Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Painter of the Yale Lekythos

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Young warrior cutting his hair with sword There were several important ceremonies in which it was customary for boys and girls to sacrifice a lock of their hair, but this image of a young warrior cutting his hair before battle may reflect instead a scene in The Seven against Thebes, a tragedy by Aeschylus produced in Athens about 470 B.C. The seven heroes knew that only one of them would survive battle. Each cut a lock of his hair and tied it to the chariot that would carry home the survivor. This lekythos was probably made as a tomb gift. It may represent one of the seven heroes, or it may reflect the heroic death of an Athenian youth.

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