Terracotta amphora (jar)

Bateman Group

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Herakles and Amazons in combat Reverse, Dionysos, Hermes, and satyrs Amazons were mythical women warriors thought to live in a remote region of Asia Minor. One of the twelve labors that Herakles had to perform for his master, King Eurystheus, was to capture the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyte. In the fierce battle depicted here, the Amazons are dressed like Greek hoplites (foot soldiers) with helmet, cuirass, and round shield.

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