Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

Amasis Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Poseidon, the god of the seas, among Greek warriors Reverse, the stables of Poseidon The subjects are drawn from book 13 of Homer's Iliad. Poseidon, seeing the Greeks hard-pressed, decided to help renew their valor. At his underwater palace, he ordered his chariot prepared so that he could ride to their aid. On one side of this cup, an atmosphere of feverish excitement reigns in the stables as grooms attempt to soothe four high-strung horses tethered to columns. Supernatural forces seem to have been unleashed: tiny figures race over the horses' backs and swing down from the architectural frieze above. On the other side of the cup, Poseidon, carrying a trident, urges on the Greek heroes.

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