Polyphemus
The one-eyed giant turns raw appetite into terror and gives the epic one of its most famous contests between brute force and cunning.
Polyphemus in the Odyssey
Polyphemus is a one-eyed giant, son of Poseidon, who lives as a shepherd among the Cyclopes, a people without laws or assemblies. When Odysseus and twelve companions enter his cave uninvited, he traps them inside with a huge boulder and begins to eat them.
Odysseus gets him drunk on strong wine, tells him his name is “Nobody” and blinds him with a sharpened olive stake. The trick works twice: the other Cyclopes ignore his cries, since “Nobody” is hurting him. But Odysseus' boast of his real name as he sails away lets Polyphemus call down his father's curse.
Key moments
- Book 9
He seals the cave with a boulder and eats two of Odysseus' men at a time.
- Book 9
Drunk and blinded, he lets his flock out at dawn; the Greeks escape tied beneath the rams.
- Book 9
Learning his attacker's real name, he prays to Poseidon to make Odysseus' return long and bitter.
Relationship to Odysseus
Odysseus defeats him through strategy, but his boastful escape awakens Poseidon's long revenge.
Where this figure enters the journey
The Cyclops episode marks the moment when clever survival becomes divine punishment that shadows the rest of the route.
Open the map locationIsland of the Cyclops