Blinding of Polyphemos, Protoattic Amphora, c. 650 BCE.

Amphoras, vases with two handles and a long neck used to store food and liquids, such as this one, were often placed in tombs of small children. The frightening images - such as those of Medusa  in the lower part of this amphora or of the Cyclops Polyphemus  in the upper part - may have been intended to protect the children by frightening away spirits from their tombs. In this representation, Polyphemus is much larger than Odysseus. He holds a drinking cup in one hand and tries to remove the pole from his eye with the other.