Walker Gallery

Polyphemus, the Cyclops, in his cave

Polyphemus (Polyphemos) the Cyclops, the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa, seen here in his cave with one of his sheep. In Homer's Odyssey he kills and eats several of Odysseus's men. Odysseus gives him wine which makes him sleepy, and when he passes out Odysseus and his surviving men drive a sharp stake through his one eye, blinding him. They then escape and sail away.

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Marathon walker John Merrill

John Merrill, is a British marathon walker, a profession which he can be said to have created, and of which he remains a leading, if not the only, member. He is photographed in California, USA during his walk of the Pacific Crest Trail. John Merrill has calculated that he walked over 217,000 miles between 1969 and 2010, raising over 756,000 in charity sponsorship. Date: 1986

© Philip Dunn / Mary Evans Picture Library

Prize Agents extracting treasure

Prize Agents extracting treasure. Coloured lithograph from 'The Campaign in India 1857-58 from drawings made during the eventful period of the Great Mutiny, illustrating the military operations before Delhi and its neighbourhood'. A series of 26 coloured lithographs by W Simpson, E Walker and others, after G F Atkinson, published by Day andSon, 1857-1858. Associated with the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). Despite strict orders against individual looting, many of Delhi?s treasures filled the pockets of the troops who captured the city in September 1857. The loot was supposed to have been handed over to official prize agents who would then auction it and divide the proceeds. As this print depicts, the agents and their soldiers had few scruples when it came to how they gathered the loot. Contemporaries estimated the auctioned Delhi treasure to be worth over half a million pounds. Date: 1858

© The National Army Museum / Mary Evans Picture Library