Odysseus and the Ram

This is one of only three known ancient three-dimensional bronze statuettes representing Odysseus’s escape from the cave of Polyphemos the Kyklops—an adventure recounted by Odysseus in Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey (1). In the story, Odysseus and his companions first intoxicate and blind Polyphemos, which then allows them to prepare to flee his cave by fastening themselves underneath the Kyklops’s sheep. Odysseus hides beneath Polyphemos’s favorite ram, an animal described in heroic terms. Concealed in this way, the hero and his men escape when Polyphemos lets his flock out to graze at dawn. Ironically, the concern for the artist is that Odysseus, who is identifiable by his characteristic conical cap (or pilos), is visible instead of being completely hidden. In most Greek depictions of the escape episode, Odysseus is stretched out full-length under the ram: his head beneath the ram’s chin or jutting out in front of the animal; his feet or legs emerging between the ram’s hind legs (2). Some Roman examples show Odysseus curled up under the ram’s belly and with his head turned toward the viewer (3). In this version, Odysseus hides under the ram’s belly, although he is not curled up; instead, he protrudes face-up and diagonally from underneath the ram’s right side. This Odysseus has no bottom half: his body ends at the waist in a sort of smear under the ram’s midsection. The group’s left side is unmodeled, except for a few places (the hooves, fleece, and face) that are visible when the viewer observes the composition from its completely modeled right side. The piece was probably intended for right-side viewing only. NOTES: 1. Odyssey 9.415-65. The other two bronzes are also Roman; see H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the Bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (London, 1899) nos. 1445 (inv. no. 1772,0307.182) and 1446 (inv. no. 1824,0473.1). Only the front half of BM 1445 remains; Odysseus looks up from between the ram’s forelegs and clutches its shoulders. BM 1446 shows Odysseus under the ram’s belly; Odysseus’s head is front as he grips the ram’s sides with his hands and presses his feet against its haunches. The fleece of BM 1446 is rendered in a pattern of dots and striations similar to the Harvard pi ece. 2. The escape episode is among the earliest known narrative depictions in Greek vase painting; see, for example, a Protoattic “Ram Jug” in Aegina, dated c. 660 BCE, published as Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) Odysseus no. 109. The scene is not uncommon in black-figure vase painting; see, for example, a black-figure lekythos in the manner of the Haimon Painter, dated c. 550 BCE, published as LIMC Odysseus no. 112. Flat-cast bronze relief plaques from the Archaic period (c. 550-500 BCE) are also known; see LIMC Odysseus no. 128. The group that includes Harvard’s example was previously published as Greek, but the alloy’s high zinc content suggests a Roman d ate. 3. Compare BM 1446 (supra 1); the second to third century CE marble group in Rome published in B. Andreae, Odysseus: Mythos und Erinnerung (Mainz, 1999) 202, fig. 76; and the elaborate Antonine bronze relief medallion in London published as LIMC Odysseus no. 1 35a. Maura Giles Watson