Polyphemos, from The Odyssey, read by Jeremiah Kissel

Head of Polyphemos, Greek or Roman, Hellenistic or Imperial Period, about 150 BC or later

When Odysseus and his men take refuge in the cave of the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemos, he asks the giant to welcome them as Zeus would wish. Hear the reply of Polyphemos in Robert Fagles’s translation of The Odyssey, read by Jeremiah Kissel.

You must be a fool, stranger, or come from nowhere,

telling me to fear the gods or avoid their wrath!

We Cyclops never blink at Zeus and Zeus’s shield

of storm and thunder, or any other blessed god--

we’ve got more force by far.

I’d never spare you in fear of Zeus’s hatred,

you or your comrades here, unless I had the urge.