Lekythos with Ulysses

Lekythos with Ulysses.
500-470 BC.
Height: 27.3 cm. Diameter: 34.5 cm.
Ceramic.
Ulysses, the star of Homer’s Odyssey, is one of the great heroes of ancient Greek mythology. This well-preserved oil flask shows a scene from the Odyssey, where Ulysses and his men, after having been captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, escapes by getting Polyphemus drunk, poking out his one eye, and clinging to the sheep as the blinded Cyclops lets them out of his cave to graze in the morning.