Small terracotta amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An amphoriskos is a small amphora, or two-handled jar, that could serve as a gift in a tomb. Oversize versions of the same shape, with handles on the belly, served as grave markers. Large amphorae with handles placed on the belly or on the shoulder held women’s cremated remains, while men’s ashes were placed in amphorae with neck handles. Attic funerary practices are known for the close connection between specific pottery shapes and the gender of the deceased.

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