
Terracotta globular cup
Tityos Painter
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Male and female figures flanked by heraldic lions The subject of this vase is unusual: a male figure wearing winged boots and holding a bow and an axe pursues a woman carrying a bow. Do the figures represent divine characters, perhaps Apulu (Apollo) and his twin sister Artumes (Artemis)? The bow is a typical attribute of both these deities, and winged boots often signify a divine or supernatural being in Etruscan art.
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.