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The Polyphemus Myth: its Origin and Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Justin Glenn
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Extract

‘The Blinding of the Ogre’, a widespread folktale, has long fascinated and stimulated man's imagination. By far the earliest known version of the story appears in Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey, but the current scholarly consensus holds that this tale is earlier than Homer, was borrowed by the poet, and has survived independently in oral tradition down to modern times. In attempting to explore its origins, I must emphasize at the outset that I am not concerned here with the physical, geographical origin of the story–a problem which has thus far proved insoluble. Rather, my focus will be on the deeper, less tangible origin of the myth: is it possible to discover the idea, the significance, perhaps some symbolism or psychological appeal which lies at the root of the story and might help to explain its astonishing endurance and popularity in oral traditions spanning three continents and three millennia?

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , October 1978 , pp. 141 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1978

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References

NOTES

1. See Page, D. L., The Homeric Odyssey (Oxford, 1955), pp. 1–20Google Scholar, and Glenn, J., ‘The Polyphemus Folktale and Homer's Kyklopeia’, TAPhA 102 (1971), 133–81.Google Scholar

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43. See Steele, T. J., CB 48 (1972), 54Google Scholar, which very briefly draws a parallel between Polyphemus and Cronus.

44. See e.g. Freud, S., op. cit. iv (London, 1953), 142–4.Google Scholar

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47. Steele, , op. cit. 55.Google Scholar

48. See above, n. 45.

49. Menninger, K., Man Against Himself (New York, 1938), p. 321.Google Scholar

50. Steele, , op. cit. 55.Google Scholar

51. Thompson, S., Motif-Index of Folk Literature, iv (Bloomington, Ind., 1957), 31Google Scholar (motif J 229.12).

52. Ibid. v.232 (motifs Q 451.7.2.1, 451.7.2.2).

53. Ibid. v.232 (motif Q451.7.3).

54. Ibid. v.28 (motif M 13).

55. Ibid. i. 550 (motif C 943).

56. Feldman, T., ‘Gorgo and the Origins of Fear’, Arion 4 (1965), 493–4Google Scholar, n. 10.

57. Feldman, ibid. In addition to the references which Feldman provides on the subject of parental oral/aggressive tendencies toward children, see further Stern, E. S., Journal of Mental Science 94 (1948), 321–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Devereux, G., ‘Why Oedipus Killed Laius’, in Ruitenbeek, H. M. (ed.), Psychoanalysis and Literature (New York, 1964), pp. 168–86Google Scholar; Devereux, G., The Psychoanalytic Forum 1 (1966), 114–30.Google Scholar