The Odyssey – Book Nine - 1
The Odyssey – Book Nine
A.
Odysseus (O) introduces himself
1. Son of Laertes
2. “formidable of guile” – famous for being skillfully sly and crafty
3. O is bragging  trying to impress his host – possibly earning respect
B.
Ithaca – O’s home – has been gone 20 years
1. faraway
2. beloved home – misses Ithaca terribly
C.
After Trojan War
1. O and his men – land on Ismarus – Cocones, who are friends of Trojans  they
kill 72 of Odysseus’s men
2. Lotus Eaters – they don’t want to hurt anyone
i. O sends 3 men to find out who lives there – they eat the Lotus
ii. If you eat the Lotus, you don’t care about anything – forget about home
iii. This is dangerous because O wants to get home to Ithaca
iv. O makes the 3 who ate go to the ship and ties them down – O is loyal to
his men (indirect characterization)
3. Cyclopes (plural of Cyclops) [Sigh’ cloe peeze] – lines 86ff.
i. Cyclopes
1. one-eyed giants – each lives by himself; no community
2. Lawless, reckless – do what they want; uncivilized
ii. O watches the Cyclopes  sends expedition to find out whether the
Cyclopes are friendly or unfriendly  O is a brave, smart, cautious leader
(indirect characterization)
iii. O sees one Cyclops (huge, savage, brute) – like a “shaggy mountain”
1. Takes 12 best fighters – brings a pouch of special wine
2. Cyclops isn’t home, so O and his men explore the house, which is
full of animals and cheese – men want to steal food and leave
3. O wants to see Cyclops, so they make an offering, eat, and wait
4. Cyclops comes home and wants to know if they are friends or
enemies  O tries to scare and impress him to earn respect – asks
to be treated nicely  Cyclops calls O a ninny (fool)
5. Cyclops asks where O’s ship is, so Cyclops can kill others  O
lies, saying ship is destroyed  hopes to make Cyclops
sympathetic
6. Cyclops eats 2 men  takes nap; men can’t escape because of
boulder in entrance
7. When Cyclops wakes up, he eats two men; then he goes out,
leaving boulder blocking the exit
The Odyssey – Book Nine - 2
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
xi.
8. O prays to Athena  O finds a tree  makes a stake by sharpening
the end, so they can grind it into Cyclop’s eye
9. Cyclops comes home  eats 2 more men
10. O gives Cyclops wine by tricking him Cyclops gets drunk and
asks O his name  O says his name is Nohbdy  Cyclops says he
will eat Nohbdy last  Cyclops is drunk  sleeps; he drools (little
pieces of men come out)
11. O puts the spear back in the fire, charring and hardening the end 
he and his 4 men ram it into Cyclops’ eye  the eyeball hisses and
the roots pop
12. Polyphemus screams and yells for help – “Nohbdy has hurt me;
Nohbdy has ruined me”
13. Other Cyclopes reply that if no one is hurting him, then be quiet
and leave us alone.
14. Odysseus is pleased with his trickiness
Polyphemus tries to trick Odysseus
1. Polyphemus opens cave entrance and feels for men in case they’re
trying to escape
2. Odysseus and his men stay far away from Polyphemus
3. Odysseus tells his men to hold onto the bottom of the sheep; they
will go out when the sheep go out
4. Odysseus and the men escape and run to the ship
5. The men are sad because of the men who have been eaten.
6. Odysseus says take the sheep and look out toward the sea.
Odysseus calls back to the Cyclops, Polyphemus, mocking him, saying
that he beat the Cyclops, laughs at him
Polyphemus throws a boulder at O’s ship  O again mocks him, telling
him who he is and where he is from
Polyphemus now says:
1. He had been told that a man named Odysseus would come and
blind him – Polyphemus expected Odysseus to be some kind of
giant, not a small, pitiful man with hwine
2. Tells Odysseus to come back, that he, son of Poseidon, will treat
Odysseus well
Odysseus yells back that he would take Polyphemus’s life if he could
Polyphemus prays to Poseidon:
1. asks that Odysseus never see his home
2. if he is to see his home, make his trip very long and have him lose
all his companions
The gods hear Polyphemus  Polyphemus throws another boulder
O makes offering to Zeus  Zeus scorns his offering