PLATE LV
Odysseus and the Sirens
Odysseus stands on tiptoe, lashed faceforward to the mast. In front of him is a Siren perched on a branch and singing to the accompaniment of a tympanon which she is beating, while behind him is another Siren, similarly seated, holding a kithara (zither) in her left hand and a plektron (pick) in her right. The four companions of Odysseus are working distractedly at their oars as they gaze spellbound at the alluring creatures above them. From a design, done in white and three colours, on a Lucanian krater of the third century b.c., in Berlin (Furtwängler-Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei, No. 130). See pp. 262-63.
