Terracotta squat lekythos (oil flask)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Philoktetes on Lemnos The painter, as yet unidentified, has created an exceptionally expressive composition on this vase. It concerns Philoktetes, a Greek hero who inherited the arrows of Herakles, thus their prominence here. In the story of the Trojan War, these arrows were necessary for the conquest of the city. On the way from Greece, Philoktetes was bitten by a snake that had caused such a painful and foul-smelling wound that he had to be left on the island of Lemnos. Philoktetes, downcast, sits under a barren tree and holds his bandaged foot—a picture of utter despondency. Ultimately, he will be rescued and healed.

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