Greek Poetry & Drama
Homer, Odyssey 9.526–535 — Polyphemus’ Curse
Odysseus has escaped from the cave of Polyphemus, but once his ship is offshore he calls back and reveals his true name. The Cyclops, now able to identify the man who blinded him, invokes his father Poseidon. His prayer asks first that Odysseus never return to Ithaca; if homecoming is nevertheless fated, he asks that it come late, in misery, after the loss of every companion, aboard another man's ship, with trouble waiting at home.
- Author
- Homeric epic tradition
- Work / Passage
- Odyssey 9.526–535
- Language
- Homeric Greek
- Genre
- Epic poetry
Homer, Odyssey 9.526–535
ὣς ἐφάμην, ὁ δ᾽ ἔπειτα Ποσειδάωνι ἄνακτι εὔχετο χεῖρ᾽ ὀρέγων εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀστερόεντα· κλῦθι, Ποσείδαον γαιήοχε κυανοχαῖτα, εἰ ἐτεόν γε σός εἰμι, πατὴρ δ᾽ ἐμὸς εὔχεαι εἶναι, δὸς μὴ Ὀδυσσῆα πτολιπόρθιον οἴκαδ᾽ ἱκέσθαι υἱὸν Λαέρτεω, Ἰθάκῃ ἔνι οἰκί᾽ ἔχοντα. ἀλλ᾽ εἴ οἱ μοῖρ᾽ ἐστὶ φίλους τ᾽ ἰδέειν καὶ ἱκέσθαι οἶκον ἐυκτίμενον καὶ ἑὴν ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν, ὀψὲ κακῶς ἔλθοι, ὀλέσας ἄπο πάντας ἑταίρους, νηὸς ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοτρίης, εὕροι δ᾽ ἐν πήματα οἴκῳ.
English Translation
So I spoke; and then he prayed to lord Poseidon, stretching out his hands toward the starry sky: “Hear me, Poseidon, earth-holder, dark-haired god, if I am truly your son and you declare yourself my father: grant that Odysseus, sacker of cities, never reach home, the son of Laertes, whose house is in Ithaca. But if it is his fate to see his own people and return to his well-built house and native land, may he come late and in misery, after losing all his companions, aboard another man’s ship, and find troubles in his house.”
38th Scroll Translation
Translation Notes
γαιήοχε — an epithet of Poseidon often rendered “earth-holder” or “earth-enfolder.” Homeric epithets can carry traditional resonance beyond the needs of a single scene.
δὸς μὴ ... οἴκαδ᾽ ἱκέσθαι — “grant that he not reach home.” The first wish is absolute: no homecoming at all.
εἴ οἱ μοῖρ᾽ ἐστὶ — “if it is his fate.” The curse then bends around a limit Polyphemus acknowledges he may not control. If Odysseus is fated to return, the Cyclops asks that the return be delayed and ruined.
ὀψὲ κακῶς — literally “late, badly.” The compressed wording is central to the curse: delay and suffering are joined.
νηὸς ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοτρίης — “on another's ship.” Odysseus eventually reaches Ithaca in a Phaeacian vessel after his own fleet is gone.
What Happens Immediately Before the Curse
Odysseus has already escaped through intelligence and concealment. Inside the cave he called himself “Nobody,” preventing the other Cyclopes from understanding Polyphemus' cries for help. Once safely at sea, however, he refuses his companions' pleas to remain silent and calls back to the blinded Cyclops.
At lines 502–505 he tells Polyphemus exactly what to say if anyone asks who blinded him: Odysseus, sacker of cities, son of Laertes, whose home is Ithaca. That self-identification gives Polyphemus the information needed to formulate the prayer above.
The scene therefore turns on the contrast between anonymity and name. “Nobody” made escape possible; “Odysseus” makes the curse possible.
Poseidon Hears — But the Odyssey Has More Than One Cause
Homer states immediately after the prayer that Poseidon heard Polyphemus. The curse is therefore a real causal force in Odysseus' delayed homecoming, and Book 1 identifies Poseidon as the god who continues to oppose his return.
But the poem does not make Poseidon the sole cause of everything that follows. TheOdyssey's proem explicitly says Odysseus' companions perish through their own reckless folly when they eat the cattle of Helios. Other episodes involve their choices, divine actions, chance, and Odysseus' own decisions.
Polyphemus' prayer is powerful because its terms anticipate the final shape of the homecoming, not because every later disaster can be reduced to one divine punishment.
Kleos, Nostos, and the Name
The episode is often read through the tension between kleos, the fame attached to a heroic name, and nostos, the return home. That framework is useful so long as it is not turned into a claim that Homer labels Odysseus with a single tragic “fatal flaw.”
Odysseus wants the deed attached to the correct doer. The impulse is recognizably heroic: anonymity secures survival, but anonymity also denies the glory of authorship. By shouting his identity, he converts a private escape into a story bearing his name — and exposes that name to Poseidon's power.
The scene does not cancel Odysseus' intelligence. It shows intelligence coexisting with anger, pride, the desire for recognition, and the risks of speech after the danger seems over.
From the Text to The Ship Remembers
The Ship Remembers uses the voyage itself as a frame for memory: Troy behind the fleet, the sea ahead, and each decision becoming part of what the surviving vessel carries. The Cyclops episode matters because a successful escape does not remain safely in the past. Odysseus' name follows the ship out onto the water.
The song's interpretation therefore emphasizes consequence rather than a simple moral of “pride punished.” The curse gives poetic form to a recurring structure of the epic: what happens on one shore reshapes the possibilities of the next.
Explore The Ship RemembersText and Edition
The Greek text follows the standard Homeric text presented by Dickinson College Commentaries and Perseus/Scaife for Odyssey 9.526–535.
The English rendering is a new 38th Scroll translation designed to preserve the sequence of the curse: no return if possible; otherwise a late and painful return after the loss of companions, in another's ship, to troubles at home.
Selected Sources and Further Reading
- Homer. Odyssey 9.500–535, Dickinson College Commentaries.
- Homer. Odyssey, Greek text and A. T. Murray translation, Perseus Digital Library / Scaife Viewer.
- Homer. Odyssey 1.1–10, especially the proem's account of the companions' destruction.
Continue Exploring
More from the Ancient Texts Library
Browse the full Ancient Texts library or return to the composition archive to explore the music and historical commentary built from these sources.