Attic black Figure oinochoe. Odysseus heats up the stake (right) and with the help of his companions blinds the giant  cyclop Polyphemus (left). 500 BC The Odysseus is the story Odysseus tells king Alcinoos of the Faiacs at dinner. After the Trojan war, Odysseus and his companions returned home but not before they came across a series of adventures. One of which is the encounter with the one-eyed Cyclop Polyphemus in the island of Youra in the North Sporades. The giant shut the men inside his cave, ate a few of them. Odysseus told Polyphemus his name is Nobody. When Polyphemus fell asleep, Odysseus convinced his companion to prepare a tree trunk which  they sharpened into a weapon and put it in the fire. They then thrust it into the Cyclops eye. Crying with pain and anger, Polyphemus  opened the cave and tried fumbling to catch the escaping men. They had tied themselves under the giants sheep, though, so the only  thing he felt was the backs of the animals. His screams woke the other Cyclops up, and they shouted to him what was wrong.  Polyphemus then answered "Nobody has blinded me", which made the other Cyclops go back to bed, thinking Polyphemus had  finally gone out of his wits. Louvre, Paris
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