Q: what's the name of Polyphemus's island?
Giovanni Giusti
with me. What is the name of the island where Polyphemus lived?
I will really appreciate any info sent to me by email.
And if you live in Italy or have cable TV (with RAIUNO showing), you will be
able to see the result of your kindness on TV, very soon!
Thanks a million.
--Giovanni Giusti
P.S.: and if any of you had any questions on celtic philology, I might even
be able to help.
Carroll Bishop
Tried to send you an e-mail but it didn't work. I connect the
Cyclops and Sicily -- I remember a tour guide pointing out some
site associated with Polyphemus (I believe) somewhere between
Taormina and Etna. I can't find the allusion in my Sicily Baedeker
or in Robert Graves. Sicily seems too big for Polyphemus's Island
in the Odyssey.
Carroll Bishop (cbi...@interlog.com )
Robert Stonehouse
>>
>> Dear people, some of you might help me with this. I do not have an Odyssey
>> with me. What is the name of the island where Polyphemus lived?
>>
The idea that the strange beings encountered by Odysseus in his
wanderings should be located in Sicily can be traced back to Hesiod,
who mentioned Ortygia, Etna (?) and the Laestrygones in the same
context (fr. 150.25 f.); Thuc vi.2.1 takes the location for granted ;
and the scene of Euripides' satyr-play Cyclops is by Mt. Ettna.
Thucydides vi.2.1, referring to Sicily - my translation -
The most ancient inhabitants of part of the country are said to have
been Cyclopes and Laestrygones. I know neither their descent nor where
they came from nor where they disappeared to. Let it suffice as the
poets have said and as anyone may happen to know on his own account.
Richard Seaford, introduction to Euripides Cyclops, page 55 -
The location of the Cyclopes in Sicily, near Aitna, is not Homeric.
Euripides did not invent it, but he refers to it no less than fifteen
times in the course of a very short play.
My own note - Homer gives no name, only the land of the Cyclopes. Most
of the places in that part of the Odyssey are treated the same. The
impression is of a series of small islands which Odysseus visits one
after another. I have not been able to find the Hesiod fragment - it
is not in the Loeb edition. Thucydides seems to me to be expressing
heavy scepticism and differentiating poetry from history. Poetry is
bunk, but if you want bunk ..., he seems to say.
Carroll Bishop
Encouraged by Robert Stonehouse's post, I went back to my Sicily
Baedeker and FOUND IT -- Aci Castello (Province: Catania):
Situated on the eastern shore of Mt. Etna, the little fishing town
of Aci Castello is one of the most popular holiday resorts in the
region.....The municipality also includes Aci Trezza, a beautiful,
much sought-after seaside resort...which has a view of the island
of Lachea and the sinister rocky Cyclops Islands (Isole dei Ciclopi,
boat connection).
Isole dei Ciclopi: These islands are linked with the mythological
tradition of the giant one-eyed Cyclops, which has also led the
stretch off coast to the north of Catania, from Aci Castello to
Acireale, to be called the "Riviera dei Ciclopi."....Polyphemus,
the son of the sea-god Poseidon, took Odysseus and his companions
prisoner. After Polyphemus had devoured six of his prisoners,
Odysseus managed to blind him, and then make his escape. Polyphemus
hurled rocks after him, which fell into the sea without hitting
Odysseus - the "Cyclops Rocks" (Isole dei Ciclopi)....In the fables
of Theocritus and Ovid it is recorded that Acis (in Italian Aci),
the lover of the nereid GGalatea, was turned into the river Acis
(today the Fiume di Jaci) by the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus. The
story inspired G.F. Handel to write his opera "Acis and Galatea"
(1719/1720). On the island of Aci --which according to tradition
was Polyphemus's most powerful throw -- the University of Catania
today has its marine biology station. cbi...@interlog.com