"ὣς εἰπὼν τὸν κριὸν ἀπὸ ἕο πέμπε θύραζε.
ἐλθόντες δ᾽ ἠβαιὸν ἀπὸ σπείους τε καὶ αὐλῆς
πρῶτος ὑπ᾽ ἀρνειοῦ λυόμην, ὑπέλυσα δ᾽ ἑταίρους.
καρπαλίμως δὲ τὰ μῆλα ταναύποδα, πίονα δημῷ,
πολλὰ περιτροπέοντες ἐλαύνομεν, ὄφρ᾽ ἐπὶ νῆα465
ἱκόμεθ᾽. ἀσπάσιοι δὲ φίλοις ἑτάροισι φάνημεν,
οἳ φύγομεν θάνατον, τοὺς δὲ στενάχοντο γοῶντες.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ οὐκ εἴων, ἀνὰ δ᾽ ὀφρύσι νεῦον ἑκάστῳ,
κλαίειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκέλευσα θοῶς καλλίτριχα μῆλα
πόλλ᾽ ἐν νηὶ βαλόντας ἐπιπλεῖν ἁλμυρὸν ὕδωρ.470
οἱ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ εἴσβαινον καὶ ἐπὶ κληῖσι καθῖζον,
ἑξῆς δ᾽ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς.
ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε τόσσον ἀπῆν, ὅσσον τε γέγωνε βοήσας,
καὶ τότ᾽ ἐγὼ Κύκλωπα προσηύδων κερτομίοισι·
‘Κύκλωψ, οὐκ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλες ἀνάλκιδος ἀνδρὸς ἑταίρους475
ἔδμεναι ἐν σπῆι γλαφυρῷ κρατερῆφι βίηφι.
καὶ λίην σέ γ᾽ ἔμελλε κιχήσεσθαι κακὰ ἔργα,
σχέτλι᾽, ἐπεὶ ξείνους οὐχ ἅζεο σῷ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
ἐσθέμεναι: τῷ σε Ζεὺς τίσατο καὶ θεοὶ ἄλλοι.’
ὣς ἐφάμην, ὁ δ᾽ ἔπειτα χολώσατο κηρόθι μᾶλλον,480
ἧκε δ᾽ ἀπορρήξας κορυφὴν ὄρεος μεγάλοιο,
κὰδ δ᾽ ἔβαλε προπάροιθε νεὸς κυανοπρῴροιο
τυτθόν, ἐδεύησεν δ᾽ οἰήιον ἄκρον ἱκέσθαι,
ἐκλύσθη δὲ θάλασσα κατερχομένης ὑπὸ πέτρης·
τὴν δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ ἤπειρόνδε παλιρρόθιον φέρε κῦμα,485
πλημυρὶς ἐκ πόντοιο, θέμωσε δὲ χέρσον ἱκέσθαι.
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ χείρεσσι λαβὼν περιμήκεα κοντὸν
ὦσα παρέξ, ἑτάροισι δ᾽ ἐποτρύνας ἐκέλευσα
ἐμβαλέειν κώπῃς, ἵν᾽ ὑπὲκ κακότητα φύγοιμεν,
κρατὶ κατανεύων· οἱ δὲ προπεσόντες ἔρεσσον.490
ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ δὶς τόσσον ἅλα πρήσσοντες ἀπῆμεν,
καὶ τότε δὴ Κύκλωπα προσηύδων: ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ἑταῖροι
μειλιχίοις ἐπέεσσιν ἐρήτυον ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος·
‘σχέτλιε, τίπτ᾽ ἐθέλεις ἐρεθιζέμεν ἄγριον ἄνδρα;
ὃς καὶ νῦν πόντονδε βαλὼν βέλος ἤγαγε νῆα495
αὖτις ἐς ἤπειρον, καὶ δὴ φάμεν αὐτόθ᾽ ὀλέσθαι.
εἰ δὲ φθεγξαμένου τευ ἢ αὐδήσαντος ἄκουσε,
σύν κεν ἄραξ᾽ ἡμέων κεφαλὰς καὶ νήια δοῦρα
μαρμάρῳ ὀκριόεντι βαλών: τόσσον γὰρ ἵησιν.’
notes
Released from the sheep, the crew returns to the ship. Odysseus pushes the crew on board and out to sea. Once they are “as far off as a shout could carry” (475), Odysseus begins to taunt Polyphemus, who angrily throws a huge boulder at his escaped prisoners, washing the ship back to shore. They barely escape, the crew rowing furiously while Odysseus pushes off with a long pole. They get twice as far away and yet Odysseus cannot restrain himself from more taunting, despite the pleas of his crew
The sequence of events here is telling. Having shut off any display of emotion by his crew, Odysseus then once again imperils them all, giving in not once but twice to his own need to crow over his defeat of the monster. The centrifugal Odysseus reemerges here (see essay on 12.153-91), who declines Calypso’s offer of timeless immortality to plunge back into the arena of death and change, where he can strike out against the numbing effects of oblivion through self-assertion.
read full essay
He will resurface on Circe’s island, with the same catastrophic results for his crew. Odysseus’ curiosity, his desire to “know the cities and minds of men” (1.3) will lead them once again into danger. To know, in this sense, is to control through imposing limits and therefore meaning on what is unknown, to stave off oblivion. To stay alive in an existential sense, he must keep asserting himself, even when it puts him and his crew in danger.
After one last bit of bluster from Odysseus, Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon to avenge him either by destroying Odysseus and his ships or, if they are fated to make it back home, to make the journey as perilous as possible. Now we have the backstory for the god’s hatred, as the poet lays in a link back to the story’s beginning (1.20–21). Polyphemus’s next throw falls short, washing the ship away toward the neighboring island, where the rest of the Greeks are waiting by the shore. The joyous reunion that Odysseus’s need to vaunt had quelled can now proceed. The last lines of the book are full of traditional language, of feasting, dawn rising, and the launching of ships, returning the story to the comforting and familiar, after the spectacular horrors of the monster’s cave.
It’s easy to see why Odysseus’s encounter with Cyclops has been one of the most enduring parts of the Odyssey: a colorful, intriguing monster, defeated by an underdog’s witty wordplay, the elevation of intelligence over brute force, all in the service of returning Odysseus to his proper place in Ithaka. Viewed in the larger context of the entire poem, the episode encapsulates most of the story’s recurrent narrative patterns, each one building toward Odysseus’s ultimate triumph over the suitors. The sexual imagery in the blinding of Polyphemus, followed by Odysseus’s re-assumption of his heroic identity, echoes in a particularly vivid way the sequence that we have noted above: a male traveler penetrating a feminized milieu (reflected in the womblike cave and perhaps, from the Greeks’ perspective, in the monster’s fussy housekeeping), leading to the release of Odysseus. The pattern will recur in the hero’s encounter with Circe, the underworld, the Sirens, Skylla and Charybdis, even the cattle of the sun, as we will see.
The pun at the center of the Cyclops episode dramatizes in an arresting way Odysseus’s repeated journey from anonymous stranger to famous hero. The wordplay involving the hero’s name takes us to the heart of Odysseus’s character. To progress from Οὖτις to Odysseus requires the application of ὀδύνη, and he is always the principal agent of pain for others, slipping away but leaving destruction in his wake. Calypso, the Phaeacians, Polyphemus, the ghosts in Hades, and of course all the Greek sailors who entrusted their lives to his care pay a heavy price for the hero’s return. Athena, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and Penelope all insist that Odysseus is a beneficent king who has suffered at the hands of the greedy suitors. From our perspective, he is one of the hardest, most relentless of all Greek heroes, qualities that are on vivid display in the Cyclops episode.
The nature of the civilization that Odysseus’s heroic exertions as culture hero are meant to preserve gets a similarly ambiguous portrait on Polyphemus’s island. The monster’s supposedly savage existence, punctuated by cannibalism and arrogant disregard of the Olympian gods, is also characterized by fastidious husbandry and housekeeping, all in the service of a fierce independence worthy of an Achilles. His parodic transgressions of the norms of hospitality, though they tarnish his credentials as host, also highlight Odysseus’s serious shortcomings as a guest—no one, after all, forced him to invade the cave of the lonely shepherd. A culture hero is meant to impose civilizing order on monstrous chaos, but Odysseus’s heroic acts bring their own chaos, transforming the monocular but self-sufficient existence of Polyphemus into helpless isolation.
Further Reading
Thalmann, W. 1992. The Odyssey: An Epic of Return, 87–88. New York: Twayne Publishers.
Van Nortwick, T. 2008. The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds in Homer’s Odyssey, 93–94. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
461 ἕο: gen. sing. 3rd pers. personal pron.
462 ἠβαιὸν: “a little,” “a short distance,” adverbial.
463 λυόμην: “I let go," "I got myself free,” unaugmented mid. impf. (LSJ λύω A.I.2.b).
465 περιτροπέοντες ἐλαύνομεν: “we rounded up and drove off” (LSJ ἐλαύνω I.A.2, “to drive away, carry off,” of stolen cattle or horses).
465 ὄφρ(α): “until.”
466 φάνημεν: “we appeared,” i.e. arrived, unaugmented 1st pl. aor. pass. > φαίνω.
467 τοὺς δὲ: “but those (who were killed by the Cyclops)…”
468 οὐκ εἴων: “I did not allow them,” impf. > ἐάω, with the infinitive κλαίειν in line 469.
468 ἀνὰ: “upward,” adverbial. Even in modern Greece, nodding the head up and raising the eyebrows means “no.”
470 βαλόντας: “put,” aor. ptc., agreeing with an implied τούς (“them”), referring to Odysseus’s men.
471–72: = lines 9.179–80.
473 ἀλλ(ά) … βοήσας: “but when I was as far away as [someone] can be heard shouting.” The correlatives, τόσσον … ὅσσον, are accusatives of extent of time or space (Monro 138).
473 τε: generalizes the statement (Monro 332).
475 οὐκ: most commentators take this with ἀνάλκιδος ἀνδρὸς, “of a not weak man” (litotes), rather than with ἔμελλες (“you were not going to…”).
476 ἔδμεναι: infin. > ἔδω.
476 κρατερῆφι βίηφι: the -φι endings indicate an instrumental meaning (Smyth 280).
477 καὶ λίην: “most certainly,” “by all means,” used for emphasis at the beginning of a statement (Authenrieth λίην).
477 σέ γ᾽ ἔμελλε κιχήσεσθαι: “were sure to catch up with you.” The subject is κακὰ ἔργα, the verb singular with a neuter plural subject.
478 οὐχ ἅζεο: “were not ashamed to,” 2nd person sing. impf. > ἅζομαι, with the infinitive in line 479
479 ἐσθέμεναι: infin. > ἐσθίω.
479 τῷ: “for this reason” (LSJ ὁ A.VIII.2).
479 τίσατο: “has made you pay the price,” aor. mid. > τίνω.
481 ἧκε δ᾽ ἀπορρήξας: “he broke off ... and hurled.”
481 ἧκε: 3 sing. aor. > ἵημι.
481 ἀπορρήξας: aor. ptc. > ἀπορρήγνυμι.
482 κὰδ: κατά, either adverbial (“down”) or in tmesis with ἔβαλεν.
482 προπάροιθε: “in front of” + gen.
483 ἐδεύησεν ... ἱκέσθαι: "failed to reach," "just missed."
483: This line appears to be interpolated from line 9.540 and out of place here. If the rock is thrown in front of (προπάροιθε) the ship, it is hard to see how it could have just missed the rudder (οἰήϊον).
484 ἐκλύσθη: "surged," aor. pass. 3 sing > κλύζω.
485 τὴν: “it,” the ship.
485 φέρε: unaugmented impf.
486 πλημυρὶς: in apposition to κῦμα.
486 θέμωσε δὲ χέρσον ἱκέσθαι: “and drove it ashore.” The verb θεμόω (“to drive onto, or toward”) appears only here and in line 542.
488 ἑτάροισι: dative after ἐκέλευσα, or possibly with the participle ἐποτρύνας (dative with a compound verb, Smyth 1544–45).
489 ἐμβαλέειν κώπῃς: supply χεῖρας, “to ply the oars” (LSJ ἐμβάλλω II.3).
490 κρατὶ: dative of means > κράς κρατός, ὁ “the head” (= κάρα), with κατανεύων. Odysseus is gesturing his commands to his crew.
490 προπεσόντες: “straining forward,” lit., “falling forward” > προπίπτω.
490 ἔρεσσον: “began to row,” inchoative impf. (Smyth 1900).
491 ὅτε δὴ: “just when.”
491 δὶς τόσσον: “twice as far.”
491 ἅλα πρήσσοντες: ἅλα is the direct object of the participle πρήσσοντες ( > πρήσσω, "to traverse, make one’s way over" LSJ πράσσω Ι).
492 ἀμφὶ: “οn all sides,” adverbial.
493 ἐρήτυον: “tried to prevent,” conative impf. (Smyth 1895); supply “me” as the object.
493 ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος: “from all directions”
495 βέλος: a projectile, in this case the rock thrown by the Cyclops.
496 φάμεν: “we thought” (LSJ φημί I.A.b), introducing indirect discourse.
497-8 εἰ … ἄκουσε, … / κεν ἄραξ(ε)…: past contrary to fact conditional (Goodell 649).
498 ἄραξ(ε): aor. > ἀράσσω.
497 τευ: “someone” = τινος, genitive of source after ἄκουσε (Goodell 509). The other genitives agree with τευ.
498 σύν: “together,” adverbial.
498 ἡμέων: genitive of possession = ἡμῶν.
499 τόσσον: “so far.”
vocabulary
κριός –οῦ ὁ: a ram
ἕ: himself, herself, itself
θύραζε: out to the door, out of the door
ἠβαιός –ά –όν: small, little, tiny (usually with a negative)
σπέος gen. σπείους, dat. σπῆι, pl. dat. σπέσσι and σπήεσσι, τό: a cave, cavern, grotto
αὐλή –ῆς ἡ: courtyard; enclosure for livestock; court, residence
ἀρνειός –οῦ ὁ: ram, wether (3-year old ram)
ὑπολύω ὑπολύσω ὑπέλυσα ὑπολέλυκα ὑπολέλυμαι ὑπελύθην: to loosen beneath
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
καρπάλιμος –ον: swift
μῆλον –ου τό: sheep or goat
ταναύπους –ποδος: thin-legged
πίων –ονος ὁ/ἡ: fat, plump; rich, opulent
δημός –οῦ ὁ: fat
περιτροπέω – – – – –: to round up
ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long 465
ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come
ἀσπάσιος [–α] –ον: welcome, gladly welcomed
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
στενάχω ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to sigh, groan, wail
γοάω γοήσω ἐγόησα/γόον ––– ––– ἐγοήθην: to wail, groan, weep
ὀφρύς –ύος ὁ: eyebrow
νεύω νεύσομαι ἔνευσα νένευκα ––– –––: to nod
κλαίω/κλάω κλαύσομαι/κλαήσω ἔκλαυσα ––– κέκλαυμαι/κέκλαυσμαι ἐκλαύσθην: weep, cry
θοός –ή –όν: swift
καλλίθριξ -τριχος: with beautiful fleece or hair
μῆλον –ου τό: sheep or goat
ἐπιπλέω ἐπιπλευσοῦμαι/ἐπιπλεύσομαι ἐπέπλευσα ἐπιπέπλευκα: to sail through (+ acc.)
ἁλμυρός –ά –όν: salt, briny 470
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
εἰσβαίνω (Ion. ἐσβαίνω) εἰσβήσομαι εἰσέβην εἰσβέβηκα ––– –––: to go into
κληΐς κληῖδος ἡ: bolt; (pl.) oarlocks
καθίζω (Ion. κατίζω) καθιῶ (Ion. κατίσω) καθῖσα/ἐκάθισα (or κατῖσα) κεκάθικα: to sit down; to set, place
ἑξῆς: one after another, in order, in a row
ἕζομαι – – – – –: sit down
πολιός –ή –όν: white
ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)
τύπτω τύψω ἔτυψα τέτῠφα (or τετύπτηκα) τέτυμμαι ἐτύφθην (or ἐτυπτήθην or ἐτύπην): to beat, strike; (mid.) to mourn
ἐρετμόν –οῦ τό: oar
τόσος –η –ον: so great, so vast
ἄπειμι ἀπέσομαι ––– ––– ––– –––: to be away, be distant, be absent
γέγωνα (perf. of γεγωνέω): to make oneself heard; to shout, cry out
βοάω βοήσομαι ἐβόησα βεβόηκα βεβόημαι ἐβοήθην: to shout, roar
Κύκλωψ –πος ὁ: Cyclops
προσαυδάω προσαυδήσω προσηύδησα προσηύδηκα προσηύδημαι προσηυδήθην: speak to, address, accost
κερτόμιος –ον: heart-cutting, stinging, reproachful
Κύκλωψ –πος ὁ: Cyclops
ἄρα: now, then, next, thus
ἄναλκις –ιδος: without strength, impotent, feeble 475
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἔδω ἔδομαι ἤδα ἔδηδα ἐδήδοται ἠδέσθην: to eat
σπέος gen. σπείους, dat. σπῆι, pl. dat. σπέσσι and σπήεσσι, τό: a cave, cavern, grotto
γλαφῠρός –ά –όν: hollow, deep
κρατερός –ά –όν: strong, powerful, mighty
βίη –ης dat. βίηφι ἡ: violence, force
λίαν: a great deal, extremely; excessively, too much
κιχάνω κιχήσομαι ἔκιχον: to reach, overtake, meet with (+ acc.)
σχέτλιος –α –ον: strong, unwearying; stubborn, cruel, merciless
ἅζομαι ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to respect, venerate, fear; (+ infin.) to be ashamed to
ἔσθω φαγήσω/ἔδομαι ἔφαγον ἐδήδοκα ἐδήδεμαι/ἐδήδεσμαι ἠδέσθην: to eat
τῷ: then, in that case; for this reason, thus
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus
τίνω τείσω ἔτεισα/ἔτισα τέτεικα/τέτικα τέτεισμαι/τέτισμαι ἐτείσθην/ἐτίσθην: to pay, pay for, atone; (mid.) to make pay, punish, avenge oneself
χολόω χολώσω ἐχόλωσα ––– κεχόλωμαι ἐχολώθην: to make angry, provoke
κηρόθι: in the heart, with all the heart, heartily 480
ἀπορρηγνύω/ἀπορρήγνυμι ἀπορρήξω ἀπέρρηξα ἀπέρρηχα ἀπέρρηγμαι ἀπερρήχθην: to break off
κορυφή –ῆς ἡ: head, top, highest point
προπάροιθε: before, in front of
κυανόπρῳρος –ον: with dark-blue prow, dark-prowed
τυτθός [–ή] –όν: little, small
δεύω (Epic for δέω) δεύσω ἔδευσα: to lack, need; to fail to (+ infin.) to be defective, inferior, lesser
οἰήϊον –ου τό: a rudder, helm
ἄκρος –α –ον: at the furthest point, topmost
ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come
κλύζω κλύσω ἔκλυσα κέκλυκα κέκλυσμαι ἐκλύσθην: to surge, swell, overflow
κατέρχομαι κατελεύσομαι/κάτειμι κατῆλθον κατελήλυθα ––– –––: to go down, descend
πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
ἤπειρόνδε: to the mainland 485
παλιρρόθιος –α –ον: back-rushing, refluent
κῦμα –ατος τό: wave
πλημυρίς –ίδος ἡ: flood-tide
πόντος –ου ὁ: sea, open sea
θεμόω θεμώσω ἐθέμωσα: to drive
χέρσος –ου ἡ: dry land, land
ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come
ἀτάρ: but, yet
περιμήκης –ες: very tall
κοντός –οῦ ὁ: a pole, punting-pole, boat-hook
ὠθέω ὤσω ἔωσα (or ὦσα) ἔωκα ἔωσμαι ἐώσθην: to thrust, push, shove, force onwards
παρέξ or παρέκ: outside, before; out and away
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἐποτρύνω ἐποτρυνῶ ἐπώτρυνα: to incite, urge on; to provoke; (mid.) to speed up, make hurry
ἐμβάλλω ἐμβαλῶ ἐνέβαλον ἐμβέβληκα ἐμβέβλημαι ἐνεβλήθην: to throw (into or onto); to cause to enter, embark, put
κώπη –ης ἡ: oar
ὑπέκ: out from under, from beneath, away from
κακότης –ητος ἡ: badness
κράς –ατός τό: head, top, highest point
κατανεύω κατανεύσομαι κατένευσα κατανένευκα: to nod assent
προπίπτω προπεσοῦμαι προέπεσον προπέπτωκα: to bend forward (of rowers)
ἐρέσσω ἐρέσω ἤρεσα ––– ––– –––: to row 490
δίς: twice, doubly
τόσος –η –ον: so great, so vast
πρήσσω or πράσσω: to traverse, make one’s way over
ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)
ἄπειμι ἀπέσομαι ––– ––– ––– –––: to be away, be distant, be absent
Κύκλωψ –πος ὁ: Cyclops
προσαυδάω προσαυδήσω προσηύδησα προσηύδηκα προσηύδημαι προσηυδήθην: speak to, address, accost
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
μειλίχιος [–α] –ον: gentle, mild, soothing
ἐρητύω ἐρητύσω ἐρητυσα: to keep back, restrain, check
ἄλλοθεν: from elsewhere
σχέτλιος –α –ον: strong, unwearying; stubborn, cruel, merciless
ἐρεθίζω ἐρεθιῶ/ἐρεθίσω ἠρέθισα ἠρέθικα ἠρέθισμαι ἠρεθίσθην: to rouse to anger, rouse to fight, irritate
ἄγριος –α –ον: savage; wild; fierce
πόντονδε: into the sea
βέλος –ους τό: a missile, an arrow 495
αὖθις: again, in turn
ἤπειρος –ου ἡ: land, mainland, continent
αὐτόθι: on the spot, right there
ὄλλυμι ὀλῶ ὤλεσα (or ὠλόμην) ὀλώλεκα (or ὄλωλα) ––– –––: to demolish, kill; (mid.) to die, perish, be killed
φθέγγομαι φθέγξομαι ἐφθεγξάμην ἔφθεγμαι ––– ἐφθεγξάσθην: make a sound, speak, scream
αὐδάω (ηὔδων) αὐδήσω ηὔδησα ηὔδηκα ηὔδημαι ηὔδάθην: speak
ἀράσσω ἀράξω ἤραξα ––– ––– ἠράχθην: to knock, beat, strike
νήϊος [–α] –ον: of or for a ship
δόρυ δόρατος τό: spear; timber, beam (of a ship)
μάρμαρος –ου ὁ: stone
ὀκριόεις –εσσα –εν: having many points
τόσος –η –ον: so great, so vast