Odysseus and the Cave of the Cyclops

After the fall of Troy, Odysseus — king of Ithaca, cleverest of all the Greeks — sailed homeward with twelve ships and their crews. But the gods had other plans, and his journey would take ten years of wandering. Among the first and most dangerous encounters was the island of the Cyclopes.

Odysseus and twelve of his best men went ashore to investigate, bringing a skin of excellent wine as a gift. They found a vast cave filled with cheese, milk, and lambs. His men urged him to take what they could and flee, but Odysseus insisted on waiting for the cave's owner, hoping for the hospitality that the gods demanded of hosts.

The owner was Polyphemus — a Cyclops, a one-eyed giant son of Poseidon. He was enormous, terrifying, and utterly lawless. When he returned with his flocks and sealed the cave entrance with a boulder so massive that twenty-two wagons could not move it, Odysseus knew they were trapped. Polyphemus asked who they were. Odysseus replied cleverly that they were Achaeans returning from Troy and appealed to Zeus's law of hospitality.

The Cyclops laughed, seized two of the men, smashed their heads against the rocks, and ate them raw. Then he fell asleep. Odysseus wanted to kill the monster in his sleep, but realized that only Polyphemus could move the boulder blocking the exit. He had to think of another way.

The next day, while Polyphemus was out with his flocks, Odysseus found a massive olive-wood staff in the cave and sharpened its end, hardening it in the fire. When the Cyclops returned and ate two more men, Odysseus offered him the wine. Polyphemus, who had never tasted wine before, drank deeply and asked Odysseus his name, promising a gift in return. Odysseus said: 'My name is Nobody. My mother and father and all my friends call me Nobody.'

Polyphemus replied: 'Then my gift to you, Nobody, is that I will eat you last.' Then he fell into a drunken stupor. Odysseus heated the sharpened stake in the fire until it glowed. He and his men drove it into the Cyclops's single eye. Polyphemus screamed in agony and pulled out the stake. He called to the other Cyclopes outside: 'Nobody is killing me!' They replied: 'If nobody is hurting you, then it must be a sickness from Zeus. Pray to your father Poseidon.' And they went away.

In the morning, Polyphemus rolled back the stone to let his flocks out, feeling the backs of each sheep to ensure the men did not escape. But Odysseus had tied his men under the bellies of the largest rams, three men per ram. Odysseus himself clung beneath the wool of the biggest ram. They escaped undetected. As their ship pulled away, Odysseus — in a fatal moment of pride — shouted back his real name: 'Cyclops, if anyone asks who blinded you, tell them it was Odysseus, son of Laertes, destroyer of cities, from Ithaca!' Polyphemus, enraged, hurled boulders at the ship and prayed to his father Poseidon to avenge him. This single act of hubris brought down Poseidon's wrath upon Odysseus, extending his journey home by years.