Bronze centaur

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the fifth century B.C., centaurs appeared in many monumental representations, especially in Athens. The decoration of the Theseion included large wall paintings depicting not only Greeks fighting Amazons but also centaurs fighting Lapiths. The sculptures of the Parthenon featured centaurs as well. The boulder included in this work suggests that the source of inspiration was the myth of Kaineus, a Lapith invulnerable to man-made weapons, who could only be overcome by being beaten into the ground with trees and stones.

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