Polyphemus Head The Cyclops, Moorish heads, vases, Sicilian Caltagirone ceramics, Design, home decoration, artisanal ceramics.

Vase Head, different from the more common Moor's heads, it is in fact a single head that represents Polyphemus the Cliclope,
And it is a modern design element that can be used as a vase because it is empty inside,
It was entirely handcrafted in shape and color,

This polyphemus is worked with a very particular technique called "third Fire"
it is baked several times at high temperatures with overlapping colours,
it gives it a final decoration that is always partly different,
This technique makes it even more unique than traditional monochromatic decorations.

And a large head that deserves a prominent place that highlights its uniqueness.

Myth

THE LEGEND OF POLYPHEMUS

The legend of the giant Polyphemus is told in Homer's Odyssey.

Ulysses, after losing his way back to Ithaca, lands in the land of the Cyclopes, disproportionate human figures with only one eye.

Achilles, at the head of 12 men, decides to enter the cave of the Cyclops, who in the meantime was keeping his flock at bay in the green valleys.

The Achaeans began to devour the large amount of food they found inside the cave, until the Cyclops returned to his home. Finding the men sitting at his banquet, enraged by the plunder, he devoured two of them. Then he locked the others in the cave.

Ulysses, plotting revenge, offered the wine he had brought with him from the ship as a gift: Polyphemus gladly accepted the drink, enjoying it in large quantities. Now drunk, he asked Ulysses his name, and he replied: "my name is Nobody". When the giant fell asleep, Ulysses avenged his companions by blinding him with a large red-hot wooden beam.

Polyphemus shouted like a madman and tried, without success, to catch some Achaeans. Then he moved the great boulder that closed the entrance, sure that Ulysses and his men would escape. However, they tied themselves under the bellies of the rams that came out as soon as Polyphemus moved the gigantic stone.

Ulysses and his companions ran quickly towards the ships that were moored on the coast and when the other Cyclopes rushed to help Polyphemus and asked who had blinded him he replied: “Nobody, it was Nobody”.

Seeing the ships setting sail, the other Cyclopes explained to Polyphemus about Ulysses' escape. The Cyclops, furious and red with anger, broke off three large rocks from the ground and hurled them toward the sea, in a vain attempt to destroy the Greek ships.

These three immense rocks, the faraglioni, have remained immobile and unchanged, still admirable today in the waters that bathe Aci Trezza.