Marble head of a philosopher

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copy of a Greek statue of the last quarter of the 3rd century B.C. In spite of its battered condition, the portrait conveys the personality of a great thinker. There are striking similarities between this head and portraits of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), the tutor of Alexander the Great and one of the most important intellects of the fourth century B.C., but the identity of this man remains unknown. The existence of a second head of the same type in the National Archaeological Museum in Chieti, Italy, likely indicates that a well-known person is represented.

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