The myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus has changed throughout different Greek and Roman depictions of him. In the Archaic Greek poet Homer’s version in the Odyssey, Polyphemus is depicted as a large, man-eating monster, which threatened the life of Odysseus and his men. In the Hellenistic Greek poet Theocritus’ version of the myth in his Idyll, Polyphemus was humanized. He is depicted as being in love, and singing a love poem to a water nymph and feeling as though he is not good enough for her. Roman poet Ovid mixed these two elements together in his poem, the Metamorphoses, where he brought the clumsy, monster-like depictions of the first poem to describe Polyphemus as a character, as well as the love obsession that he has over Galatea (the water nymph). This paper will compare and contrast these three depictions in an analysis.
As stated before, Homer’s version depicts Polyphemus as a frightening monster. While he is not described as being very hairy or having one eye, Homer writes “He spoke, and it hit us like a punch in the gut-/His booming voice and the sheer sixe of the monster,” (Homer, 249-250). This spoken by Odysseus, who is telling the story through his perception. He is stranded on an island full of Cyclops with his men after a heavy storm, and they wandered into Polyphemus ‘ cave and would then have to escape his grasp. Theorcritus’ poem tells the story from Polyphemus’ perspective, a self-aware Cyclops in love with Galateia, a Sea Nymph. He is expressing his love for Galateia, and is in pain over his feelings for her.
Polyphemus is described several times in Homer’s poem as having a “pitiless heart,” (Homer, 264), and that he did “a sudden assault upon my men,” (Homer, 280). This kind of behavior is aggressive, animalistic and foreboding. Despite that he was literally called a monster, from the perspective of Odysseus, he does behave completely like a monster. When he attacked Odysseus’ men, he “smashed them/To the ground like puppies. Their brains spattered out/And oozed into the dirt. He tore them limb from limb/To make his supper, gulping them down/Like a mountain lion,” (Homer, 281-285). The comparison to a mountain lion drives the point home. But he is also described as not having a fair amount of intelligence, and as a being who is clumsy. Odysseus was able to persuade Polyphemus to drink wine until he fell asleep, and told Polyphemus that his name was Noman. While Polyphemus was asleep, Odysseus thrusted an enflamed steak into the Cyclops’ eye. As the Cyclops was screaming, his neighbors asked why he was bothering their rest. The Cyclops answered “Noman is killing me by some kind of trick!” (Homer, 407). This is a testament to how gullible Polyphemus was to Odysseus’ lies, and how proud Polyphemus must have been to fall asleep in the presence of these men and not think that he could be hurt.
Polyphemus in Idylls is extremely different and humanized. He showed his love with “real madness,” (Theocritus, 11), and “wasted away” (Theocritus, 14) singing about her without receiving her love back. He is rejected by her, and is heartbroken over the fact. Polyphemus in this poem blames his looks for her rejection, which is where the Cyclops is actually described as having one eye and a face full of hair. He says. “I know, lovely girl, why you avoid me-/because of the shaggy brow across my whole forehead,/ which stretches from this ear to that, one long line/and the single eyeball below, and the wide nose above my lip,” (Theocritus, 30-34). While he does not describe himself literally as a monster in this version, the detailed description of his looks do enough to depict him as such. This depiction was written with the purpose of eliciting sympathy for the Cyclops. He can provide for her, as he says “Just come to me and you will lack for nothing,” (Theocritus, 42), but despite this, it is not good enough for. Hence why he is wasting away on a shore singing to her. The entire poem lacks the aggression that was part of Homer’s depiction.
Ovid mixes the two Greek poems to create his version of Polyphemus. It is told through Galatea’s perspective, in which she is describing an aggressive and persistent approach to her by the Cyclops, who killed her lover in a jealous rage. Like Theocritus’ depiction, she rejects the Cyclops, but this makes the Cyclops very angry. Polyphemus in this version is described with more confidence than his Theocritus counterpart – almost the same sort of confidence and pride in his abilities like his Homer counterpart. In his song to Galatea, he sings “Don’t hat my gifts. I know what I look like. I saw/My reflection in a clear pool, and I liked what I saw,” (Ovid, 1000-1001). He then goes to describe the hair on his face and his one eye, which he reasons should be good enough for her because the Sun has one eye. He also pleads to her, “don’t think I am ugly,” (Ovid, 1006), and also promises to provide everything she needs. When he sees Galatea with her lover Acis, Polyphemus “rose/Like a bull that is furious,” (Ovid, 1037-1038), which goes back to Homer’s depiction of being described as animalistic. Polyphemus hurled a boulder that crushed Acis, “enough to bury the boy completely,” (Ovid, 1054). This death is brutal, and described with large amounts of blood pouring out of the boy’s body as a result of Polyphemus’ rage. Galatea managed to escape back into the sea.
Ovid thus kept the romantic tension and drama that was present in Theocritus’ depiction while mixing it with Homer’s brutal, monster scare. The monstrosity that is present in Ovid’s tale almost makes Galatea’s rejection justified, whereas Theocritus wanted to depict Polyphemus as a being that is deserving of sympathy. Theocritus was therefore the only author to humanize the Cyclops, while the other two really focused on his behavioral rage.
Works Cited
Homer. Odyssey. PDF file.
Ovid. The Metamorphoses. PDF file.
Theocritus. Idyll. PDF file.
