A piece called: ‘Unknown Black Woman.’ Bronze head of a young woman or man. From Alexandria, Egypt; Hellenistic Greek style, Ptolemaic era, ca. 180-150 BCE. Originally part of a miniature trefoil pitcher, her head was later attached to a marble body in the 1400s CE.

Citation: Composite image courtesy of Leah Himmelhoch, February 4th, 2026, taken at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Inv. 2288).  CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

Red-figure figurative oinochoe (wine pitcher) shaped as a woman’s head. Faliscan (Etruscan), from Italy; ca. 350-300 BCE. (Red-figure figurative vases usually use red or lighter glaze to denote individuals of Greek or Italian heritage, and black glaze to denote individuals of ‘Ethiopian’ heritage).

Wine jugs could be formed into all types of shapes. Human heads of men, women, gods, & mythological figures were also popular during the classical period (though, again, ‘Ethiopians’ were admired for their beauty/exoticism).

Citation: Photo courtesy of Leah Himmelhoch, taken on February 4, 2026 at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, (inv. 70939).  CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

Red-figure style terracotta plate: a hetaira (courtesan) plays an aulos as a young man dances. Made in Athens; painted by Paseas. Late Archaic period, ca. 510 BCE. Found in the Etruscan settlement of Sinalunga, Parco della Villa Passerini.

Citation: Image courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken on April 5, 2023 at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Inv. 253128). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bronze vessel shaped as the head of a woman (or a youth?). Hellenistic, ca. 100s BCE – 99 CE. Probably made in Alexandria, Egypt. Find spot unknown.

Items decorated with ‘Ethiopian’ faces are intended to be ‘exotic’ (again, Ethiopians were admired for their beauty). Other groups were also used as ‘decorative motifs’ (though this site aims to remedy the erasure of non-white individuals in Greece & Rome).

Citation: Courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 256734001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Cast bronze oil-flask decorated with ‘African’ heads. Romano-British, Imperial period, ca. 100s CE. Found in a rich grave in England (Bayford Orchard, Kent).

Items decorated with ‘Ethiopian’ faces are intended to be ‘exotic’ (again, Ethiopians were admired for their beauty). Other groups were also used as ‘decorative motifs’ (though this site aims to remedy the erasure of non-white individuals in Greece & Rome).

Citation: Courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 32255001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Black-figure style amphora(?) fragment with the upper half of a figure. Greek; made in North Ionia ca. 560 BCE-540 BCE (the Archaic period). Found in the Sanctuary of Apollo at the Greek colony of Naukratis in Egypt.

Citation: Courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 411833001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Black-figure skyphos (drinking cup). Circe (portrayed as an ‘Ethiopian’ woman) offers Odysseus a large cup of wine; both stand near her loom. From a temple of the Kabeiroi near Thebes (Boeotia). Classical period, ca. 450 BCE-420 BCE. The Kabeiroi seem to have been chthonic deities tied to fertility worshipped in ceremonies involving wine consumption & comedic performances. Kabeiroi cups portray different mythological characters — all in comedic fashion as squat, heavy figures resembling Dionysus’s squat, heavy, often drunken companion Silenus (who usually rides a donkey).

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 265947001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Red-figure hydria; depicts preparations for Andromeda’s sacrifice to the sea-monster. Made of terracotta in Athens, Greece; Classical period, ca. 440 BCE. Found in Lazio Italy (in Vulci). Andromeda is dressed as an ‘easterner’ (Persian-esque). Note: the young men around her are all ‘Ethiopian’ in appearance, yet the pot paints all the figtures as ‘red-figure.’

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset No. 276782001 © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

White ground alabastron (perfume or oil jar) depicting an ‘Ethiopian’ archer. Made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical, ca. 480 BCE. Found at Tanagra in Boeotia. Depictions like this became popular after the second Persian invasion (481-79 BCE), possibly because the Persian army included such warriors.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 122741001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Aryballos (perfume flask), double-headed glazed composition (faience) depicting the heads of an African man and a western Asiatic man. Mould-made, east Greek (from either the Greek city of Naukratis, in Egypt, or the island of Cyprus). Archaic period, ca. 550 BCE.

Citation: Image courtesy of © The Trustees of the British Museum. Asset no. 541903001. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Red-figure kylix (shallow wine cup), side A: Herakles kills Busiris as musicians flee on either side. Made in Athens, Greece (Python was its potter, Epiktetos was its painter). Found in an Etruscan tomb in Vulci, Italy. Late Archaic period, ca. 510 BCE.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of © The Trustees of the British Museum. Asset no. 49696601. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Italiote (‘Greek living in Italy’) black-gloss guttus (pouring vessel) shaped as a youth leaning against an amphora. Found at Reggio Calabria, Via 2 Settembre. Classical, ca. 5th-4th c. BCE.

Citation: Image courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria on May 31, 2016. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Terracotta vase shaped as the head of a man (wearing some form of wreath). Greek, from Anthedon (in Boeotia, central Greece). Hellenistic period, ca. 3rd c. BCE.

Citation: Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria (Antikungsammlung inv. V 1481). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Red-figure bell krater with Herakles fighting Busiris’ attendants. (Reverse side has three youths). Made in Athens, Greece; found at Ruvo di Puglia, Italy. Attributed to the Group of Polygnotos (Beazley). Classical period, ca. 440-20 BCE. In the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Santa Scolastica, Bari, Italy (inv. 1397).

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of Dan Diffendale, photographed on May 13th, 2016 at the exhibition “The Nile at Pompeii: visions of Egypt in the Roman World” at the Egyptian Museum in Torino, Piemonte, Italy, March 5 to September 4 (extended to October 2), 2016. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Detail of a black-figure amphora: Herakles fights Busiris. Made in Athens, Greece; possibly painted by ‘The Swing Painter,’ ca. 540 BCE. Find spot is unknown.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Inv. 1959.1 (Museum Purchase).  www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org.

Herakles kills the Pharoah Busiris. (Name vase of ‘the Busiris painter’). Busiris & many of his attendants are portrayed as ‘Ethiopians’ (‘black’). (Egyptians were often portrayed as Ethiopians/’black’ people in Greek art). Greek, black figure hydria, ca. 510 BCE. Found in Caere (an Etruscan city, now the city of Cerveteri, Italy). This pot was made in a Greek workshop established in Etruria.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped. (The image on this hydria’s reverse (below) shows ‘Ethiopian’ Egyptians running to defend Busiris).

Citation: Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; on view in Room XIV in the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung Inv. # IV 3576). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

This is the reverse of the hydria (above). Here, Busiris’s ‘Ethiopian’ Egyptian attendants rush to Busiris’s defense. (Egyptians were often portrayed as ‘Ethiopians’/’black’ people in Greek art. ) Greek, black figure hydria, ca. 510 BCE. Found in Caere (an Etruscan city, now the city of Cerveteri, Italy). This pot was made in a Greek workshop established in Etruria.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; on view in Room XIV of the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung. Inv. # IV 3576). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Red-figure terracotta column crater depicting Herakles killing Busiris (the Cleveland painter). Made in Athens, Greece; Classical period, ca. 470 BCE.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Egisto Sani, taken at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (Inv. #19568). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Red-figure style stamnos portraying Herakles killing Busiris (as attendants & soldiers run for help). Made in Athens, found at the Etruscan site of Vulci, in central Italy; early Classical period, ca. 460 BCE.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken at Oxford, the Ashmolean Museum (Inv. no. 1896-1908.G.270)). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cast bronze sleeping youth (this piece was once a handle to a larger bronze container). Greek; found in Dodona (northwestern Greece). Classical period, 2nd quarter of the 5th c. BCE (ca. 475 BCE-450 BCE).

Image is edited for use in a High School setting.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; on view in Room XIV in the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung Inv. # VI 2551). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Rhyton formed as the head of a man. From Macedonia, Olynthos (an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice). Late Classical period, ca. 400 BCE-350 BCE.

Citation: Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Harvard Art Museums (1960.404). The Harvard Art Museums encourages the use of its images for all non-commercial purposes

Athenian white ground plate depicitng an Ethiopian warrior near a basin. Early Classical period, ca. 475 BCE-470 BCE. Found at Taranto, Southern Italy. Note: two kalos (‘beautiful’) inscriptions appear on either side of him.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on Oct. 22nd, 2023 at the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, Italy. (Inv. 4424). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Black-figure lekythos with the head of a man in profile. From Paestum, Italy. Pagenstecher’s class. Late Classical period, ca. 350 BCE-325 BCE.

Citation: Courtesy of the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Department of Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Antiquities (LL 89.N 2566). © 2009 Musée du Louvre, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Daniel Lebée/Carine Deambrosis

Fragmentary Athenian vases shaped as a male heads. Greek, Late Archaic-early Classical period, ca. the first half of 5th c. BCE (499 BCE-450 BCE). Found at Taranto, Southern Italy.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on Oct. 22, 2023 at the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, Italy. (Inv. 4423 & 4572). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Composite photo of an alabastron with an Ethiopian(?) warrior wielding an axe & pelta (lunate shield). White-ground style pottery, made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical period, ca. 500 BCE – 480 BCE. Found in Tanagra, Boiotia (central Greece).

Citation: Photos courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on September 6th, 2020 at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece (Inv. 412/CC1091). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Composite photo of an alabastron with an Ethiopian(?) warrior wielding a bow & an axe. White-ground style pottery, made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical period, ca. 500 BCE – 480 BCE. Found at Thebes, Boiotia (central Greece).

Citation: Photos courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on September 6th, 2020 at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece (Inv. 422). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Composite photo of an alabastron with an Ethiopan(?) youth dancing(?) while holding a staff & a kylix (a shallow drinking cup). The back of the alabastron has a snakes & a palm tree. White-ground style pottery, made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical periiod, ca. 500 BCE – 480 BCE. Found at Eretria, Euboia (eastern Greece).

Citation: Photos courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on September 6the, 2020 at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece (Inv. 13887). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Terracotta theater mask of a young man. Greek; made in Campania, Italy; found in Naples, Italy. The Hellenistic period, ca. 290 BCE – 200 BCE.

Citation: Courtesy of the Archaeological Museum of Milan, Italy; La Scala Theatre Collection. ST1593. CC BY 3.0 IT. http://mebic.comune.milano.it/mebic/museoarcheologico/museo/RA302RL_SWAK1-00177

Attic whiteground alabastron with outline drawing. ‘Ethiopian’ carrying quiver (side b). (Side a (below) has an Amazon with a quiver). Early classical period, ca. 490 BCE-480 BCE. Images of ‘Ethiopian’ warriors (and other ‘foreign’ warriors) appear shortly after the second Persian Invasion.

Citation: Image courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung / Johannes Laurentius. Obj. 706955. CC BY-SA 4.0

Attic whiteground alabastron with outline drawing. Amazon carrying quiver and an ax (side a). (Side b (above) has an ‘Ethiopian’ with a quiver). Early classical period, ca. 490 BCE-480 BCE. Images of ‘Ethiopian’ warriors (and other ‘foreign’ warriors) appear shortly after the second Persian Invasion.

Citation: Image courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung / Johannes Laurentius. Obj. 706955. CC BY-SA 4.0

Roman ceramic balsamarium shaped as the head of a man. Unknown find site; Roman Imperial period, ca. 2nd c. CE- 3rd c. CE.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on May 12th, 2019 at the University of Missouri Museum of Art and Archaeology, Columbia, Missouri. Inv. 81.274 (Gift of Andrew and Maeve Gyenes). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Etruscan plastic oinochoe (wine pitcher), terracotta, shaped as a youth’s head. Made in Falerii (?), Italy. Classical period, ca. 400-350 BCE.

Citation: The oinochoe is from the Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum, no. 73-129. The photos are courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken in 2015 at a special exhibit, ‘Die Etrusker: Von Villanova bis Rome’ (‘The Etruscans: From Villanova to Rome’) @ the München Antikensammlung. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photo courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken in 2015. CC BY-SA 4.0.