Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora

Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora

Kittos Group

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Athena Reverse, footrace Official prize amphorae in the Panathenaic games are always identified by an inscription. Beginning in the early fourth century B.C., an additional inscription gives the name of the archon, the civil magistrate during whose tenure the oil for the succeeding festival was harvested. Because other sources provide the dates of their tenures, the vases can be dated exactly. The archon named here is Polyzelos, who held office in 367/366 B.C. This vase is also important for having its lid.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.