Terracotta plaque

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Relief with a griffin and an Arimasp or a Hyperborean In Greek mythology, griffins—hybrid beasts combining the features of a lion and an eagle—were fearsome creatures who guarded rich deposits of gold on the peaks of the Rhipaion mountains of Scythia in northeastern Europe. They fought constantly with the Arimasps, a tribe of mythical one-eyed men who dwelt at the foot of the mountains. In the unusual scene on this Roman terracotta plaque (08.258.31), however, the horned lion-griffin appears almost tame, playfully pawing the knee of a male figure while lapping up the liquid he pours into a bowl. The relief most likely depicts a Hyperborean priest attending to the griffin of Apollo; a monumental tripod of the god stands behind him. Hyperborea, literally "beyond the north wind," was a land of eternal spring to the north of the Rhipaion mountains that was ruled by priests of Apollo. The deity vacationed there during the winter months, by some accounts traveling to the mythical realm on a griffin.

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