This story is one amongst the many adventures that Odysseus encountered. The Greeks (Odysseus and his men) find and enter a large cave, which is the home of the great Cyclops Polyphemus (a one eyed giant). When Polyphemus returns home with his flocks and finds Odysseus and his men, he blocks the cave entrance with a great stone, trapping the remaining Greeks inside. The Cyclops then crushes and immediately devours two of his men for his meal. The desperate Odysseus devises a clever escape plan. He devices a spear, gets the giant drunk enabling Odysseus and his men to pierce the great eye and escape. (www.pantheon.org)


SVN on a Spartan cup from the sixth century B.C. Image source: Wetizmann, 1947: 14

The visual moments represented in the SVN are as follows—

M1. Polyphemus sits upright and holds the legs of one of Odysseus’ companions whom he has just devoured.

M2. In front of him stands Odysseus, who offers a cup of wine in order to intoxicate him , expressed as.

M3. Odysseus holds with the other the beam which he is going to thrust into the giant’s one eye, and he is accompanied by three companions, expressed as.