Polyphemus
Polyphemus is a giant, one-eyed Cyclops and son of Poseidon who lives alone tending flocks in a cave. He trapped Odysseus and his crew inside it and ate several of them before Odysseus got him drunk, blinded him with a heated stake, and escaped by the false name Nobody - a trick undone when Odysseus later shouted his real name and drew Poseidon's lasting curse.
Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops
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Core Myth
Homer introduces Polyphemus as a giant, lawless Cyclops, a son of Poseidon by the sea-nymph Thoosa, who lives apart from others and keeps flocks of sheep and goats in a cave rather than farming or trading like ordinary people. When Odysseus and a landing party enter his cave to wait for him, hoping for a guest-gift, Polyphemus instead seals the entrance with a boulder so massive that no group of men could move it, and begins eating the crew two at a time over several days, mocking the very idea of hospitality Odysseus had counted on. Odysseus's escape depends on two tricks working together. First, when Polyphemus asks his name, Odysseus answers "Nobody" (Outis), a false name chosen specifically because it will make his eventual cry for help useless. Second, after getting the Cyclops thoroughly drunk on strong wine, Odysseus and his remaining men drive a sharpened, fire-hardened olive stake into his one eye while he sleeps. When Polyphemus screams and the neighboring Cyclopes call out to ask what is wrong, he shouts that "Nobody" is attacking him - so they conclude nothing is actually happening and go back to bed. Blind, Polyphemus can only feel for the men at the cave's single exit the next morning, so Odysseus ties his surviving crew to the undersides of the sheep, letting the animals carry them out past the Cyclops's groping hands. The escape turns into a disaster of Odysseus's own making. Once safely aboard ship, he cannot resist shouting his true name back at the blinded Cyclops, undoing the entire point of the "Nobody" trick. Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus's homecoming, naming him specifically now that he has the name to curse - and Poseidon's resulting hostility is the single largest obstacle standing between Odysseus and Ithaca for the rest of the Odyssey.
Why did Odysseus tell Polyphemus his name was Nobody?
He needed a name that would make any cry for help meaningless. When the blinded Polyphemus later screamed that "Nobody" was hurting him, the neighboring Cyclopes who came running assumed nothing was actually wrong and left him alone, which is exactly the outcome the false name was designed to produce.
Homer, Odyssey 9.364-367
How did Odysseus and his men blind Polyphemus?
After getting him thoroughly drunk on strong wine he had brought along, Odysseus and his remaining crew heated a sharpened olive-wood stake in the fire until it glowed, then drove it into his single eye while he slept off the wine. They chose this method specifically because it left no obvious wound the Cyclops could use to identify or chase a fleeing attacker afterward.
Homer, Odyssey 9.375-394
How did the Greeks escape the cave after blinding Polyphemus?
Blind, Polyphemus could only search for the men by feeling along the backs of his sheep as they left the cave the next morning, so Odysseus tied each surviving crewman to the underside of a ram, hidden beneath its belly, and let the animals carry them out past the Cyclops's groping hands undetected.
Homer, Odyssey 9.424-461
Why did Odysseus's escape turn into a lasting curse?
Sailing away, Odysseus could not resist shouting his real name back at the shore, boasting of the victory. That single act let the blinded Polyphemus pray to his father Poseidon by naming the exact man to curse, and Poseidon's resulting anger becomes the main force delaying Odysseus's return home for the rest of the poem.
Homer, Odyssey 9.502-536
Was Polyphemus always shown as a monster in Greek literature?
No. Homer's Polyphemus is a man-eating monster with no redeeming qualities, but later pastoral poets, especially Theocritus, reimagined him as a lovesick, socially awkward shepherd pining for the sea-nymph Galatea. The two versions were never combined into a single consistent character; they simply circulated side by side as different uses of the same figure.
Theocritus, Idyll 11
Later Traditions
Later Greek poetry took Polyphemus in an entirely different direction: Theocritus and other pastoral poets reimagined him as a lovesick, comically awkward shepherd pining after the sea-nymph Galatea, a gentler and more sympathetic figure with no trace of the man-eating monster from Homer. The two traditions were never merged into one consistent character; they simply exist as separate uses of the same name for different literary purposes.
Lineage
See the full family tree1 recorded relation, each with the ancient line behind it.
Parents
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Poseidon's grievance for his blinded son drives the wanderings of Odysseus.
Also Connected
2 recorded connections, each with the ancient line behind it.
Connected
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Later pastoral poetry reimagines Polyphemus as a lovesick shepherd pining for the sea-nymph Galatea, who loves the mortal Acis instead; Polyphemus kills Acis out of jealousy.
Where Accounts Differ
- monster versus pastoral lover
- Homer's man-eating Polyphemus and the pastoral, lovesick Polyphemus of Theocritus and later Ovid are two separate literary uses of the same figure, not stages of one evolving character.
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Mythology
Appears In
Related Terms
Sources
- Homer, Odyssey 9.105-566
- Theocritus, Idyll 11
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.750-869
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)