Odysseus
Jonathan Shu
In the Athenian red-figure stamnos and William Etty’s The Sirens and Ulysses, the Greek hero Odysseus and his crew are shown sailing past the island of the sirens. Odysseus is tied to the mast of his ship as the sirens attempt to lure him and his men to their doom. In comparing the composition and styles of interpretation between the two pieces, we can see the importance of physical form as well as the continuation of ancient myth into modern times.
After staying on Circe’s island for a year, Odysseus, at the request of his men, asks to leave to continue his journey home. Circe agrees, warning him of the dangers that lay ahead. The first of these tests are the Sirens. Imagined by Homer as human in form but represented in popular tradition as birds with female heads, the Sirens lure passing sailors onto the rocks of their island with their tempting song. Odysseus blocks his crew’s ears with wax and has them bind him to the mast such that he can hear the sirens’ song while sailing past unharmed. For Odysseus, the “cleverest of men,” the Sirens promise “the gift of further knowledge” (Morford et al. 522, 524).
One of the main differences between the two pieces is their form. The stamnos, a vessel for storing wine, uses the red-figure technique, in which “figures are left the color of the clay” and details are drawn “in a very fine line drawn in black” or in lines of various thicknesses “with a tonal range from dark brown to translucent yellow” (Bothmer 3). Crucially, the rest of the background is “painted a lustrous black” (Bothmer 3). In this way, the red-figure depiction of the Siren scene integrates the myth scene with the vessel itself, where the black background reestablishes “the contour of the vase…with proper stress on the profile or silhouette” (Bothmer 3). The focus of the piece, therefore, is split between the flat, more objective representation of Odysseus and the Sirens and the vessel as its own object. This objective nature is partially a result of the red-figure style itself, where the color contrast between scene and background means “each performer [is] bathed in his own spotlight” (Bothmer 3). Etty’s painting, meanwhile, as a physically flat image, finds depth through greater liberties in its composition. Here, focus is set on the Sirens, firmly in the foreground, while Odysseus and his men struggle behind. Odysseus and the Sirens are also larger and lit brighter than their surroundings, establishing them as the main forces in the narrative.
Through both pieces, we can also see the re-interpretation of Homer’s myth through time. Both the stamnos and Etty’s painting depict similar narrative beats. The stamnos’ Sirens are shown in full song, mouths open and eyes closed, as one Siren descends to the ship, while Etty’s painting captures the Sirens nude and gesturing loudly to Odysseus. The dynamism of the Sirens in both artworks highlights their powerful irresistibility in myth. Odysseus, meanwhile, is shown struggling against this power in both pieces. The stamnos depicts Odysseus’ head tilted up at the Sirens, yearning against his ropes, in contrast to his deafened crew who look straight ahead. Etty similarly paints Odysseus struggling against his bonds while his men attempt to restrain him. But in Etty’s painting, we also see a modern reinterpretation of Homer’s story. Rather than the traditional bird-women of the stamnos, Etty paints nude human women. Their implied allure is not only through song, but now also through classic physical beauty. This sensuality carries through the painting in a manner not present in the stamnos, whether it be a barely clad Odysseus and crew, the dramatic ocean backdrop and indulgent depiction of death and riches on the Sirens’ island, or the vigorous poses of the characters.
The Athenian red-figure stamnos and William Etty’s The Sirens and Ulysses both depict the famous Siren sequence from the Odyssey. In comparing these two visual interpretations of myth, we can see both the importance of form in style as well as the continual modernization of classic stories.
Ryan Kim
In William Etty’s The Sirens and Ulysses, he illustrates the scene of Book 12 in Homer’s Odyssey, where Odysseus and his crew sail past the island of the Sirens. The artwork departs from its contemporaries in the depiction of the Sirens as young females, rather than traditional depictions as lion-bird or bird-woman (La Fond 10:19-10:23), polarizing the reception of the artwork (Manchester Galleries). Etty’s interpretation also emphasizes the dramatic struggle to escape the Sirens, capturing the driving principle of kelos through nostos that is presented in the Odyssey.
Throughout the Odyssey, Homer presents Odysseus’ heroism through the obstacles he faces in his homecoming. Defeating the giant Polyphemus and revealing his identity during his escape (Morford, et al. 513), rejecting Calypso’s offer of immortality so that his legacy would be solidified in his nostos (La Fond 5:04-5:42), and wanting to hear the song of the Sirens for their omniscience and poetic ability (La Fond 10:35-11:37) – all for the sake of kleos.
The depiction of Odysseus is one of the most dramatized aspects of the artwork. Of all crew members, Odysseus is at the forefront of the scene, being larger and more muscular than those around him, and the only one to face the audience. In the original text, the Sirens call to Odysseus, saying that “no one yet has sailed past this place in a black ship before hearing our sweet song. Then he sails on joyfully and endowed with greater knowledge.” (Odyssey 12.184-191). The Sirens’ song lures Odysseus in what he desires: to be remembered as a hero – to have kleos above all else. It is because of Homer’s depiction of heroism through nostos, rather than against it (La Fond 11:30-11:38), that Odysseus continues his journey home. Thus, Etty’s decision in depicting Odysseus in this manner was likely to highlight his kleos – having the bravery to face the Sirens and their song without meeting his demise like the corpses in the foreground, and being the only one not solely focused on escape. Furthermore, Odysseus is traditionally “bound to the ship’s mast” (Morford et, et al. 516), but Etty shows the struggle between Odysseus and two crew members restraining him, while the rest of the crew also struggle in rowing away and pulling the halyard. For the same reasons as the heroic depiction of Odysseus, Etty dramatizes the escape of the Sirens to reflect the motif of kleos via nostos in the Odyssey.
Etty departs from both traditional and contemporary works in presenting the Sirens as young females, rather than bird-woman chimeras in traditional works. At the time, this novel approach was polarizing, often receiving criticism as tasteless nudity (Manchester Galleries). While not described in the Odyssey, the conflicting representation of Sirens is more accurate in this context, as “to Homer they were human in form, but in popular tradition they were birdlike” (Morford, et al. 516). Although the story emphasizes the beauty of the Sirens’ omniscience, offer of kleos, and poetic ability, Etty’s representation captures the Sirens’ poetic beauty through visual means, combined with their dramatic poses in the artwork.
The creativity in Etty’s depiction ultimately sets him apart from his contemporaries, with intentional decisions in how he represented the Sirens, Odysseus, and his crew. Such decisions allowed Etty to bring to life the kleos through nostos that Homer sought to achieve in poetry: the heroism of Odysseus, the cunning of the Sirens, and the tumultuous journey itself.
Works Cited
von Bothmer, Dietrich. "Greek Vase Painting." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 31, no. 1, 1972, pp. 3-9.
La Fond, Marie. “Homeward Bound: The Odyssey.” Greek and Roman Myth. University of Washington, June 2021, canvas.uw.edu/courses/1457478/pages/lesson-8-video-lectures?module_item_id=13108141. Accessed 17 February 2025.
Manchester Galleries. "Salvaged: Restoring the Sirens and Ulysses." Salvaged. Manchester Art Gallery, 11 February 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20150211030955/http://www.manchestergalleries.org/salvaged/the-painting/ettys-masterpiece/index.html. Accessed 19 February 2025.
Morford, Mark, Robert J. Lenardon, and Michael Sham. Classical Mythology. New York, Oxford University Press, 2019.