Terracotta kylix: Siana cup (drinking cup)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Exterior, obverse, inscription: fairest of the maidens On interior, a sphinx seated facing right with its paw lifted This sphinx, the sole and central decoration on this cup, is of an early type. The inscription, hailing the beauty of girls, is unusual. Commonly, the beautiful appearance of young boys, not of girls, is celebrated by Greek vase painters.

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