Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Herakles, Deianeira, and Nessos Reverse, centaurs beat the lapith Kaineus into the ground Inscription: obverse, Herakles; reverse, Dase, Simias Centaurs are represented on both sides of this vase. The scene on the obverse was popular beginning in the seventh century B.C. According to myth, the centaur Nessos attacked Deianeira and Herakles rescued her, shooting the beast with an arrow poisoned with the Hydra's blood. But on this particular vase and on most illustrated depictions of this myth, Herakles attacks Nessos with his sword.

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