Marble plaque with funerary inscription

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The inscription records the death of a woman called Lollia Genialis and says that the plaque was set up by her mother, Lollia Sameramis, who describes herself as infelicissima (most unfortunate). Such superlatives appear frequently in funerary inscriptions and provide insight into personal emotions such as the deep sense of loss felt by grieving parents.

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