Contest skin for the Mythological Skin Contest.

I modeled it after these pictures:

Who, or what, is Polyphemus?

Polyphemus is the gigantic, one-eyed mythical creature, son of Poseidon and Thoosa according to Greek mythology. His name, in Greek, means "much spoken of" or "famous" He plays a large role in Homer's Odyssey.

Homer's Odyssey

In the Odyssey, book 9, Odysseus lands on the Island of the Cyclopes during his journey home from the Trojan War. He leaves his 11 other ships behind at an island and takes one ship and crew to see who lives at the other islands. They reach and land on an island with a huge cave filled with sheep and goats, and he then left his boat at the shore and brought along his twelve best men to find who lived in the cave. Eventually they find that the large cave is the home of the great Cyclops Polyphemus. When Polyphemus returns home with his flocks and finds Odysseus and his men, he blocks the cave entrance with a great stone, trapping the remaining Greeks inside. Polyphemus then crushes and immediately devours two of his men for his meal the first night.

The next morning, Polyphemus kills and eats two more of Odysseus' men for his breakfast and exits the cave to graze his sheep. The desperate Odysseus devises a clever escape plan. He spots a rather large unseasoned olive wood club that Polyphemus left behind the previous night and, with the help of his men, sharpens the narrow end to a fine point. He hardens the stake over a flame and hides it from sight.

That night, Polyphemus returns from herding his flock of sheep. He sits down and kills two more of Odysseus' men, bringing the death toll to six. At that point, Odysseus offers Polyphemus wine. The wine makes Polyphemus drunk and unwary. When Polyphemus asks for Odysseus' name, promising him a gift if he answers, Odysseus tells him "μή Ï Î¹Ï ," literally "nobody." Being drunk, Polyphemus thinks of it as a real name and says that he will eat "nobody" last and that this shall be his gift.

With that, Polyphemus crashes to the floor and passes out. Odysseus, with the help of his men, lifts the flaming stake, charges forward and drives it into Polyphemus' eye, blinding him. Polyphemus yells for help from his fellow cyclopes that "nobody" has hurt him. The other cyclopes think Polyphemus is making a fool out of them or that it must be a matter with the gods, and they grumble and go away.

In the morning, Odysseus and his men tie themselves to the underbelly of the sheep, and when Polyphemus lets his sheep out to graze, the men escape unharmed.



Odysseus in the cave of Polyphemus