Emilio Sweargin
Classics 2220
2/15/2016
Myth Clash Paper #1
The infamous cyclops, Polyphemus, who was first spoken of in Homer's Odyssey, has since been written about by numerous poets and authors. Two of the most famous stories of Polyphemus are Theocritus' in the poem Idyll 11 and Roman poet Ovid's in his Metamorphoses. It is important to compare and contrast these three versions in order to get a better understanding for this one character. Theocritus seems to be trying to depict Polyphemus in a light that foils Homer's original. Meanwhile, Ovid uses aspects of Homer's and Theocritus' Polyphemus in his tale.
First, complete understanding of the original tale must be achieved. The original tale of Polyphemus takes place in Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey. After washing up onto the shores of the island of the cyclopes. Upon arrival Odysseus and his men capture the wild goats on the shore and then Odysseus takes a party to the mainland. On the mainland they come across a cave filled with sheep and milk and cheese. Odysseus' men beg him to just take some of the goods and leave as soon as possible, but he refuses. A decision he later regrets. He stays because he wants to see how the giant one-eyed creatures interact with strangers. He wants to see if the cyclops will be kind and bear gifts to his guests, or if he will treat them the way a barbarian would. Polyphemus returns to his cave and traps everyone inside with the giant boulder he uses as a door. At first he acts friendly and then a moment later snatches up a handful of Odysseus' men and eats them, bones and all.
After the giant shows no hospitality and kills two of his men, Odysseus yearns to kill Polyphemus in that moment but realizes if he does so they will all be trapped in side and die. Instead while Polyphemus is out tending to his sheep in the pasture Odysseus devises a plan. He and his men sharpen a giant stick and harden it with fire. They then hide the stick and wait for Polyphemus to return. Upon his return, Polyphemus eats more of Odysseus' men and Odysseus offers him wine. While getting the giant drunk Odysseus talks to him and tells him that his name is 'Noman.' After Polyphemus is drunk, Odysseus and four of his men grab the giant, hot, sharp stick and drive it into the eye of the beast. The cyclops screams in terror and his neighbors come running to see what is wrong. The giant shrieks the response, "Noman is killing me by some kind of trick!"(Homer) The other cyclopes, hearing that no-man is trying to kill Polyphemus, tell him to quiet down and return to their homes. The giant writhes in pain until morning. He then removes the boulder blocking the entrance to the cave and sits there trying to grab at any man who would foolishly try to run out. Odysseus, renowned for his cunning across the land, is smarter than this, however. He has each of his men hold on to the underbellies of sheep and have another sheep on either side and ride them out of the cave while he holds on to the underbelly of the majestic goat. Polyphemus let's the sheep and goat leave without knowledge that the men are also leaving. Odysseus and his crew escape to the beach and load Polyphemus' livestock onto their boat. As they attempt to set sail Odysseus yells an insult at Polyphemus who in turn asks Poseidon to curse the human and then hurls a rock at the ship that aides in there escape.
Now, an examination of the Theocritus' poem from Idyll 11, "Polyphemus' Love for Galateia." In this poem Theocritus is giving advice to one of his friends suffering form love. He tells him he should try to feel better by looking to songs to heal his love wounds. He tells him that the cyclops, Polyphemus, was once able to do this. Polyphemus begins by asking why Galateia does not love him, then he acknowledges the fact that she doesn't love him because of how ugly he is, mentioning his eyebrow that goes from ear to ear and the giant eye and nose underneath it. Then he tries to persuade he with the fact that he has such a successful dairy farm and flocks of sheep. He asks her to leave her watery home to be with him, he then says that if she doesn't he will either lose his soul or die. Polyphemus wishes someone would teach him how to swim and curses his mother for not granting him gills so that he could join her down in the depths of the sea. Polyphemus tries to tell himself that there are more important things to worry about like his flock of sheep and tells himself to take care of his chores. In the end, Polyphemus ends the song on a positive note by saying that there are plenty of women on the island whom would love to be with him. Theocritus then states to his friend that Polyphemus found a way to deal with his broken heart.
Before the dissection of Ovid's version of Polyphemus, a comparison must be made between Homer and Theocritus' versions of the giant because Ovid combines pieces form both. In the original Homer portrays Polyphemus and the giants as a bunch of barbarians with no law who do what they wish and only worry for themselves. Homer states, "Lawless savages who leave everything/Up to the gods."(Homer) Homer seeks to portray Polyphemus in a light even worse than that say, "He was a freak of nature, not like men who eat bread,/But like a lone wooded crag high in the mountains."(Homer) Homer also describes him as dutiful and routine, everyday he would let out his flock and do his chores and every night he would milk them and lock them in and do it all over again. Homer paints for us a picture of a one-eyed giant savage who only cares about himself, with a "booming" voice. In contrast, Theocritus attempts to humanize Polyphemus. By writing about how the beast is in love and about how his heart is broken Theocritus has made Polyphemus relatable to men and makes him seem more misunderstood than originally thought in Homer's tale. Theocritus makes it seem as though he is alone because he wants to be with only one person, Galatea, "But he, singing of Galateia,/ wasted away on the seaweed strewn beach by himself."(Theocritus) Theocritus even makes the cyclops a character that you feel bad for, especially when he speaks of the fact that he knows he is hideous. Polyphemus says, "because of the shaggy brow across my whole forehead….and the single eyeball below, and the wide nose above my lip."(Theocritus) Homer shows only the savage and beastly side of Polyphemus, while Theocritus aims to show a more relatable humanistic side of the cyclops.
Separately, in Ovid's version of the cyclops, Polyphemus's love interest, Galateia, discusses the love trial she is trapped in. She is in love with Acis, however, Polyphemus is relentlessly in love with her. She describes the song that he wrote for her. In the song Polyphemus talks about the ways in which he could care for her if she would just let him. He also admits to killing Acis in his 'love' song.
Ovid purposefully takes aspects of Polyphemus from both Homer and Theocritus. A specific example in which he takes a characteristic from Theocritus and uses it in his love song is as follows: In Theocritus' tale he states, "He did not show his love with apples, roses or locks of hair,/but with real madness. All else he thought trifles."(Theocritus) Ovid uses this description in his retelling, "Cyclops had stayed on him and hurled a rock/He had wrenched from the mountain. Although/The rock's very tip was all that hit Acis,/It was enough to bury the boy completely."(Ovid) Ovid pays homage to Theocritus by demonstrating just how madly in love Polyphemus is with Galateia. Ovid does not forget about Homer's originally telling though. Homer describes Polyphemus as a creature who has no fear of the gods by saying, "You're dumb, stranger, or form far away,/If you ask me to fear the gods. Cyclopes/Don't care about Zeus or his aegis/Or the blessed gods, since we are much stronger."(Homer) Ovid uses this as well in his love song from Polyphemus to Galateia, "Just look how big I am! Jupiter's no bigger,/Since you're always talking about some Jupiter/Who rules up in the sky."(Ovid) In these lines Polyphemus is trying to get Galateia to realize that even though he is repugnant there are other good things about him by comparing himself to a god, which by doing so must mean he has no fear of the gods based on the fact that those who compare themselves to the gods usually receive their wrath.
In summation, Homer produces a work that gives us a disgusting, heartless, savage monocular monster, while Theocritus challenges that by attempting to humanize the brute. How does he do so? By using the one thing that all creatures can relate too, love. In addition, Ovid attempts to bring these seemingly polar opposite definitions of who Polyphemus is, together by taking aspects from both previous poets and making Polyphemus a complex being who is more than a monster, but by no means a man. The
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