Polyphemus

Overview

Polyphemus is the one-eyed Cyclops and son of Poseidon encountered by Odysseus during the Odyssey. His defeat through Odysseus' 'Nobody' trick leads directly to Poseidon's anger and becomes one of the defining episodes of Odysseus' journey home.

Generation

Heroic Age

Symbols

Single eye, cave

Notes

Polyphemus is the most famous of the Cyclopes encountered in heroic Greek myth. In Homer's Odyssey he lives apart from organised society, tending sheep and occupying a cave on the island reached by Odysseus and his crew.

He is identified as a son of Poseidon. That parentage becomes crucial after Odysseus blinds him. Once Odysseus reveals his true identity, Polyphemus calls upon Poseidon to punish the man responsible, turning the encounter with the Cyclops into a cause of the sea god's continuing hostility toward Odysseus.

The episode also contrasts Polyphemus with the Greek ideal of hospitality, or xenia. Odysseus expects the stranger-host relationship to provide food, protection and a guest-gift. Polyphemus rejects those expectations completely and instead kills and eats members of the crew.

Polyphemus therefore matters for more than the famous 'Nobody' trick. He stands at the point where Odysseus' intelligence, pride and desire for reputation collide. Cunning allows Odysseus to escape the cave; revealing his name afterwards gives Polyphemus the means to direct Poseidon's anger against him.

Later Greek and Roman traditions developed Polyphemus beyond the Odyssey. In other stories he could appear in a very different role, particularly in traditions concerning the sea nymph Galatea. The Homeric Polyphemus, however, remains the version most closely associated with Odysseus, the blinded Cyclops and the wrath of Poseidon.