Terracotta head of a panther

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This well-modeled head of a panther served as a spout in antiquity. It is ornamented with a wreath of ivy leaves and clusters of grapes, Dionysian cult symbols. The panther, the most graceful and fascinating but also the most savage and bloodthirsty of all the cats associated with Dionysus, entered into the god's retinue by way of Asia Minor.

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