Terracotta hydria: kalpis (water jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the shoulder, two warriors in combat The shape and the glossy black glaze contribute decisively to the elegance and power of the hydria. The combat on the shoulder, probably deliberately anonymous, evokes a heroic encounter from the epic cycle of poems concerning the Trojan War of which only the Iliad and the Odyssey survive. The palmette ornament in the handle zone represents a motif popular with red-figure vase-painters of the generation contemporary with Euphronios.

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