Monstrosity vs. Hospitality. Two Meetings Between Odysseus and Polyphemus
Monstrosity vs. Hospitality. Two Meetings Between Odysseus and Polyphemus

Summary/Abstract: The text aims at comparing and commenting two literary sources dealing with one narrative: the meeting of Odysseus with the Cyclops – Homer’s Odyssey IX, 106 – 566 and Euripides’ satyr play Cyclops. In both cases, the opposition “hospitality (i.e. culture) vs. inhospitality (i.e. monstrosity), especially in its ultimate form of cannibalism” and its development could be regarded as key problems. The plot’s incongruities are mostly due to the different genre conventions and, respectively, to some differences in the author’s position too: for the epic poet the manifestation of the hero’s virtues is more central, than for Euripides, who criticizes Polyphemus’ ethic more generally. Similar, however, is the praise of the civilized life of (Greek) human society, whose values are represented by Odysseus and his companions (and to a certain degree by the satyrs’ chorus). The triple relation divine-human-monstrous should also be put in question.

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