Terracotta amphora (jar)

Acheloös Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse and reverse, revelers Drinking plays a large part in Attic vase-painting. Many of the shapes were made for the symposium, and their decoration depicts varied aspects of the gatherings. This amphora shows two groups of men, wreathed with vine leaves and because they stand firmly, probably at the beginning of the evening.

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