Polyphemus- Greek GiantGiant"The Cyclops"

The Cyclops of Sicily

Polyphemus belonged to the younger Cyclopes, the one-eyed giants who inhabited the wild coasts of Sicily. Unlike the elder Cyclopes who forged Zeus's thunderbolts, the younger ones were savage shepherds, children of Poseidon who knew neither law nor community. Polyphemus was the son of Poseidon and the sea nymph Thoosa, and he dwelt in a vast cave on the Sicilian coast, tending his flocks of sheep and goats in pastoral solitude.

The Blinding by Odysseus

When Odysseus and twelve of his men entered the Cyclops's cave hoping for hospitality, Polyphemus sealed the entrance with a massive boulder and devoured six of the Greeks, two at each meal. Trapped inside, Odysseus devised a plan. He offered Polyphemus wine, introducing himself as "Nobody." When the Cyclops fell into a drunken stupor, Odysseus and his remaining men heated a sharpened olive-wood stake in the fire and drove it into Polyphemus's single eye. When the blinded Cyclops screamed for help, his fellow Cyclopes heard him cry that "Nobody" was hurting him and went away. The Greeks escaped by clinging to the bellies of Polyphemus's rams as he let them out to graze.

The Curse of Poseidon

As Odysseus sailed away, his pride overcame his prudence. He taunted Polyphemus from the ship and revealed his true name. Polyphemus hurled boulders toward the voice, nearly sinking the ship, and then prayed to his father Poseidon: let Odysseus never reach home, or if he must, let him arrive late, alone, on a stranger's ship, to find trouble in his house. Poseidon heard the prayer and persecuted Odysseus across the seas for the remaining years of his journey.

Polyphemus and Galatea

A different tradition portrays Polyphemus as a lovesick shepherd pining for the Nereid Galatea. In Theocritus, the young Cyclops sits on the shore singing of his hopeless love, calling Galatea to his cave with promises of fawns and bear cubs. In Ovid, Galatea loves the young mortal Acis, and Polyphemus, discovering them together, tears a boulder from Mount Etna and crushes him. The gods transformed Acis's blood into the river that bears his name near Catania.