Terracotta kylix: eye-cup (drinking cup)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse and reverse, between eyes, Theseus and the Minotaur In Greek mythology, Athens was once subject to King Minos of Crete and was obliged to send a yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens. They either lost their way in the king's labyrinthine palace or were consumed by the Minotaur, part man and part bull. Theseus, with the help of Ariadne, Minos' daughter, killed the monstrous creature. The episode appears here with youths and maidens as spectators.

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