Right corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr Marsyas

Right corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr Marsyas

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Part of scene showing the flaying of Marsyas. Marsyas challenged Apollo to a musical contest, and he was flayed alive as punishment after losing. here, he is shown hanging from a pine tree, while a bearded Phrygian slave kneeling at his feet sharpens his knife. Behind Marsyas, another slave tightens the ropes that bind him to the tree. The group showing the flaying is copied from a sculptural group created in the Hellenistic period.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Right corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr MarsyasRight corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr MarsyasRight corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr MarsyasRight corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr MarsyasRight corner of a marble sarcophagus with the myth of Apollo and the satyr Marsyas

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.