Riordan Wiki:Featured Articles/Polyphemus

"I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"

- Polyphemus

Polyphemus (Πολύφημος in Ancient Greek) is a blind Cyclops, son of Poseidon and sea nymph Thoosa, who inhabits an island in the Sea of Monsters. He stole the Golden Fleece in order to make it easier for him to eat, meaning that the Golden Fleece has a natural-smelling scent (which gives off the same, if not extremely similar scent) of the nature god Pan. Satyrs would try to find Pan and since the Labyrinth blocked off any scent of Pan, the only thing giving off his scent would be the Golden Fleece. So satyrs searching for Pan would travel to Polyphemus' island, but instead they would be trapped there and be eaten by him. He will be portrayed by Robert Maillet in The Sea of Monsters.

Polyphemus was a character in Homer's ''The Odyssey. ''When Odysseus stopped at the island of the cyclopes, he saw a cave and thought there might be food in it. He and some of his crew went to investigate. His sailors insisted on taking what was there and leaving, but Odysseus insisted on meeting the 'person' who owned it all, thinking he would present a challenge to them.

At sundown, Polyphemus let his sheep back into the cave before moving a massive stone to cover the door. When Odysseus and his men try offering him some of their food, he instead grabs two of the men, tears them apart, and eats them. He asks Odysseus what his name is, and the clever hero tells him his name is Nobody (Nobody). Odysseus then gets Polyphemus drunk on wine and puts him to sleep.

While he slept, Odysseus and his remaining men took a large stick and sharpened the end of it (in some versions they charred it too), and stabbed it into Polyphemus' eye. The monster woke with a start and called for his brothers, but all he said was 'Nobody has blinded me!', and so they thought he was merely stating the obvious and left him alone.

Later, when Polyphemus lets his sheep out to graze, he reaches down and feels around them to make sure Odysseus and his men aren't on their backs. However, Odysseus tied himself and his men to the sheep's undersides and were able to escape. As they left the island on their ship, Odysseus bragged to Polyphemus that he had escaped and in his boldness told the cyclops his real name. This allowed Polyphemus to ask to Poseidon to curse Odysseus, which served as yet another setback on his journey home.

Sometime after this, Polyphemus stole the Golden Fleece and hung it on a tree on his island (what happened to the other cyclopes on the island is unknown; it's possible they moved to different islands). Along with making his island a paradise, it lured satyrs there in search of Pan, the wild god, whom Polyphemus would simply eat.

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