blue paint are preserved. Medusa remained a popular ornamental element through the Greek and Roman periods; this roundel may have decorated a piece of furniture or a wall.

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