Marble sarcophagus with the myth of Endymion

Marble sarcophagus with the myth of Endymion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Found on the Via Ardeatina, on the outskirts of Rome The myth of Endymion, a beautiful shepherd who was so loved by the moon goddess Selene that she gave him eternal youth with eternal sleep, became a popular funerary motif in Roman art. Here, the moon goddess alights from her chariot to visit her reclining lover. Both this sarcophagus and another that faces the open area with a fountain in the courtyard, are decorated with this subject. It is interesting to compare the relief technique; on this mid-second century A.D. work, the relief is shallow, while the other sarcophagus, dated to the early third century, has deep carving with strong light and dark effects created by much use of the running drill.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble sarcophagus with the myth of EndymionMarble sarcophagus with the myth of EndymionMarble sarcophagus with the myth of EndymionMarble sarcophagus with the myth of EndymionMarble sarcophagus with the myth of Endymion

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.