Terracotta stamnos (jar)

Deepdene Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, warrior arming, possibly Achilles Reverse, Menelaos reclaiming his wife, Helen The subject matter of the obverse is indicated by the woman who is handing the warrior his armor. In Homer's Iliad, Thetis, the mother of Achilles, replaces the original armor that Achilles gave to his friend Patroklos. This side probably depicts the principal Greek hero of the Trojan War, while the other indicates the cause of the war, the desire of Menelaos, the king of Sparta, to reclaim his wife from Paris, the Trojan prince. The fluid execution of the figures is complemented by the superb handle ornaments.

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