Votive Offering: Ulysses Bound to the Mast of his Ship (Primary Title)
Mount for a Ceremonial Chariot or Boat with Odysseus Tied to the Mast (Alternate Title)
Unknown (Artist)
To prevent the sirens from enticing him and his crew to destroy their ship on the coast of the sirens’ island, the Greek hero Odysseus instructed the sailors to fill their ears with wax. They tied him to the mast so that he might hear the sirens’ fabled but deadly songs. The story was first told by the Greek poet Homer more than a thousand years earlier.
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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