The True Origins of the Cyclops in Homer’s ‘Odyssey’

The Odyssey has long been one of my favorite books of all time, possibly even my number one favorite. It is a masterpiece of world literature and a true classic in every sense. One of my favorite episodes from the Odyssey is the part in Book Nine where Odysseus and his men have an encounter with the one-eyed giant Polyphemos. Have you ever wondered where this story about a one-eyed giant comes from, though? Well, read on, because, in this article, I will be exploring not only the origins of the story but also some of the clever wordplay and symbolism embedded in this scene from the classic epic.

A brief summary of the story

In Book Nine of the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men wander into a cave where someone seems to be living. No one is there when they arrive, but, eventually, the owner of the cave, Polyphemos, a Cyclops (or, to use the Greek spelling, Kyklops), who is described as an enormous one-eyed giant, returns. Polyphemos moves a giant boulder so large that only he can move it in front of the entrance to the cave, trapping Odysseus and his men inside. Polyphemos then grabs a handful of Odysseus’s men and eats them.

Odysseus, being extraordinarily clever, gives Polyphemos a skin of wine, which the giant has never had before. Polyphemos is grateful for the wine and asks Odysseus for his name. Odysseus replies that his name is “Οὖτις” (Oûtis), which is Ancient Greek for “No One.” Polyphemos (who is apparently a bit dull) totally believes this and promises that, in return for the gift of wine, he will eat No One last.

Polyphemos, though, is drowsy from drinking the wine and, as soon as he has made this promise, he almost instantly falls asleep. While Polyphemos is sleeping, Odysseus and his men hastily take a stick of olive wood, harden it in the fire, and sharpen it. Then, they drive the pike into the Kyklops’s single eye, blinding him. Polyphemos cries out in pain and the other Kyklopes gather outside the cave. They ask if Polyphemos is in trouble, since he is screaming and howling so much that none of them can sleep.

ABOVE: Black-figure amphora painting dating to c. 660 BC depicting Odysseus and his men gouging out Polyphemos’s eye, as describing in Book Nine of the Odyssey

Polyphemos roars back: “No One tricked me! No One is killing me!” The other Kyklopes (who apparently are not especially bright either) take Polyphemos completely at his word and decide that, since no one is hurting him, Polyphemos must be fine, so they all leave and go back to their caves.

Later, Odysseus and his men manage to escape the cave by strapping themselves to the underbellies of Polyphemos’s sheep, who are in the cave with them. The now-blinded Polyphemos lets the sheep out of the cave, touching each one’s back as it leaves, but he neglects to touch the sheep’s underbellies and fails to notice the prisoners strapped underneath. Thus, Odysseus and his men manage to escape the cave.

As he and his men escape on their ship, Odysseus shouts back his real name to Polyphemos out of hubris, allowing Polyphemos to call down the full wrath of his father Poseidon upon Odysseus. Polyphemos curses him to wander for years at sea before returning home to a household in shambles with suitors from all lands courting his wife and eating up all his livestock.

ABOVE: Marble statue group from Sperlonga dating to around the first century AD depicting Odysseus and his men gouging out Polyphemos’s eye, as described in the Odyssey

Why does Polyphemos only have one eye?

Oftentimes many people seem to wonder why Polyphemos is described in the Odyssey as having only one eye, since, to many people, this seems like a bizarre and inexplicable detail of his appearance.

One hypothesis that was concocted by the paleontologist Othenio Abel in 1914 to explain this detail notes that the skulls of pygmy elephants kind of look like the skulls of giants with single eyes in the centers of their foreheads. Othenio Abel contended that, maybe, that the ancient Greeks may have discovered pygmy elephant skulls and mistaken them for the skulls of one-eyed giants.

ABOVE: Photograph of a pygmy elephant skull, which the paleontologist Othenio Abel thought looked kind of like the skull of a one-eyed giant

This hypothesis is total garbage. There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks ever even discovered pygmy elephant skulls, let alone that they mistook them for the skulls of one-eyed giants. The only evidence whatsoever supporting this hypothesis is Orthenio Abel’s own observation that, in his own view, an elephant skull kind of resembles the skull of a one-eyed giant. In other words, this whole hypothesis is nothing but baseless speculation. I only mention it here because it has become widely circulated on the internet and many people seem to believe it.

Further evidence against Othenio Abel’s hypothesis comes from the fact that ancient Greek depictions of the Polyphemos and other Kyklopes, such as the ones I showed earlier in this article, consistently show the Kyklops as looking completely human, except for being unusually large and having one eye in the middle of the forehead; whereas one would think that, if Kyklopes were inspired by pygmy elephant skulls, then they would resemble pygmy elephant skulls in ancient Greek depictions.

In fact, not all ancient Greek depictions of Polyphemos even show him with a single eye. For instance, here is a painting from an Attic black-figure skyphos dating to between c. 490 and c. 480 BC. It depicts Odysseus and his men gouging out Polyphemos’s eye—but, in this depiction, Polyphemos has two eyes like a normal person instead of just one:

Finally, there is actually a much better, simpler explanation for Polyphemos’s single eye that comes from folkloristics. The story of Odysseus and Polyphemos closely resembles other stories from the ancient Near East of encounters between heroes and giants. For instance, in the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero Gilgamesh fights the giant Humbaba, who shares many similar characteristics with Polyphemos.

All of these other giants, however, are described as having two eyes. This fact, in addition to the fact that Polyphemos is sometimes depicted in ancient Greek art as having two eyes, seems to suggest that Polyphemos’s single eye is a merely alternation to the standard “hero versus giant” trope.

We may wonder, then, why such a change occurred. The most likely answer seems to be that the reason why Polyphemos has only one eye is simply for the sake of narrative conveniency; if he had two eyes like a normal person, then it would have been much more difficult for Odysseus and his men to blind him, because they would have to gouge out both of his eyes instead of just one. Therefore, to avoid this complication, the Odyssey simply tells us that Polyphemos only has one eye.

ABOVE: Mesopotamian terra-cotta plaque of the giant Humbaba, who is fought by the hero Gilgamesh in the ancient Mesopotamian epic poem The Epic of Gilgamesh

A clever pun you probably missed reading the Odyssey in English

Another interesting aspect of this story that is worth further exploration is the fact that Odysseus tells Polyphemos that his name is “No One.” For one thing, Odysseus’s whole trick of getting Polyphemos to tell the other Kyklopes that “No One” is killing him would not have worked if Odysseus had told Polyphemos any other name. That part, I think, is obvious to most readers of the poem.

For another thing, however, the name “No One” in this context appears to be a very deliberate and creative pun on the part of the author of the poem. You see, Odysseus’s main attribute in the Odyssey is his μῆτις (mêtis), or “cunning.” Although Odysseus is not the strongest of the Achaians, he is the cleverest by far. This is the one trait that stands out and makes Odysseus unique from all the other Greek heroes who fought at Troy.

As I mentioned above, the Greek word for “no one” that Odysseus uses in this scene is Οὖτις, which is formed from the word οὐ (ou), meaning “not” and τίς (tís), meaning “someone.” Another way to say “no one” in Ancient Greek, however, is μῆτις (mêtis), which is formed from μή, a different word meaning “not,” plus τίς. This word is identical to μῆτις, the word meaning “cunning,” even though it has a completely different meaning and etymology. Thus, when Odysseus tells Polyphemos that his name is “No One,” the audience listening to the poem would have known that this was a pun on the word μῆτις, meaning “cunning.”

Not only is the name Odysseus gives Polyphemos a clever pun, it also reflects on one of the critical themes of the Odyssey: Odysseus’s identity. A Homeric hero is defined by his name and his heritage, but, when Odysseus tells Polyphemos that his name is “No One,” he is stripped of his name and heritage and, thus, in a sense loses his identity. Odysseus later reclaims his identity when he returns home to Ithaka, slaughters the suitors of his wife Penelope, and takes back his rightful home and family.

ABOVE: The Cyclops Polyphemus, painted between 1595 and 1605 by the Italian painter Annibale Carracci