Marble statue of a seated lion

Marble statue of a seated lion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Excavated at Sardis This seated lion was found along with statues of another lion and an eagle in the precinct of Artemis at Sardis. The group had been assembled on a re-used base during the Roman period, probably after great floods had disrupted the sanctuary. Lions were the attribute of Kybele, the great mother goddess of Anatolia. This statue was probably originally associated with her cult.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble statue of a seated lionMarble statue of a seated lionMarble statue of a seated lionMarble statue of a seated lionMarble statue of a seated lion

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.