Polyphemus Gives Odysseus’s Men a Hand

Design Something Everyday: 12/365

Here’s a little sketch for my design something every day project. Imagine yourself as one of clever Odysseus’ men in the cave of the Cyclops, and one-eyed Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, reaches down to devour you, or as Samuel Butler gruesomely put it in his translation:

The cruel wretch vouchsafed me not one word of answer, but with a sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed them down upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains were shed upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood. Then he tore them limb from limb and supped upon them. He gobbled them up like a lion in the wilderness, flesh, bones, marrow, and entrails, without leaving anything uneaten.” — Homer, The Odyssey Book 9, trans. Samuel Butler.

Links:

The Odyssey, by Homer Translated by Samuel Butler via the Classics Archive at MIT.
Free online audio version of the Butler translation of They Odyssey at Librivox. Although it is great to read Homer, one should listen to a good reading of his epics. Considering that’s how most in the ancient world were exposed to them, I find it fun to listen to them being read. It makes me feel like I am walking in their shoes, er sandals.

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