Terracotta oinochoe (jug)

Painter of London B 620

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Peleus treed by a lion and a boar A succession of misadventures brought Peleus, the future father of the hero Achilles, to cower in a treetop. While a guest of King Akastos, Peleus became the target of the queen's unrequited love. Rebuffed, she accused him of trying to seduce her. The enraged king lured Peleus to the deserted slopes of Mount Pelion and left him unarmed against wild beasts until the gods provided a magic knife.

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