Bronze statuette of Zeus or Poseidon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This mature bearded figure must represent either Zeus, the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian deities, or his brother Poseidon, who controlled the seas. The identity would have been clear from the attribute that was originally held in the right hand. Zeus's weapon was the thunderbolt, and a sanctuary to him was established wherever lightening struck. Poseidon wielded a trident, the three-pronged spear that fishermen used to catch huge tuna.

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