The Non-Homeric Side of the Homeric Cyclops

Andrew T. Alwine (University of Florida)

Epic poetry, which exists within a broader mythological context, frequently confronts the problem of choosing between alternate forms of the same story.  As a consequence, the text often presents at least an implicit rationale for the selection of one version of the myth to the exclusion of others by making allusive references to the traditions which are to be ignored.  Scholars have already recognized this tendency in the Homeric epics (P. Pucci, Odysseus Polutropos: Intertextual Readings in the Odyssey and the Iliad; G. Nagy, Pindar’s Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past).  Thus, versions of stories that are contrary to the themes of the Iliad or Odyssey are often referenced and undercut in the course of the narrative.

This process seems to be at work in two passages of the Odyssey concerning the Polyphemus episode (1.197-9, 9.125-30) which undermine an alternative myth.  In the first passage, Athena, disguised as Mentes the Taphian, informs Telemachus that harsh, wild men (χαλεποὶ, ἄγριοι 1.198-9) are holding Odysseus back.  This statement is certainly false, as Odysseus is never captured by more than one person.  In the second passage, the narrator states in no uncertain terms that the Cyclopes have never been able to sail, thus alluding to a different version of the myth.

This alternative form of the Polyphemus story appears in its essentials in the scholia to 1.198:  ὁ Κύκλωψ καὶ οἱ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ. ἁρπάσαντος γὰρ Ὀδυσσέως τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ Κύκλωπος, ἣν ὡς ὀφθαλμὸν εἶχεν, οὗτος μετὰ πολλῆς ἰσχύος νῆας ποιήσας κατὰ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως ἐφέρετο.  I shall argue that Athena’s lying statement is in fact an allusion to this alternate version, in which Polyphemus and “those with him” (οἱ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ) keep Odysseus from turning back towards Ithaca.  Also, The verbose statement of Odyssey 9, which simply states that the Cyclopes do not sail on ships, may actually be a criticism of the idea that Polyphemus chased after Odysseus by sea.