Marble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and Nikon

Marble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and Nikon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This akroterion once crowned a tall marble shaft now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The inscription states that the grave monument was erected to honor Timotheos and his son Nikon, both of the deme (political district) of Kephale. The front of the akroterion is decorated in relief with a palmette, the stems of which rise as spiral tendrils from a bed of acanthus leaves. At the top is a flower that once had a painted stem.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and NikonMarble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and NikonMarble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and NikonMarble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and NikonMarble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and Nikon

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.