At the Ancient Greek and Roman gallery, Percy Jackson experiences the ultimate revelation: he is a demi-god. Jackson, a high school student with ADHD, is bewildered and apprehensive about his new challenge. As Percy accepts his new identity, the audience sympathizes with him and hopes that he will be able to clear his name.

The Ancient Greek and Roman gallery is just one of the many galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Within the galleries is a plethora of archeological artifacts presented for the public to avidly scrutinize and to decipher the strange writings or its purpose during a specific era. However, often, the sponsor(s) or the generous benefactor(s) who donated the piece to the Museum is disregarded. After all, the museumgoers are trying to see and appreciate as much of the museum as possible. Consequently, they end up paying little to no attention to the small print sandwiched between the title and summary of the artifact.

However, the Museum itself is clearly gracious of the generous benefactors who contributed to the Museum since it opened at the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue in 1870(The Met- Main Building). At the entrance of the gallery, the Museum has the names of the contributors engraved in a large marble structure. This includes the names of the “robber barons” of American history, such as Jacob S. Rogers and J.P. Morgan. Moreover, the museum also lists the names of the generous benefactor in the description cards for each artifact.

In the Byzantine gallery, it was rather surprising to see that none other than J.P. Morgan himself donated many artifacts to the museum. In history class, J.P. Morgan is said to have been a ruthless businessman who made his money through unscrupulous means. However, Morgan donated numerous artifacts to the Byzantine exhibit such as necklaces, Avars treasures, Panels from the Ivory casket of Adam and Eve, and chains. J.P. Morgan’s son, who wanted to continue his father’s dedication to preserve history, donated many of these artifacts three years after Morgan’s death (Museumstribute).

When the Museum opened up in 1870, Morgan was one of the first subscribers to the museum (Museumstribute). Moreover, Morgan also held many positions from member of the executive committee to member of the financial committee. Consequently, Morgan continued to strive for a leadership position, and in 1904 Morgan was elected to become the first President of the corporation (TheMetMainBuilding). In 1897, Morgan’s first donation to the museum was recorded in 1897 (Museumstribute). When he passed away in 1913, his son continued to donate the artifacts he inherited from his father. Morgan (senior) collected these items because he was dedicated to preserving artifacts with deep historical meaning. As a result, he donated these artifacts in order to educate New Yorkers about preserving them and understanding the historical context from which they were found (Bowen). Although J.P Morgan is portrayed as a “robber baron” in American history, he was also a philanthropist who donated many of the artifacts seen in the Byzantine Empire gallery. However, Morgan is not the philanthropist who contributed to the artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Jacob S. Rogers, owner of Rogers Locomotive Railroad Company was also a philanthropist who made generous contributions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Bloom). The Rogers Fund, whom Rogers is named in honor of, has donated numerous artifacts in the Byzantine gallery. For example, the Fund donated the elaborate marble head of Emperor Constans, temple pendant and sticks and Ancient ceramics with animal designs.

In a sense Rogers was like J.P. Morgan because he is described as an unscrupulous and “frugal” business leader, who made a fortune off of his business (Bloom). Personality wise, Rogers was a misanthrope and an introvert (Bloom). To much surprise Rogers would become an active member in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1883; he donated an estimate of ten dollars a year (Bloom). However, it is not until 1901, the year of Rogers death, that the Museum receives a hefty sum from Rogers. In his will, Rogers gave the Museum approximately five million dollars—or one hundred and seventy million in today’s currency (Bloom). Rogers was the first millionaire to ever establish an endowment fund for the Museum (Bloom). Although Rogers did not have any artifacts in his possession, his contribution to the Museum set the precedent for other millionaires to do the same.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most visited museums in New York City. The Museum has become what it is today from contributions by corporations and business leaders since it first opened in 1870. Two of the earliest contributors for the Museum are Jacob S. Rogers and J.P. Morgan. Although both were unscrupulous and corrupt businessmen, they were also philanthropists and greatly involved in the Museum. For J.P. Morgan the contributions were largely artifacts, while the Rogers Fund, named after Jacob Rogers, consisted mainly of monetary donations. The Byzantine gallery in the Museum is the recipient of many of the donations, in the form of artifacts, from these two donors. Therefore, though Morgan and Rogers are known as robber barons in American history, they are also philanthropists who donated money and artifacts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the public to enjoy.

Byzantine Gallery Photos at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a fragment of a glass dish donated to the museum by Theodore M. Davis (he isnt mentioned in my feature article, but i felt that it is important to note that Rogers and J.P. Morgan are not the only benefactors of the museum.

The Jewelry from Ancient Kiev are all gifts from J.P. Morgan in 1917. (Flash photography is not allowed at the Met , which is why the photos seem blurry) but up close the jewelry have animal designs and symbolize a persons wealth.

The ceramics are bowls from the Middle and Late Byzantine era, they were donated to the museum by the Rogers Fund in 1971. The bowl photographed has a cheetah engraved in the middle

At the bottom of the photo is an ivory panel with a saint, it was made in Egypt and was donated to the museum by George Blumenthal (i also didnt mention him in my paper) in 1941. On the top of the photo is a censer which was used during church services to give the Church a certain scent and it was a gift from Lawrence J. Majewski ( also not mentioned) in 1999.

This is a portion of the marble placker that is in the very beginning of the Met museum. It lists the names of everyone who has made notable contributions to the Museum. Listed above is Jacob S. Rogers.

This photograph shows a temple pendant and a stock which was donated to the Museum by the Rogers Fund in 1990. The artifacts were made in Constantinople between 1080 and 1150.