Marble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian Boar

Marble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian Boar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Large marble reliefs of this type were set into walls as decoration. Many figures were shown in an archaistic style, reinterpreting the stiff appearance of early Greek art in a highly sophisticated and decorative manner. In this relief, Herakles carries the wild boar he was obliged to capture alive as one of the twelve labors imposed by Eurystheus, ruler of the Argolid.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian BoarMarble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian BoarMarble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian BoarMarble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian BoarMarble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian Boar

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.