08/06/2026
This lamp in the Museum of Art and Archaeology’s collection depicts Odysseus’ escape from the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus (Odyssey IX, 425-445). On the morning after Odysseus and his men blinded him, the Cyclops removed the boulder blocking the cave entrance to let his sheep out to graze, feeling the top of each animal’s back as it went by. Odysseus chose the largest ram and escaped by riding under its belly, clinging to its shaggy fleece. This episode was popular in Greek vase-painting in the Archaic period, but it fell out of fashion by the end of the sixth century BCE. Interest revived in the Roman Empire, and several lamps depicting this subject survive from the first and second centuries CE. The lamps consistently represent the scene with the ram facing right and Odysseus positioned so that his head and torso are below the ram’s head, while his legs extend horizontally under its belly. According to the poem, Odysseus made straps out of flexible willow branches. On well-preserved lamps like this one, the straps are visible: they wrap around the ram’s body and support Odysseus’ legs.
Pictured in slide two are our Museum Docents after seeing the Odyssey in theaters: Julie Chatman, MA&A’s educator; Kim Dill, Linda Keown, MA&A docents; Jai Hirsch; Jim Terry, MA&A’s interim curator of antiquities; and Wayne Merrill, and Cynthia Beverly, MA&A docents
Lamp with Odysseus Strapped under the Ram
Roman, 2nd century CE
Terracotta
Museum purchase (66.347)
