Terracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismos

Terracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismos

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The subject of this group with one person carrying another has a long history in Greek art. It is thought to illustrate a game called ephedrismos. A stone was placed upright on the ground, and balls or pebbles were thrown at it from a distance. The loser's eyes were covered, and he had to carry the other player on his back until he found and touched the stone. There were probably a number of variations. Here the little girl carries her companion but does not have her eyes covered.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismosTerracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismosTerracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismosTerracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismosTerracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismos

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.