#Odysseus

Hero of the Odyssey; the archetypal trickster-wanderer.

A Roman fresco in the Third Style: the Cyclops Polyphemus, a giant seated in a landscape, receives the cup of wine as the sea-nymph Galatea rides a dolphin across the sea at the panel's edge, under a violet-blue sky.

Odysseus and the Cyclops

He beat a giant with a lie and a sharpened stake, then threw it all away for the pleasure of hearing the monster learn his name.

7 minHomer

The young Hermes, unbearded and long-haired, wearing the winged traveller's hat (petasos) with its pale feathers spread at either side. A coral-rose mantle is clasped at one shoulder with a gold brooch and falls across his bare torso; he stands against a dark ground, his head turned to gaze aside.

Greek

Hermes, the Messenger God

Born at dawn, he had invented the lyre and stolen a god's cattle before nightfall. The trickster who talks his way onto Olympus and walks the dead down to Hades.

6 minHomeric Hymn 4