Spanning a period of roughly 3,800 years, the collections of Ancient Near Eastern, Greek, and Roman art at the Cleveland Museum of Art are held in very high esteem nationally and internationally. Although the collections are modest in overall numbers, they are typified by singular works of rare quality. Sasanian silver is a clear strength in the Ancient Near Eastern collection, along with major masterpieces of large stone sculpture, and one of the very finest "stargazer" figures to have survived. In the Greek and Roman area, the collections feature exquisite small and large-scale bronzes, such as the world-famous Apollo Sauroktonos figure attributed to Praxiteles, several outstanding painted vases from the Archaic, Classical, and late Classical periods, and excellent smaller objects crafted of precious materials.

Additional great masterworks include an Assyrian relief of the winged guardian figure in the gallery devoted to Asia Minor and the Fertile Crescent, the Minoan bronze statuette of a worshiping girl in the Greek gallery, and the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius in the Roman gallery.