SICILY, ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 550-500 B.C.

This altar depicts a well-known scene from Homer's Odyssey, where the hero Odysseus cunningly escapes the cave of the uncivilised, man-eating Cyclop, Polyphemus, by tying himself to the belly of a large ram. Odysseus defeating the lawless and godless monster, was not only a gripping tale but symbolised the importance of religion and order in the Greek polis. Similar surviving examples on both vases and sculpture, demonstrate the story's popularity in antiquity, cf. J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford, 1956, 535.17, 528.42.