Terracotta oinochoe: chous (jug)

Pan Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ganymede with gamecock and hoop Renowned for his beauty, Ganymede was a scion of the Trojan royal house. Zeus desired him to be the gods' cupbearer on Mount Olympos. Representations of the late sixth and fifth centuries B.C. show Ganymede being carried off by Zeus himself; beginning in the fourth century, Zeus is replaced by an eagle. The Pan Painter perfectly depicts the boy as he runs along. The subject is fitting for a jug from which wine was poured.

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