Bronze balsamarium decorated with lion-skins and herms

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This flask was used to hold oil for cleaning the skin after athletic practice and competition. The swing handle and lid attached by a chain made it easy to carry and prevented spillage. The decoration itself evokes athletics. Statues of Hermes and Herakles, depicted here as herms, were traditionally set up in the palestra and the gymnasium where athletes trained.

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