"ἥδε δέ μοι κατὰ θυμὸν ἀρίστη φαίνετο βουλή.

Κύκλωπος γὰρ ἔκειτο μέγα ῥόπαλον παρὰ σηκῷ,

χλωρὸν ἐλαΐνεον· τὸ μὲν ἔκταμεν, ὄφρα φοροίη320

αὐανθέν. τὸ μὲν ἄμμες ἐίσκομεν εἰσορόωντες

ὅσσον θ᾽ ἱστὸν νηὸς ἐεικοσόροιο μελαίνης,

φορτίδος εὐρείης, ἥ τ᾽ ἐκπεράᾳ μέγα λαῖτμα·

τόσσον ἔην μῆκος, τόσσον πάχος εἰσοράασθαι.

τοῦ μὲν ὅσον τ᾽ ὄργυιαν ἐγὼν ἀπέκοψα παραστὰς325

καὶ παρέθηχ᾽ ἑτάροισιν, ἀποξῦναι δ᾽ ἐκέλευσα·

οἱ δ᾽ ὁμαλὸν ποίησαν: ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἐθόωσα παραστὰς

ἄκρον, ἄφαρ δὲ λαβὼν ἐπυράκτεον ἐν πυρὶ κηλέῳ.

καὶ τὸ μὲν εὖ κατέθηκα κατακρύψας ὑπὸ κόπρῳ,

ἥ ῥα κατὰ σπείους κέχυτο μεγάλ᾽ ἤλιθα πολλή·330

αὐτὰρ τοὺς ἄλλους κλήρῳ πεπαλάσθαι ἄνωγον,

ὅς τις τολμήσειεν ἐμοὶ σὺν μοχλὸν ἀείρας

τρῖψαι ἐν ὀφθαλμῷ, ὅτε τὸν γλυκὺς ὕπνος ἱκάνοι.

οἱ δ᾽ ἔλαχον τοὺς ἄν κε καὶ ἤθελον αὐτὸς ἑλέσθαι,

τέσσαρες, αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ πέμπτος μετὰ τοῖσιν ἐλέγμην.335

ἑσπέριος δ᾽ ἦλθεν καλλίτριχα μῆλα νομεύων.

αὐτίκα δ᾽ εἰς εὐρὺ σπέος ἤλασε πίονα μῆλα

πάντα μάλ᾽, οὐδέ τι λεῖπε βαθείης ἔκτοθεν αὐλῆς,

ἤ τι ὀισάμενος, ἢ καὶ θεὸς ὣς ἐκέλευσεν.

αὐτὰρ ἔπειτ᾽ ἐπέθηκε θυρεὸν μέγαν ὑψόσ᾽ ἀείρας,340

ἑζόμενος δ᾽ ἤμελγεν ὄις καὶ μηκάδας αἶγας,

πάντα κατὰ μοῖραν, καὶ ὑπ᾽ ἔμβρυον ἧκεν ἑκάστῃ.

αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ σπεῦσε πονησάμενος τὰ ἃ ἔργα,

σὺν δ᾽ ὅ γε δὴ αὖτε δύω μάρψας ὡπλίσσατο δόρπον.

καὶ τότ᾽ ἐγὼ Κύκλωπα προσηύδων ἄγχι παραστάς,345

κισσύβιον μετὰ χερσὶν ἔχων μέλανος οἴνοιο·

‘Κύκλωψ, τῆ, πίε οἶνον, ἐπεὶ φάγες ἀνδρόμεα κρέα,

ὄφρ᾽ εἰδῇς οἷόν τι ποτὸν τόδε νηῦς ἐκεκεύθει

ἡμετέρη. σοὶ δ᾽ αὖ λοιβὴν φέρον, εἴ μ᾽ ἐλεήσας

οἴκαδε πέμψειας: σὺ δὲ μαίνεαι οὐκέτ᾽ ἀνεκτῶς.350

σχέτλιε, πῶς κέν τίς σε καὶ ὕστερον ἄλλος ἵκοιτο

ἀνθρώπων πολέων, ἐπεὶ οὐ κατὰ μοῖραν ἔρεξας;’

ὣς ἐφάμην, ὁ δ᾽ ἔδεκτο καὶ ἔκπιεν: ἥσατο δ᾽ αἰνῶς

ἡδὺ ποτὸν πίνων καὶ μ᾽ ᾔτεε δεύτερον αὖτις·

‘δός μοι ἔτι πρόφρων, καί μοι τεὸν οὔνομα εἰπὲ355

αὐτίκα νῦν, ἵνα τοι δῶ ξείνιον, ᾧ κε σὺ χαίρῃς·

καὶ γὰρ Κυκλώπεσσι φέρει ζείδωρος ἄρουρα

οἶνον ἐριστάφυλον, καί σφιν Διὸς ὄμβρος ἀέξει·

ἀλλὰ τόδ᾽ ἀμβροσίης καὶ νέκταρός ἐστιν ἀπορρώξ.’

Odysseus plans revenge.

One of the most remarkable features of the Homeric epics is the way in which the poet draws on traditional material, verbal and thematic, from within the poems and also from the wider background of Mediterranean myth and folktale, to create strikingly individual scenes. In the former category, we have seen how the common Homeric language of sacrifice and meal preparation underlies the gruesome feasting of the Cyclops, rendered in meticulous detail.

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πάντα κατὰ μοῖραν, with humans replacing cattle as both offering and meal; in the latter, the paradigm of the culture hero, preserving civilization by imposing control over disorderly monsters, informs—often with ironic overtones, as we have seen—the battle of Odysseus and Polyphemus. The adventures in Books 9–12 reflect the influence of yet another source, a rich folktale tradition that reaches far beyond the Mediterranean. There appear in the Polyphemus episode elements of a ubiquitous folktale, the capture and killing of a cave-dwelling ogre with one eye, found in over 200 different versions across 25 countries. At the same time, the particular form that the tale takes here shows the impress of the Odyssey poet in several details, all working to integrate the episode smoothly into the poem’s larger thematic structure. Certain key departures from the usual version of the story are especially telling, as we will see.

A nearly universal feature of the folktale is the blinding of the monster. In most versions, the captives use the monster’s iron spit, heated over the fire, to poke out their captor’s eye. Here the weapon is to be a large bludgeon made of olive wood, sharpened and then heated in the fire. The substitution of olive wood for iron is telling in several ways. Though Polyphemus routinely makes a fire in the cave, “for his dinner” (234), we never see him cooking anything over it. Each time he kills members of the crew, he eats them raw, “like a lion from the mountains” (292). Cooking food is a universal sign of human culture and its absence here underscores the monster’s savagery. Unlike the iron spit, which comes ready for maiming, the wooden stake requires careful preparation. As Odysseus and his men fashion the weapon, we hear echoes of the everyday, step-by-step activities that always receive careful attention from the poet, preparing a meal, beaching a boat. In particular, we may remember when Calypso provides raw materials for Odysseus to build the boat that will take him away from her island, prompting an elaborate description, sawing, smoothing, joining (5.234–55). In both passages, the transformation of materials from nature into an instrument for human use reflects the dominant civilizing paradigm in Greek culture. Polyphemus has begun work on the weapon, but one that represents only a partial realization of this paradigm. It remains for the Greeks to finish the process. Finally, the substitution of olive wood, sacred to Athena, for iron reminds us that even if Odysseus does not see her, the goddess is with him in his struggles. As with the olive bush on the shore of Scheria that he crawls under to sleep (5.476–77), Athena’s protection is always close at hand.

Once the weapon is finished, Odysseus hides it under a pile of dung in the cave, perhaps another echo from the end of Book 5, where the poet uses a vivid simile to describe Odysseus sleeping under a pile of leaves:

ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε τις δαλὸν σποδιῇ ἐνέκρυψε μελαίνῃ
ἀγροῦ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχατιῆς, ᾧ μὴ πάρα γείτονες ἄλλοι,
σπέρμα πυρὸς σώζων, ἵνα μή ποθεν ἄλλοθεν αὔοι,
ὣς Ὀδυσεὺς φύλλοισι καλύψατο:

As when someone hides a burning log in a pile of black ashes
in some remote estate, with no neighbors nearby,
saving the seeds of the fire, when he cannot get a flame from elsewhere,
so Odysseus buried himself in the leaves…

Odyssey 5.488–91

Like the smoldering firebrand, the wooden stake—itself about to be fired—symbolizes the hero, a symbol of potent force ready to be tapped.

Polyphemus returns, methodically tending to his flocks, then snatching up two more crew members for his dinner. Now Odysseus’s other weapon, the potent wine he has been saving, comes into play. Getting the monster drunk is not a regular feature of the folktale, perhaps the poet’s own invention, perhaps borrowed from another common story about a demon who is disabled by drink and forced to reveal some special knowledge. In any event, the seductive lure of the wine’s fragrance is as we have seen a familiar feature of Homeric poetry. Odysseus, himself now playing the genial host in the ongoing parody of proper behavior, offers the monster a drink and some pointed criticism, which Polyphemus ignores as he gulps down the wine. Demanding another drink, he steps back into the role of host, observing the niceties by only now asking Odysseus for his name—refraining until after refreshment has been served, but to him rather than his guest—so that he can give him a “guest gift,” and remarking on the superiority of this wine to what the island’s grapes can produce. It seems to be made of “nectar and ambrosia,” he exclaims (359), unwittingly completing the motif that marks Odysseus’s deception.

Like bread and beer, wine is a product of humans modifying natural resources. Its importance here is part of the ongoing and often ironic meditation in the Cyclops episode on the nature of human civilization, using Polyphemus’s overt savagery and oafish appropriation of the rituals of hospitality as a foil. The dominant narrative is clear enough: Odysseus the culture hero will conquer the disorderly monster and preserve human civilization. But true to the Odyssey’s complex view of traditional heroic values, this scenario will unfold less straightforwardly than we might expect, as the poet manipulates the rituals of hospitality to add another layer of complexity.

 

Further Reading

Clay, J. 1983. The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey, 112–125. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Glenn, J. 1971. “The Polyphemus Folktale and Homer’s Kyklopeia.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 102: 133–181.

Mondi, R. 1983. “The Homeric Cyclopes: Folktale, Tradition, and Theme.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 113: 17–38.

Page, D. 1955. The Homeric Odyssey, 1–20. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schein, S. 1970. “Odysseus and Polyphemus in the Odyssey.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 11: 73–83.

 

320  τὸ μὲν ἔκταμεν: τὸ = “it” (Monro 256) referring to the ῥόπαλον.  

320  ἔκταμεν: = ἐξέταμεν, 3rd sing. aor. > ἐκτέμνω. The Cyclops is the subject.

321  αὐανθέν: “once it was dried out,” neut. sing. aor. pass. ptc. > αὐαίνω.

321-3  τὸ μἐν ἄμμες ἐΐσκομεν … / ὅσσον … / τόσσον ἔην: “it seemed to us as large as … so great was it” (lit., “we likened it as great as … so great was it …”).

324  μῆκος … πάχος: accusatives of respect (Goodell 537; Monro 137).

324  εἰσοράασθαι: “to look at,” epexegetical or explanatory infin.

325  τοῦ: “from it,” or “of it” (Monro 256)

325  ὅσον τ᾽ ὄργυιαν: “as much as a fathom,” six feet, defined as the length of the outstretched arms (LSJ ὄργυια)

326  ἑτάροισιν: indirect object after παρέθηχ᾽ (= παρέθηκε), “I provided (it) to.”

329  τὸ μὲν: “it.” μέν looks forward to αὐτὰρ in line 331.

329  εὖ: best taken with κατακρύψας, “hid it well.”

330  ἥ ῥα: “which, you see….” ῥα (ἄρα) is explanatory. The antecedent of ἥ is ἡ κόπρος.

330  μεγάλ[α]: “In great quantities” (adverbial).

331  κλήρῳ πεπαλάσθαι: “to draw lots,” lit., “to cast by lot.”

331  πεπαλάσθαι: pf. mid. infin. > πάλλω.

332–33  ὅς τις τολμήσειεν: indirect question, implied in the drawing of lots (“…draw lots [to determine] who…”).

332  ἐμοὶ σὺν: σύν ἐμοί, anastrophe.

332–33  μοχλὸν … / τρῖψαι ἐν ὀφθαλμῷ: “tο push the stake into his eye and work it around” (LSJ τρίβω A.1).

334  οἱ δ᾽ ἔλαχον τοὺς: “those men won the draw whom….” (Monro 262).

334  ἄν κε ... ἤθελον: “I would have wished,” past potential (Goodell 467.c). ἄν and κε are equivalent (Monro 362).

334  ἑλέσθαι: "to be chosen," aor. 2 mid. inf. > αἱρέω, functioning as passive.

334  αὐτὸς: “I myself”

335  ἐλέγμην: “was chosen,” = ἐλέγην, aor. 2 pass. > λέγω.

338  πάντα μάλ᾽: “every single one.”

339  τι ὀϊσάμενος: “suspecting something” (LSJ ὀΐομαι A.1).

339  θεὸς: “a god,” none in particular.

339  ὣς: “(to act) in this way.”

340  a repetition of line 240.

341  a repetition of line 244.

342  a repetition of line 245.

343  a repetition of line 310 and 250.

344  a repetition of line 311, with the substitution of δόρπον for δεῖπνον.

345  προσηύδων: “I began to address,” inchoative impf. (Smyth 1900) > προσαυδάω.

347  πίε: aor. 2 imperat. > πίνω, “drink.”

347  φάγες: ἔφαγες.

348  οἷόν τι ποτὸν τόδε: “what sort of drink,” the object of ἐκεκεύθει (plupf. > κεύθω).

349  φέρον: ἔφερον.

349  λοιβὴν: appositive: “as a libation.”

349  εἰ … πέμψειας: “on the chance that you might send,” “in the hope that you might,” εἴ + opt., related to an optative of wish (Smyth 2354).

350  μαίνεαι: 2nd sing. = μαίνεσαι.

350  οὐκέτ’ ἀνεκτῶς: “in a manner no longer tolerable” (lit., “no longer tolerably”).

351  κέν … ἵκοιτο: potential opt. (Goodell 479).

352  ἀνθρώπων πολέων: partitive gen., with τις ἄλλος.

352  πολέων = πολλῶν.

352  κατὰ μοῖραν: “in order,” “properly” (LSJ μοῖρα IV.1).

352  ἔρεξας:  aor. > ῥεζω.

353  δέκτο: = Att. ἐδέξατο.

353  ἥσατο: aor. > ἥδομαι.

354  ᾔτεε: 3rd sing. impf. > αίτέω.

355  δός: aor. 2 imperat. > δίδωμι.

356  τοι: “to you,” = σοί.

356  ᾧ κε … χαίρῃς: “in which you may find joy,” relative clause of purpose with κε + subj. (Smyth 2554.c, Monro 282).

357  Κυκλώπεσσι ... / ... σφιν: dats., denoting the person interested or affected (Goodell 523).

359  ἀπορρώξ: “a piece (broken off) of,” + gen., i.e. “as good as.”

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Suggested Citation

Thomas Van Nortwick and Rob Hardy, Homer: Odyssey 5–12. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-947822-17-7 https://dcc.dickinson.edu/homer-odyssey/ix-318-359