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

Methyse Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse and reverse, Dionysos, the god of wine, with his followers, satyrs and maenads Belonging to the group around the Villa Giulia Painter, the Methyse Painter takes his name from the lyre-playing maenad in front of Dionysos (methyse means "drunk"). The figures' incipient inebriation is subtly suggested. The key is Dionysos—slow-moving with downcast, introverted expression and stabilized by a young satyr who wraps his arms around the god's middle. The satyrs and maenads on the reverse are more active. One maenad holds her thyrsos (fennel stalk) ready to parry an assault. The figures under each handle are engaged in an eternal pursuit.

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