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Cyclops (play)

 
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The Cyclops (Kyklops) is an Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 satyr play
Satyr play

Satyr plays were an Ancient Greece form of tragicomedy, similar to the modern-day burlesque style. They always featured a chorus of satyrs and were based in Greek mythology and contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality , pranks and general merriment....
 by Euripides
Euripides

Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias....
, the only complete satyr play that has survived. It is a comical burlesque
Burlesque

Burlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration. Prior to Burlesque becoming associated with striptease, it was a form of Parody music in which an opera or piece of classical theatre is adapted in a broad, often risqu? style very different from that for which it was originally known....
-like play on the same story depicted in book nine of The Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
 by Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
.

Background
Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
 has lost his way on the voyage home from the Trojan War
Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
. He and his hungry crew make a stop in Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
 at Mount Aetna, which is inhabited by Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
. They come upon the Satyr
Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus ? "satyresses" were a late invention of poets ? that roamed the woods and mountains....
s and their father Silenus, who have been separated from their god Dionysus
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
 and enslaved by a Cyclops (named Polyphemus
Polyphemus

Polyphemus , the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa, is a character in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclops. His name means "famous". Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey....
 in the Odyssey).






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The Cyclops (Kyklops) is an Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 satyr play
Satyr play

Satyr plays were an Ancient Greece form of tragicomedy, similar to the modern-day burlesque style. They always featured a chorus of satyrs and were based in Greek mythology and contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality , pranks and general merriment....
 by Euripides
Euripides

Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias....
, the only complete satyr play that has survived. It is a comical burlesque
Burlesque

Burlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration. Prior to Burlesque becoming associated with striptease, it was a form of Parody music in which an opera or piece of classical theatre is adapted in a broad, often risqu? style very different from that for which it was originally known....
-like play on the same story depicted in book nine of The Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
 by Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
.

Background


Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
 has lost his way on the voyage home from the Trojan War
Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
. He and his hungry crew make a stop in Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
 at Mount Aetna, which is inhabited by Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
. They come upon the Satyr
Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus ? "satyresses" were a late invention of poets ? that roamed the woods and mountains....
s and their father Silenus, who have been separated from their god Dionysus
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
 and enslaved by a Cyclops (named Polyphemus
Polyphemus

Polyphemus , the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa, is a character in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclops. His name means "famous". Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey....
 in the Odyssey). These characters are not contained in the Odysseys version of the event. The addition of them provides much of the humor due to their cowardly and drunk behavior.

Story


When Odysseus arrives he meets Silenus and offers to trade food for his wine. Being a servant of Dionysus, Silenus can't resist obtaining the wine despite the fact that the food is not his to trade. The Cyclops soon arrives and Silenus is quick to accuse Odysseus of stealing the food, swearing to many gods and the Satyrs' lives (who are standing right beside him) that he is telling the truth. His son, a younger more modern Satyr tries to tell the truth to the Cyclops in an attempt to help Odysseus. After an argument, the Cyclops brings Odysseus and his crew inside his cave and eats some of them. Odysseus manages to sneak out and is stunned by what he's witnessed. He hatches a scheme to get the Cyclops drunk, and when he's unconscious he'll burn out his eye with a giant poker.

The Cyclops and Silenus drink together, with Silenus attempting to hog the wineskin for himself. When the Cyclops is drunk, he says he is seeing gods and begins to call Silenus Ganymede
Ganymede (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Ganymede, or Ganymedes is a divine hero whose homeland was the Troad. He was a Troy prince, son of the eponym Tros of Dardania, and of Callirrhoe , and brother of Ilus and Assaracus....
 (the beautiful prince Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 made his immortal cup bearer). The Cyclops then steals Silenus away into his cave, with the implication that he is about do something sexual to him. Odysseus decides to execute the next phase of his plan. The Satyrs offer to help, but chicken-out with a variety of absurd excuses when the time actually comes. The annoyed Odysseus gets his crew to help instead, and they burn out the Cyclops' eye.

He had told the Cyclops earlier that his name was 'Noman' or 'Nobody' (Greek outis or metis). So when the Cyclops yells out who was responsible for blinding him, it sounds like he's saying "No man blinded me". In addition to this pun, there is a less easily translated joke on the fact that the form of "no man" (metis) is identical to the word for cleverness or art. The satyrs have some fun with him over it. Odysseus makes the mistake, however, of blurting out his true name as a result of his big ego. They then make their escape, however the rest of the troubles Odysseus faces on his voyage home are due to this act (since the Cyclops was a child of Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
).

Translations


  • Percy Bysshe Shelley
    Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major England Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest Lyric poetry in the English language....
    , 1819 - verse
  • Edward P. Coleridge, 1891 - prose:
  • Arthur S. Way
    Arthur S. Way

    Arthur Sanders Way was an English people classical scholar and poet, born at Dorking. He was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, Somerset, and at Queen's College , Melbourne, where he was afterward fellow....
    , 1912 - verse
  • J. T. Sheppard, 1923 - verse
  • Roger Lancelyn Green
    Roger Lancelyn Green

    Roger Lancelyn Green was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic who formed part of the Inklings literary discussion group along with C.S....
    , 1957 - verse
  • David Kovacs, 1995? - prose:
  • Heather McHugh
    Heather McHugh

    Heather McHugh is an United States poet. She was born in San Diego, California, but was raised in Virginia. At the age of sixteen, she entered Harvard University....
     and David Konstan, 2001 - verse
  • George Theodoridis 2008 full text