Terracotta pyxis (cosmetic box)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The pyxis is inscribed in the Doric dialect of Greek, used in south-west Asia Minor and the neighboring island of Rhodes. Although there are difficulties in interpreting the metrical text, it may be taken to say "Brasia is the most beautiful on earth—so it seems to me," followed by the names of four Greek gods, Zeus, Hermes, Artemis, and Athena. Brasia may be the name of a well-known hetaira (courtesan).

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