Polyphemus
The Cyclopes
Among the dreadful children of Gaia and Ouranos, none inspired such awe or terror as the Hekatonkheires and the Kyklopes. Both races were cast into Tartarus long before the Titanomachy, sealed away by their own father’s fear. When the time came for rebellion, it was Gaia herself who whispered prophecy: Zeus would not triumph over the Titans unless he freed the forsaken ones.
So Zeus descended into the pit and broke their chains. In exchange for freedom, the Cyclopes forged three divine weapons: the thunderbolt for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon, and the helm of darkness for Hades. The pact sealed Olympus’s victory, and the name of the Cyclopes was burned forever into the annals of the gods.
The Tribe of Polyphemus
The Cyclopes who lived among mortals were brutish, lawless, and colossal. They devoured the flesh of men and obeyed neither mortal custom nor divine command. Each lived in solitude within a cave, with mate and offspring, answering to no one but their chief, Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and the sea-nymph Thoosa.
Hunted from Thrace, Polyphemus led his tribe across the waters to Crete, a gift from his father. There, they slaughtered the native Pelasgians and claimed the island as their own. Though savage, they were also cunning builders and metalworkers, raising an immense wall that girded Crete, thirty feet thick at its narrowest span.
It was there that the Cyclopes flourished, unchecked by gods or men. Zeus no longer required their craft, yet Hephaestus saw use for their strength and skill. He took three of the mightiest, including Polyphemus, into his volcanic forges, where they toiled beside him in shaping weapons of flame and bronze.
The Wrath of Apollo
When Asclepius, son of Apollo, began teaching mortals the art of healing, Zeus grew fearful that humankind might defy death itself. In anger, he struck Asclepius down with a thunderbolt, the very weapon the Cyclopes had forged.
Apollo could not strike Zeus, but his grief turned to vengeance. He hunted the Cyclopes and slaughtered their tribe to the last, sparing only the three who labored in Hephaestus’s halls. For this act of divine fury, Zeus cast Apollo into Tartarus for a year, punishing him for their murder.
Polyphemus the blinded
Polyphemus remained the most infamous of his kind. When Odysseus came to his cave on the long voyage home from Troy, the hero found not a host but a monster who feasted upon his men. Odysseus tricked the giant with honeyed wine, then drove a burning stake into an eye as he slept.
Blinded and roaring with pain, Polyphemus hurled boulders after the fleeing ships, crying out to Poseidon for vengeance. The sea god heard his son’s plea, and the waves themselves rose against Odysseus in answer.
When Polyphemus returned to Crete, he found his kin all but gone. Wandering the shores, he washed his ruined eye in the surf and beheld the sea-nymph Galatea. She was radiant, and his heart, unused to gentleness, was seized by love. But Galatea was already promised to a youth named Acis.
From a high cliff, Polyphemus watched the lovers walk the coast below. Jealousy overtook him. With a single heave, he loosened a boulder that crushed Acis where he stood. Then the giant claimed Galatea for himself, and from their union was born a son, Galatos, whose name would one day echo across the Aegean.
0 Comments