ROMAN ANTIQUITIES at the Metropolitan Museum

Speranza

The Roman empire was the largest and longest lasting empire in the ancient Mediterranean world.

The Roman antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of New York originate from the first three hundred years of the Roman empire, from its inception under the emperor AUGUSTO (r. 27 BC -- AD 14) to the time of COSTANTINO I (r. AD 307-337).

Because of the Roman empire's vast size, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates and from Scotland to the Sahara, it encompassed many different peoples, languages, and cultures (and not just old Italian!)

For these reasons, Roman antiquities can be multifarious and eclectic.

Additionally, the nature of the Roman antiquities changed MARKEDLY over time, as tastes and customed altered.

Literature and the arts reached a peak during the GOLDEN AGE of AUGUSTO, but the revival of Hellenism under ADRIANO (r. AD 117-138) also inspired further developments in the arts, sciences, and philosophy that had a major impact on later western civilisation.