Editing Polyphemus (section)

==Odysseus and Polyphemus==
[[File:Polyphemos reclining and holding a drinking bowl.jpg|thumb|right|[[Greek terracotta figurine]], ''[[Polyphemos reclining and holding a drinking bowl]]''. Late 5th to early 4th century BC, Boeotia. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.]]

===Ancient sources===
In Homer's epic, [[Odysseus]] lands on the island of the Cyclopes during his journey home from the [[Trojan War]] and, together with some of his men, enters a cave filled with provisions. When the giant Polyphemus returns home with his flocks, he blocks the entrance with a great stone and, scorning the [[Xenia (Greek)|usual custom]] of [[hospitality]], eats two of the men. Next morning, the giant kills and eats two more and leaves the cave to graze his sheep.

[[File:Athanodoros, agesandros e polydoros, gruppo del polifemo di sperlonga, ricostruzione 01.jpg|thumb|245px|The blinding of Polyphemus, a reconstruction from the [[Sperlonga sculptures|villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga]], 1st century AD]]

After the giant returns in the evening and eats two more of the men, Odysseus offers Polyphemus some strong and undiluted wine given to him earlier on his journey. Drunk and unwary, the giant asks Odysseus his name, promising him a [[xenia (Greek)|guest-gift]] if he answers. Odysseus tells him "[[Outis|Οὖτις]]", which means "nobody"<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last = Autenrieth |first = Georg |encyclopedia = A Homeric Dictionary |title = οὔτις, οὔτι |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0073%3Aentry%3Dou%29%2Ftis |access-date=11 March 2020 |language=el | date = 1876 |publisher=Harper & Brothers, Publishers |translator1-last= Keep |translator1-first= Robert P. |location=New York}}</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0073%3Aentry%3Dou%29%2Ftis οὔτις] and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0073%3Aentry%3D*ou%29%3Dtis Οὖτις], Georg Autenrieth, ''A Homeric Dictionary'', on Perseus</ref> and Polyphemus promises to eat this "Nobody" last of all. With that, he falls into a drunken sleep. Odysseus had meanwhile hardened a wooden stake in the fire and drives it into Polyphemus' eye. When Polyphemus shouts for help from his fellow giants, saying that "Nobody" has hurt him, they think Polyphemus is being afflicted by divine power and recommend prayer as the answer.

In the morning, the blind Cyclops lets the sheep out to graze, feeling their backs to ensure that the men are not escaping. However, Odysseus and his men have tied themselves to the undersides of the animals and so get away. As he sails off with his men, Odysseus boastfully reveals his real name, an act of [[hubris]] that was to cause problems for him later. Polyphemus prays to his father, [[Poseidon]], for revenge and casts huge rocks towards the ship, which Odysseus barely escapes.

The story reappears in later Classical literature. In ''[[Cyclops (play)|Cyclops]]'', the 5th-century BC play by [[Euripides]], a chorus of satyrs offers comic relief from the grisly story of how Polyphemus is punished for his impious behaviour in not respecting the rites of hospitality.{{sfn|Euripides|2020}} In this play, Polyphemus claims to be a [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|pederast]], revealing to Odysseus that he takes more pleasure in boys than in women, and tries to take the [[satyr]] [[Silenus]], whom he kept together with his sons as slaves on [[Mount Etna]] in [[Sicily]], calling him "my [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]]".{{sfn|Euripides|1994|loc=lines [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Cycl.%20589 580-585]}} The scene is infused with low comedy, specifically from the chorus, and Polyphemus is made to look silly: he is drunk when he explains his sexual desire, Silenus is too old to play the part of the young lover, and he himself will be subjected to penetration—with the wooden spike.{{sfn|Roman|Roman|2010|p=126}}

In his Latin epic, [[Virgil]] describes how [[Aeneas]] observes blind Polyphemus as he leads his flocks down to the sea. They have encountered [[Achaemenides]], who re-tells the story of how Odysseus and his men escaped, leaving him behind. The giant is described as descending to the shore, using a "lopped pine tree" as a walking staff. Once Polyphemus reaches the sea, he washes his oozing, bloody eye socket and groans painfully. Achaemenides is taken aboard Aeneas' vessel and they cast off with Polyphemus in chase. His great roar of frustration brings the rest of the Cyclopes down to the shore as Aeneas draws away in fear.{{sfn|Virgil|2002|loc=[http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidIII.htm lines 588–691]}}

===Artistic representations===
[[File:Polyphemus Eleusis 2630.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Painting of Odysseus and his men blinding Polyphemus (from [[Eleusis Amphora]] by [[Polyphemos Painter]], [[Eleusis]] museum)]]
During the seventh century, the potters gave preference to scenes from both epics, ''The Odyssey'' and ''the Iliad'', almost half being that of the blinding of the Cyclops and the ruse by which Odysseus and his men escape.{{sfn|Junker|2012|p=80}} One such episode, on a vase featuring the hero carried beneath a sheep, was used on a 27 drachma Greek postage stamp in 1983.<ref>[https://www.imago-images.com/st/0156460345 Imago]</ref> This was a steep drop (to the point of being "insignificant") from the volume of pan-Hellenic pottery discovered from the fifth and sixth centuries, which largely depicted ancient Greek mythology: scenes from the [[Trojan War]] or deeds from [[Heracles]] or [[Perseus]].{{sfn|Junker|2012|p=80}}

The blinding was depicted in life-size sculpture, including a giant Polyphemus, in the [[Sperlonga sculptures]] probably made for the Emperor [[Tiberius]]. This may be an interpretation of an existing composition, and was apparently repeated in variations in later Imperial palaces by [[Claudius]], [[Nero]] and at [[Hadrian's Villa]].{{sfn|Carey|2002|pp=44-61}}

[[File:Eckersberg, Christoffer Wilhelm, Ulysses Fleeing the Cave of Polyphemus, 1812.jpg|thumb|[[Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg]], ''Ulysses Fleeing the Cave of Polyphemus'', 1812, [[Princeton University Art Museum]]]]
Of the European painters of the subject, the Flemish [[Jacob Jordaens]] depicted Odysseus escaping from the cave of Polyphemus in 1635 (see gallery [[#Artistic depictions of Polyphemus|below]]) and others chose the dramatic scene of the giant casting boulders at the escaping ship. In [[Guido Reni]]'s painting of 1639/40 (see above), the furious giant is tugging a boulder from the cliff as Odysseus and his men row out to the ship far below. Polyphemus is portrayed, as it often happens, with two empty eye sockets and his damaged eye located in the middle on his forehead. This convention goes back to Greek statuary and painting,{{sfn|Roman|Roman|2010|p=416}} and is reproduced in [[Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein]]'s 1802 head and shoulders portrait of the giant (see [[#Artistic depictions of Polyphemus|below]]).

[[Arnold Böcklin]] pictures the giant as standing on rocks onshore and swinging one of them back as the men row desperately over a surging wave (see [[#Artistic depictions of Polyphemus|below]]), while Polyphemus is standing at the top of a cliff in [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]]'s painting of 1902. He stands poised, having already thrown one stone, which barely misses the ship. The reason for his rage is depicted in [[J. M. W. Turner]]'s painting, ''[[Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus]]'' (1829). Here the ship sails forward as the sun breaks free of clouds low on the horizon. The giant himself is an indistinct shape barely distinguished from the woods and smoky atmosphere high above.

===Possible origins===
Folktales similar to that of Homer's Polyphemus are a widespread phenomenon throughout the ancient world.{{sfn|Heubeck|Hoekstra|1990|loc=p.19&nbsp;on lines 105–556}} In 1857, [[Wilhelm Grimm]] collected versions in [[Serbian (language)|Serbian]], [[Romanian (language)|Romanian]], [[Estonian (language)|Estonian]], [[Finnish (language)|Finnish]], [[Russian (language)|Russian]], [[German (language)|German]], and others; versions in [[Basque (language)|Basque]], [[Sámi people|Sámi]], [[Lithuanian (language)|Lithuanian]], [[Gascon (language)|Gascon]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], and [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] are also known.{{sfn|Pausanias|1898|loc= [https://archive.org/details/pausaniassdescri05pausuoft/page/344 p. 344 on 22.7]}} More than two hundred different versions have been identified,{{sfn|Heubeck|Hoekstra|1990|loc=p.19&nbsp;on lines 105–556}} from around twenty five nations, covering a geographic region extending from Iceland, Ireland, England, Portugal and Africa to Arabia, Turkey, Russia, and Korea.{{sfn|Glenn|1971|p=134}}{{refn|group=nb|For examples of the story from the [[Caucasus]], see "Legends About Shepherds, Including Cyclops Legends".{{sfn|Hunt|2012|pp=201–229|loc=Chapter VII}}}} The consensus of current modern scholarship is that these "Polyphemus legends" preserve traditions predating Homer.{{sfn|Fowler|2013|p=55|ps=: "The one-eyed cannibalistic monster from whom the clever hero escapes is an extremely widespread folktale which Homer or a predecessor has worked into the ''Odyssey''"}}{{sfn|Heubeck|Hoekstra|1990|loc=p.19&nbsp;on lines 105–556 "Analysis of the folk-tale material shows that the poet was using two originally unconnected stories, the first about a hero blinding a man-eating giant. Consistent features of this story are the hero's use of an animal, usually a sheep, or at least an animal skin, to effect an escape and the giant's attempt to bring the hero back with the help of a magical object. The second story concerns a hero outwitting a monster by giving a false name, usually 'I myself'. The fusion of these two stories is surely the work of the poet himself."}}{{sfn|Mondi|1983|p=17}}{{sfn|Glenn|1978|p=141}}{{sfn|Glenn|1971|pp=135–136}}<ref name="d'Huy">{{cite web |last1=d'Huy |first1=Julien |title=Julien d'Huy – Polyphemus (Aa. Th. 1137) – NMC |url=http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2013/01/20/julien-d-huy-polyphemus-aa-th-1137.html |website=Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée |access-date=11 March 2020 |language=fr |date=20 January 2013}}</ref>

An example of such a story is one from [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], in the [[Caucasus]], which describes several brothers held prisoner by a giant one-eyed shepherd called "One-eye". After all but two of the brothers are roasted on a spit and eaten, the remaining two take the spit, heat it red hot, and stab it into the giant's eye. As One-eye let his flock out of their pen, he felt each sheep as it passed between his legs, but the two brothers were able to escape by covering themselves with a sheepskin.{{sfn|Hunt|2012|pp=218–222}}