Terracotta aryballos

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small aryballoi were used as containers to hold scented oil. Olive oil in particular was treated with aromatic plants such as rose, sage, coriander, and pomegranate. Since this was a valuable luxury item in the Mediterranean, it was usually stored in bottles with narrow necks that limited the flow of the liquid. Corinth was one of the most important centers of production and distribution of such vases, which were widely exported all over Greece as well as in South Italy and Sicily.

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