Limestone statue of an enthroned youth

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This seated figure holding a roll of manuscript across his knees and a stylus in his right hand could represent a priest of high rank who transcribed oracles or other declarations of the god he served. The remains of a bird perched on his left hand and the elaborate throne with animals at the side suggest, however, that this statuette represents a deity—probably Apollo, the god of poetry and art, famous for his oracles. The bird may well have been a raven, the bird that often accompanies Apollo.

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