Terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Persephone Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, the ascension of Persephone from the underworld Reverse, libation scene Persephone, the daughter of the goddess Demeter, was condemned to spend half of each year with Hades, the ruler of the underworld. In this grandiose representation, Persephone ascends to earth through a rocky outcrop. She is guided by Hermes, the divine messenger, and Hekate, a goddess of fertility, magic, and dark things who typically carries torches. At the far right stands the regal Demeter, waiting to receive her daughter and the renewal of life that her return engendered.

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