Limestone relief

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The relief depicts Herakles rustling the cattle of Geryon. Recognizable by the lionskin falling over his back, the hero stands at the far left. In the upper register, Geryon's three-headed dog has an arrow in one neck. In the lower register, Eurytion, the herdsman, is characterized as uncivilized by his satyrlike features and by the stone and tree that he uses as weapons. Geryon's herd is represented with particular attention to the calves in the foreground and the lead animals that look back. Since this relief as well as the statues of Geryon and Herakles were all found near the temple of Goloi, the question arises whether they were originally associated in some way.

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