In Greek myth, a Cyclops is a giant with one large eye in the middle of its forehead. The Cyclopes in The Odyssey live as shepherds on a wild island.

How does Odysseus escape the Cyclops?

He blinds the sleeping giant, then he and his men cling to the undersides of the sheep as they go out of the cave, so the giant cannot feel them.

Why is the sea god angry with Odysseus?

Polyphemus is Poseidon’s son. After Odysseus blinds him and boasts his real name, the giant asks his father for revenge, and Poseidon makes the voyage home long and dangerous.

From The Odyssey

Polyphemus

One-eyed giant • Grumpy and huge

A grumpy one-eyed Cyclops who lives in a seaside cave with his woolly sheep and does not like uninvited guests.

Who is Polyphemus?

Polyphemus is a huge Cyclops, a one-eyed giant who lives in a cave by the sea and keeps flocks of sheep and goats. He is a son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. When Odysseus and his men wander into his cave, he traps them inside with an enormous boulder.

Polyphemus is a character in The Odyssey, the ancient Greek poem by Homer, retold for ages 6–9 by Sean Lee.

What is Polyphemus like?

huge
grumpy
fooled

Polyphemus’s story

Odysseus and twelve of his men explore the land of the Cyclopes and find a cave full of cheeses and pens of lambs and kids. The giant comes home with his flock, rolls a massive stone across the door and, in the original poem, catches and eats several of the men.

Odysseus gives Polyphemus strong wine and tells him his name is Noman (Nobody, in other translations). When the giant falls asleep, Odysseus and his men drive a sharpened, fire-hardened olive stake into his one eye. Polyphemus shouts that Nobody is hurting him, so the other Cyclopes go away.

In the morning the blind giant feels the backs of his sheep as they leave the cave, but the men escape tied underneath them, and Odysseus clings to the belly of the biggest ram. As they sail away, Odysseus shouts out his real name. Polyphemus hurls rocks at the ship and prays to his father Poseidon to make Odysseus’s journey home long and hard.

“Noman is killing me by fraud; no man is killing me by force.”

Polyphemus, shouting to the other Cyclopes from inside his cave, in Samuel Butler’s translation, where Odysseus calls himself “Noman”. From the original ancient Greek poem by Homer.

A moment to remember

The Cyclops roars to his neighbors that “Nobody” is hurting him, and they tell him to go back to sleep.

Odysseus: hero who outwits him

Talk about it

Odysseus tricked a giant with a funny name. What makes the “Nobody” trick so clever?

Questions about Polyphemus

What is a Cyclops?: In Greek myth, a Cyclops is a giant with one large eye in the middle of its forehead. The Cyclopes in The Odyssey live as shepherds on a wild island.
How does Odysseus escape the Cyclops?: He blinds the sleeping giant, then he and his men cling to the undersides of the sheep as they go out of the cave, so the giant cannot feel them.
Why is the sea god angry with Odysseus?: Polyphemus is Poseidon’s son. After Odysseus blinds him and boasts his real name, the giant asks his father for revenge, and Poseidon makes the voyage home long and dangerous.