Getty Museum

Statuette of Odysseus under a Ram

Date

525–500 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta with paste (milk of lime) and polychromy (pink)

Culture

Greek (Sicilian)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

A human figure appears to cling to the underside of this ram, his head emerging between its forelegs. Although the meaning of the statuette may be hard to determine today, an ancient Greek would have recognized a reference to a scene from the epic poem the *Odyssey* by Homer. In the poem, Odysseus and his men escape from the man-eating, one-eyed giant Polyphemos by tying themselves to the undersides of the giant's sheep when he sends them out to graze. The escape from the cave was the most popular episode from the *Odyssey* represented in Greek art. Especially common in the 500s B.C, it appeared in every artistic medium in both the Greek homeland and the colonies. Terracotta figurines like this one may have been children's toys. They were frequently dedicated in sanctuaries as gifts to the gods

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