Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)

Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The scene represented in relief on these two phialai derives from a late fifth century B.C. prototype, probably of silver. It represents the apotheosis of Herakles, who appears in a four-horse chariot drawn by a winged Nike and accompanied by the chariots of Athena, Ares, and Dionysos. Rogers Fund, 1923 (23.160.12)


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)Terracotta phiale (libation bowl)

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.