Terracotta skyphos (deep drinking cup)

Polion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Athletes and men Gymnastic training was an essential part of a boy's education. It was important for citizens to be in good physical condition, as they could be called up for military service. Athletes who competed in the Panhellenic games at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Isthmia, as well as those held by other cities, such as the Panathenaic games of Athens, specialized in certain events and worked extensively with professional trainers.

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