Polyphemus was a cyclops - a one-eyed creature that Odysseus and his men encountered on their way home to Ithaca. Odysseus ended up blinding the cyclops by taking a piece of wood, sharpening it and then poking it into his eye, rendering him blind. read more
Supposedly he was killed by his and Circe’s son, Telegonus. We only have two lines of this poem surviving, but the general storyline survives in an ancient summary. read more
Odysseus continues to provoke the god of the sea by blinding his son, the cyclops Polyphemus. So, another characteristic of Odysseus is that he is rather heedless. The manner in which Odysseus is able to outsmart Polyphemus displays both his courage and shrewdness. read more