Ahh, The Odyssey, one of my favorite books of
mythology. I think I like it because it’s got these great episodes throughout
the book, much like a nice tv show. “Join us next time as Odysseus deal with
Circe the Witch!”
And while
at some later date I will go through the entire book analyzing each adventure,
that is not today. Today we start in the middle, with Book 9 (or IX if you’re a
fan of Roman Numerals like me) where Odysseus faces off against the dreaded
Cyclopes!
Why in the
middle? Well, for lots of reasons, first and foremost is that because
Odysseus’s adventures are mostly episodic, we don’t lose out on anything by
starting in the middle. The next big reason is that it has to do with some of
the same stuff we talked about with Abraham recently. Third, this story in
particular is essential for understanding another myth, which we’ll dive into
after this one.
So,
Odysseus and his men sail to the island of the Cyclopes (but there’s no sign or
anything announcing this). Odysseus, despite the protests of his men, loads up
some wine, and heads inland to see if he can find some signs of civilization
(spoiler alert, he doesn’t). Instead he finds a cave stocked with cheeses in
various stages.
Again, the
men are not happy. They want to abscond (yes, that’s the word I’m choosing
here) with the cheese and make sail for home. Odysseus, however, insists that
they stay because it would be inhospitable to steal.
Enter the
Cyclops Polyphemus, erstwhile son of Poseidon, who leads in his sheep and
promptly seals the cave entrance with a mighty boulder. I must also point out
that these sheep are scaled to size for Polyphemus as well. These are not
little lambs.
So,
Polyphemus proceeds to do the “Fe Fi Fo Fum” thing and . . . wait, wrong story.
It’s similar enough, but we’ll get into that another time. The big P isn’t
happy that Odysseus and his men are in his pad, so he proceeds to question
them. Odysseus tells him that they’re just looking for hospitality, (citing his
devotion to Zeus and how Zeus is the god of Strangers) and that they brought
gifts of wine for Polyphemus.
Polyphemus isn’t happy about this,
and proceeds to do the most inhospitable thing one can do, smash a couple of
sailors heads against the cave wall, chop them up, and eat them (not raw, nicely
roasted over a fire).
See, Polyphemus really doesn’t care
about the gods, he actually believes that the Cyclopes are greater and more
powerful than the gods, so there’s no reason to honor or reverence them. Such
irreverence—maybe to the point of outright blasphemy—doesn’t have immediate
repercussions for him, either, and the Greek gods are not exactly shy about
punishing hubris.
So why aren’t they punished by Zeus
and his ilk. Why are there not thunderbolts and transformations aplenty, here?
Well, we have to talk about omniscience. The Greek gods ain’t got it. Not by a
long shot. If someone is out of earshot, out of sight, or otherwise beyond the
senses of the gods, they don’t know about it. Artemis didn’t know about
Actaeon's presence until he got too close, nor did she know her father had
disguised himself as one of her own nymphs. Hera knew about many of Zeus’s
affairs, but not all of them, and the list goes on.
The gods don’t appear to be present
on the island of the Cyclopes at all. There is no devotion to the gods save for
that brought to the island by Odysseus and his men. The Greek gods are also
fiercely territorial, and none of them has any following from this island. None
of the gods resides here, most probably because there are no humans here (which
is easy to understand since Polyphemus is dining on them).
It’s the natural limit of
polytheism. Since there are many gods, each with their own particular
specializations, their own domains, none can ever rise up to the level of
omniscience. In this respect, they are much more human than God in the Old
Testament. Their limits make them more relatable, and also give them flaws with
which humans can more readily identify with.
But just because Zeus didn’t hear
of this disrespect at the moment does not mean that there is complete
unawareness as to the kinds of beings the Cyclopes are. Stay tuned.