Cyclops: Did you mean...?

The satyr-play The Cyclops was written by Euripides, one of the great Greek tragedians, in 412 or 408 BCE. Like many of his fellow tragedians, Euripides centers his play on a well-known story from Greek mythology. The Cyclops is based on...

Odysseus (Roman name: Ulysses) was one of the great pan-Hellenic heroes of Greek mythology. He was famous for his courage, intelligence, and leadership. Odysseus' resourcefulness and oratory skills were instrumental in the Greek victory in...

Homer's Odyssey is an epic poem written in the 8th century BCE which describes the long voyage home of the Greek hero Odysseus. The mythical king sails back to Ithaca with his men after the Trojan War but is beset by all kinds of delays and...

A cyclops (meaning 'circle-eyed') is a one-eyed giant first appearing in the mythology of ancient Greece. The Greeks believed that there was an entire race of cyclopes who lived in a faraway land without law and order. Homer, in his Iliad...

Attic black-figure skyphos depicting Odysseus blinding the sleeping Cyclops Polyphemus, by the Theseus Painter, from Boeotia (Greece), 490-480 BCE. (Altes Museum, Berlin)

Mosaic with the Cyclops Polyphemus and the nymph of the sea Galatea, discovered in 1959 during excavation work under the Plaza de la Corredera in Cordoba, Spain. The mosaic dates to the 2nd century CE and is now on display in the Salón de...

A polychrome Krater fragment (mid 7th century BCE) depicting the blinding of the Cyclops Polyphemus, one of Odysseus' many adventures on his long voyage home to Ithaka following the Trojan War. (Argos Archaeological Museum, Greece)

Greek mythology was used as a means to explain the environment in which humankind lived, the natural phenomena they witnessed and the passing of time through the days, months, and seasons. Greek myths were also intricately connected to religion...

A 2nd century CE Roman statuette of the Greek hero Odysseus. Here he holds a cup of wine in offering to the Cyclops Polyphemus. By getting him drunk the hero was able to blind Polyphemus and escape from the Cyclops' cave to continue his voyage...

Greek theatre began in the 6th century BCE in Athens with the performance of tragedy plays at religious festivals. These, in turn, inspired the genre of Greek comedy plays. The two types of Greek drama would be hugely popular and performances...