Marble relief fragment depicting athletic prizes

Marble relief fragment depicting athletic prizes

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On this dedicatory relief are representations of the standard prizes awarded at four venues in Greece: an amphora of olive oil from the Panathenaic games at Athens, a shield from the games at Argos, and two wreaths (of pine and celery) from the prestigious Panhellenic games at Isthmia and Nemea respectively. Such games, which were very much part of the Greek tradition, flourished in Roman times. Many cities continued to host them, and individuals—the winner from Rhamnous who commissioned this relief, for example—gained much fame and fortune from their victories.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble relief fragment depicting athletic prizesMarble relief fragment depicting athletic prizesMarble relief fragment depicting athletic prizesMarble relief fragment depicting athletic prizesMarble relief fragment depicting athletic prizes

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.