Terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Kekrops Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, bull being sacrificed Reverse, torch race The scenes on the krater probably refer to an Athenian festival dedicated to the god Hephaistos. An inscription indicates that the festival was either founded or reorganized about 421/420 B.C. Although little is known about it, the events included a torch race and the sacrifice of bulls, possibly by the victors in the race.

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