Ulisse e gli altri. Depositi (Ri)scoperti

The National Roman Museum dedicates an exhibition to the legendary Greek hero and traveler in the majestic Halls of the Baths of Diocletian.

Ulisse e gli altri is part of Depositi (ri)scoperti, the valorisation project which reveals to the public some extraordinary finds through a cycle of short exhibitions. The artworks were discovered in more than a century of the museum's life and kept in its deposits.
An unexpected cultural heritage, made up of thousands of works ─ sculptures, mosaics, frescoes, objects in terracotta, glass and bronze ─ showing Rome's antiquity, its transformation and excavations from the establishment of Roma Capitale to date.

The exhibition path tells the story of the brilliant and adventurous Ulysses. It starts from the large mosaic of Ulysses and the Sirens (from Quarto di Corzano, province of Rieti, 2nd century AD) presented in a suggestive multimedia setting. The head of Ulysses in Greek marble (coming from the burial ground of the Statili, early imperial age) outlines the features of Homer's immortal character, depicted as a mature man with flowing hair, thick beard and pileus, the characteristic conical headdress.

The myth, his virtues and adventures are further highlighted by those who cross his history: from the female figures ─ his wife Penelope (marble head from the 2nd century AD), the seductive Circe (Greek marble portrait discovered in 1928 on the Circeo Promontory), the patron goddess Athena (bust found in the suburb of Rome) ─ to other characters, including Achilles among the daughters of Nicomedes (from Isola Sacra, second half of the 2nd century AD) and an urn with a scene of the battle for Achille's weapons (from Ostia Antica, second half of the 2nd century AD).

Ulysses' journey ideally continues in a subsequent exhibition dedicated to "the others": other peoples, cultures, worlds. At the centre is a narration about the ancient Romans, their relationship and their perception of different cultures and peoples, defeated and enslaved, from barbarians to tiny pygmies.

Photo: Mosayc with Ulysses and the Sirens, From Quarto di Corzano, thermal environment of a mansio (post station), Terme di Diocleziano, deposits (Olearie), inv. 519957, Mid-late 2nd century AD, detail