Terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Achilles Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, warrior and man Reverse, Nike (the personification of victory) and youth Individual characterization is rare in Attic vase-painting, but there are notable exceptions. The head of the wizened warrior on the obverse, with his unkempt hair, long bony nose, and furrowed brow, bespeaks a specific non-Athenian person. Identifying him is complicated by an inscription incised before the background glaze was applied and, therefore, difficult to read. The preferred interpretation is that this is Tereus, the king of Thrace, who seriously mistreated Philomela and Prokne, the daughters of King Pandion of Athens. Here Tereus may be asking Pandion for permission to marry Prokne.

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