Terracotta bell-krater (mixing bowl)

Sarpedon Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Europa pleading with Zeus for the life of Sarpedon; Hera, Hypnos, Pasithea Reverse, Europa with attendants watching Hypnos and Thanatos bringing the body of Sarpedon The decoration probably reflects the Europa or Carians, a lost play by the Greek tragedian, Aischylos. The subject of the obverse is unusual and has posed difficulties of identification. The depiction of Sarpedon being transported by Sleep and Death to his native Lycia for burial originated in Athens, possibly with the painter Euphronios, and it assumed some currency on vases. With the numerous props indicating the abode of Zeus and Hera and of the enthroned Europa, the Apulian vase likely represents a specific theatrical interpretation.

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