ODYSSEY MAP · STOP 4/14
Where Is the Island of the Cyclops?
“My name is Nobody” — the most famous trick in the epic
The one-eyed giant Polyphemus seals the intruders in his cave and begins to eat them two by two. Odysseus gets the giant drunk on the wine of Ismarus, tells him his name is “Nobody”, and puts out his single eye with a glowing stake. At dawn the men slip out slung beneath the bellies of the sheep.
But the victory is poisoned by pride: as his ship pulls away, Odysseus shouts his true name across the water. Polyphemus prays to his father, the sea god Poseidon — and that curse is the real engine of the ten-year exile.
Where is it in the real world?
Tradition sets the Cyclopes in Sicily, on the slopes of Mount Etna. Off Aci Trezza near Catania stand rock stacks still called the “Rocks of the Cyclops” (Faraglioni dei Ciclopi) — the boulders the blinded giant is said to have hurled after the fleeing ships.
What awaits you in the game?
One of the sharpest turns in the game: you can stay out of the cave entirely, talk and trick your way free, or shout your name and bring Poseidon’s Wrath down on the rest of the voyage. This choice shapes every storm that follows.
Quick facts
- Position on the route
- 4 / 14
- Previous stop
- Land of the Lotus-Eaters · 210 nautical miles · ≈ 12 sail days
- Next stop
- Aeolia · 60 nautical miles · ≈ 8 sail days
- Modern location
- Aci Trezza / Etna coast, Sicily, Italy — traditional identification
- Region
- Western Mediterranean, eastern coast of Sicily
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