This sarcophagus was found in 1889 in a tomb near Capranica, a modern municipality about 40 miles to the northwest of Rome, not far from the ancient town of Sutrium (modern Sutri) on the Via Cassia. It contained the skeleton of a middle-aged man. Today it is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (90.12). The case of the sarcophagus is made of Luni marble, while the lid is of Pentelic marble and is narrower that the case. This mismatch may be the result of the use of marble blocks originally intended for other purposes. It is less likely that a finished lid was chosen for this case from ..read more

The largest of all Roman villas was that built (and probably designed) by the emperor Hadrian near Tibur (modern Tivoli). Its largest part -- hard to miss when one looks at the model (above) or the plan (below) -- is known as the Pecile. The Italian name evokes a connection with the building erected in the Agora of Athens in the fifth century BC: the Stoa Poikile, famous both for the paintings it housed (hence its name, Painted Porch) as well as for its association with philosophy (Stoicism). A passage in the Historia Augusta (Hadrianus 26.5) records that Hadrian himself named this and oth ..read more

This small vase -- it is less than seven inches tall with its lid and less than five without it -- is a pyxis (pl. pyxides), a round lidded container for cosmetics and jewelry. The pyxis was an everyday container for Greek women. It was also associated with weddings. Pyxides were among the presents brought to the bride were amphoriskoi (tiny amphorae for perfumed oil), epinetra (knee protectors for carding wool), and lekythoi (oil bottles), as well as loutrophoroi (large pots for the bridal bath). Many of these vases also bore images relating to marriage in some way. Our vase depicts the Ju ..read more

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While vases are our chief source for early painting in Greece, there are some survivals in other media. Among these are painted terracotta slabs that once decorated old wooden temples, in particular those from Temple C at Thermon in Aetolia, near the western end of the Gulf of Corinth. The style of the painting, which shows Corinthian influence, points to a date of ca. 630-620 BC. The drawing shows how these slabs were set as metopes between cross-beams capped by triglyphs. They are slightly more than two and a half feet square. The background is a cream-colored clay slip. The skin ..read more