
Terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)
Menelaos Painter
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Obverse, three revelers Reverse, three youths The figures on each side are essentially the same, except that those on the obverse have the attributes of revelers: they wear wreaths, the first youth carries a skyphos (deep drinking cup), and the second plays the flute; music of the lyre and flute was often part of a symposium (drinking party).
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.