I chose Eleusis Amphora, an ancient Greek neck amphora. On the neck of the vase, there is an image depicting Odysseus blinding Polyphemus. I chose this, as many of the media sources I found only depicted Polyphemus being blinded. There were very limited choices for multimedia sources, and almost all of them show Odysseus blinding Polyphemus. I chose this piece by the artist known as Polyphemus Painter, because it tells the story in a new way. Before this piece of art, I hadn’t seen Polyphemus depicted like this, on the ground crouched while Odysseus blinds him. In most other depictions of this story, Polyphemus is arched over Odysseus, in a very aggressive way. There are many other depictions of The Odyssey, but many of them do not include Polyphemus, or parts of Book Nine. I also think it is interesting how this neck amphora was used as an urn. I am not sure why this specific art is on the vase, but using a violent scene on an urn is interesting. 

In Homer’s Odyssey, we only see one side of the story in Book Nine. Polyphemus is painted as a monster with no humanity, but in this piece of work we see this may not be true. Polyphemus is crouched below Odysseus, not defending himself. Along the rest of the vase, there is no depiction of Polyphemus’ rage, or of him throwing the rock at Odysseus’ ship in the end of the story. In many different images of Book Nine, we rarely see any other scene besides Polyphemus being blinded or him throwing a boulder at Odysseus’ ship. Homer paints Polyphemus as a hateful monster, instead of someone defending this home. Polyphemus’ narrative matters with Odysseus’ journey because in the book, he is shown as a hero for blinding Polyphemus. There is no point of view from the Cyclops, who is the main point of Book Nine. I think Polyphemus’ narrative matters to the story, because he is really the one ultimately being harmed, not Odysseus.

My narrative would rewrite The Odyssey by putting an emphasis on the humanity of more of the monsters. When reading, we really only see things from the point of view of Odysseus, who views the monsters as inherently evil. If there was more backstory or an in depth discussion on characters, more than just Odysseus, the book would have a more well rounded narrative. Odysseus doesn’t approach anyone he comes across with as much empathy or caring as others do. In the neck amphora, we only see Polyphemus being blinded. He is shown as a monster who deserves it. The vase makes me wonder, considering the art style and depiction of Polyphemus, if Odysseus was right. The rest of the amphora also shows another monster killing, the one of Perseus beheading Medusa. Many artworks showing myths from The Odyssey show the killing of monsters, and no background. I think the humanity of these so-called monsters should be written and revisited, to further add to the stories.