Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)

Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reverse, shield of a participant in the race in armor The race in armor was a major athletic competition in ancient Greece, partly because it featured the skill and stamina of a warrior. The shield here was painted white, with the device of a lion added in dilute glaze. The technique became popular in Athens from about 470 B.C. on, when it was employed particularly for funerary lekythoi (oil flasks).

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)Fragment of a Panathenaic prize amphora (jar)

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.