Glass beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent yellow green. Unworked, knocked-off rim with slight bulge below; truncated conical body; thick, concave bottom. Three vertical mold seams run down sides from bulge to edge of bottom, with a separate shallow disk-shaped base section. On body, five staggered rows of buds, decreasing in size, down side, some smooth, some tiered on surface, and alternating with raised dots; on bottom, a single raised circle. Intact, but with several chips in rim; pinprick bubbles and blowing striations; pitting and iridescent weathering on exterior, small patches of creamy brown weathering and iridescence on interior. The raised bosses that decorate this drinking vessel are identified as representing the knots in the club wielded by Hercules, whose cult was popular with the Romans. Finds from numerous military sites across the Empire may suggest that soldiers in particular liked to have glass tableware that recalled the strength and drinking prowess of the great hero.

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