Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Painter of Munich 2335

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mother, boy, and Charon Charon, the ferryman, transported the deceased across the river separating the world of the living from that of the dead. The reality of this journey to the ancient Greeks is reflected in the many representations of Charon and his charges. Here he awaits a woman and a little boy who is undoubtedly the deceased. The child is elevated on a rock and motions to his mother with one hand while holding his go-cart with the other.

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