Attic Black-Figure Column Krater - J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Villa Malibu, California, USA Editorial Photo

Attic Black-Figure Column Krater, Greek Attic Athens, Greece 525–500BC Terracotta - J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Villa Malibu, California, USA.In the Greek epic poem the Odyssey, the hero Odysseus devised a clever ruse to escape from the man-eating, one-eyed giant Cyclops. First, Odysseus blinded the monster, then tied himself and his men to the undersides of the sheep in the giant`s flock. The blinded Cyclops checked his sheep as he let them out to graze, but he only felt along their backs, so Odysseus and his men were able to escape. This Athenian black-figure column-krater depicts Odysseus bound under the ram, the leader of the flock. The scene is placed between a pair of eyes, which appear sporadically on Athenian vases of the 500s B.C. The escape from the Cyclops was the most popular scene from the Odyssey depicted on Athenian vases.