Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse and reverse, griffins attacking a deer The subject of griffins attacking a deer has a long history and remained popular during the Hellenistic period throughout the Mediterranean area. It may be a symbol of the inevitability of death. The handles are ribbon-like and include so-called Herakles knots, a square knot symbolic of love and power in the ancient world. In the Roman Imperial period, Herakles knots were believed to heal wounds.

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