Terracotta painted gorgoneion antefix (roof tile)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The clear modeling and the vivid traces of paint make this antefix a fine example of its kind. Although the colors (yellow, red, and blue) may appear faded now, their original hue would have been rich and pronounced, appropriate for the frightful theme and its high placement along the roof of a temple. The Gorgon functioned as a protective symbol and thus was an appropriate decoration for sacred architecture.

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