After years of trial and adventure—recounted in Homer's Odyssey—Odysseus returned to his native Ithaka. He found his wife, Penelope, harassed by suitors who had taken over his palace and were consuming his wealth. Odysseus made his entrance looking like a beggar. Here he is shown approaching the disconsolate Penelope, as the faithful members of his household—his father, Laertes, his son, Telemachos, and the swineherd Eumaios—look on.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta plaque
Period:Classical
Date:ca. 460–450 BCE
Culture:Greek, Melian
Medium:Terracotta
Dimensions:Overall: 7 3/8 x 10 15/16in. (18.7 x 27.8cm)
Classification:Terracottas
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1930
Object Number:30.11.9
Müller, Franz. 1913. Die antiken Odysse-Illustrationen in ihrer kunsthistorischen Entwicklung. p. 83, fig. 7, Berlin.
Jacobsthal, Paul. 1914. Archäologischer Anzeiger, XXIX: p. 110, fig. 3.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. "Recent Accessions in the Classical Department." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25(12), part 1: pp. 278–81, fig. 1.
Jacobsthal, Paul. 1931. Die Melischen reliefs. no. 88, pl. 50, Berlin: H. Keller.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1932. "A New Melian Relief." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27(2): p. 44.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 80, 222, pl. 62a, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1955. Ancient Italy : a study of the interrelations of its peoples as shown in their arts. p. 48, fig. 162, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Touchefeu-Meynier, Odette. 1968. Thèmes Odysséens dans l'Art Antique. no. 425
, pp. 221, 233, 239, 287, Paris: E. de Boccard.
Robertson, Martin and Cambridge University Press. 1975. A History of Greek Art, Vols. 1 and 2. pp. 202, 209, pl. 65b, Cambridge, England.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1979. Greek Art of the Aegean Islands. no. 180, pp. 224–25, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Musée & Galerie des Beaux-Arts. 1981. Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York : de Ramsès à Picasso. no. 44, p. 58, Paris: Musée & Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux.
Brommer, Frank. 1983. Odysseus : Die Taten und Leiden des Helden in antiker Kunst und Literatur. fig. 42a, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1988. Vol. 4: Eros-Herakles. "Eumaios," p. 53, no. 5, pl. 24, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Buitron-Oliver, Diana. 1992. The Odyssey and Ancient Art: An Epic in Word and Image. no. 55, Annandale-on-Hudson: Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1994. Vol. 7: Oidipous-Theseus. "Penelope," p. 294, no. 33b, pl. 230; "Telemachos," p. 855, no. 7, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Johnson, Horton A. 2007. "Homeric Wounds in Ancient Greek Art." The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha-Honor Medical Society, : p. 8, fig. 4.
von den Hoff, Ralf and Prof. Jenifer Neils. 2009. "Odysseus: An Epic Hero with a Human Face." Heroes : Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece, Sabine Albersmeier, ed. p. 63, fig. 29, Baltimore: Walters Art Museum.
Karoglou, Kyriaki. 2016. "The Collection of Greek Terracotta Figurines at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Les Carnets de l’ACoSt, 14: n. 20 [p. 8].
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
