This episode examines the contrast between Achilles and Odysseus as competing heroic ideals, using the Cyclops scene from The Odyssey to reveal how Odysseus’s cunning (metis) differs from Achilles’s might (bia), and traces the evolution from Homeric heroism to Socratic wisdom.
The Cyclops episode reveals Odysseus’s defining superpower: metis as conditional identity
In the cave, Odysseus tells the Cyclops his name is “Outis” (Nobody/No man), so when blinded the Cyclops cries “Outis hurts me” and his brothers hear “Nobody hurts me”
The Greek wordplay goes deeper: the brothers reply “If metis hurts you, pray to Zeus” — in the conditional clause, “nobody” becomes metis (cunning/intelligence), so ancient listeners hear “If cunning hurts you, it comes from Zeus”
This shows metis is not just being nobody (Outis) but the potential to become anyone — the constitutive quality of cunning
Odysseus’s superpower: ability to lie, deceive, and don new identities (Trojan horse, beggar, noble stranger)
Achilles is constitutionally incapable of this: “I hate like the gates of hell people who say one thing and mean the other”; Iliad opens with his name, Odyssey opens with “man of many ways, unnamed”
Odysseus’s tactical blunder: the hero’s need for kleos undermines his trickster survival
After escaping safely, Odysseus shouts his true name, lineage, and home — giving Poseidon a “mailing address for curses”
This costs his crew’s lives, nearly his own, and delays his homecoming by years
Achilles chooses kleos over nostos (homecoming); Odysseus tries to have both but his heroic identity forces self-disclosure at critical moments (Cyclops, suitors, Phaeacians)
Lying as cultural institution in xenophobic village societies
Anthropological work shows lying in remote villages carried no moral stigma — it was a practiced skill and friendly verbal combat
Parents lie to children until they learn vigilance; children learn to deceive parents; getting caught earns both “how dare you” and “atta boy”
Shepherds engage in extended exchanges denying each other basic facts (where they went, what they saw) as a game of information extraction vs concealment
Function: in cultures where every foreigner is potentially hostile, false identities protect the self while probing the other
Practiced within community to train vigilance for encounters with strangers
Travel and deception are linked: planctos (wanderer) and polytropos (man of many ways/deceiver) are Odysseus’s two defining traits; Hermes governs both travelers and thieves
Theoxeny and testing: lying as knowledge-acquisition and way of life
Theoxeny: gods disguise as strangers to test hosts, then reward/punish — Christianized as “whatever you do to the least, you do to me”
Odysseus adopts the god’s role: tests Cyclops (“what kind of people live here”), then tests everyone in Ithaca as beggar (Penelope, slaves, suitors)
Lying enables knowledge: by concealing identity, he reveals others’ true character
Beyond function, lying is habitual “verbal combat” like roasting friends — creates camaraderie through mutual testing
Penelope matches Odysseus in metis: tests him with marriage bed lie; he delights in her cunning (“that’s my girl”)
Can go too far: tests loyal father Laertes unnecessarily, makes him weep, immediately regrets and reveals himself
Hero as man of pain: suffering as the defining heroic trait
Three epiphanic moments where Odysseus shifts from Outis to hero: Cyclops (causes self pain), suitors (kills them), Phaeacians (weeps uncontrollably)
As Outis, Odysseus shields himself and limits collateral damage; as hero, becomes “whirlwind of pain” to enemies, friends, family, even allies
Penelope waits 20 years; mother dies of grief; two generations of men die (Troy, then suitors); Phaeacians punished by Poseidon
Achilles identical: Iliad opens “wrath of Achilles… thousandfold pain on the Achaeans” (his own side)
Nietzsche: Homeric hero = power without moral discrimination; good = powerful, bad = weak
Christianity reworks: Christ receives pain but doesn’t inflict it
Socrates as the evolution beyond Odysseus: full metis transformed into wisdom
Achilles = full bia (might/pain); Odysseus = half bia, half Outis/Metis; Socrates = full Metis (now wisdom, not deception)
Socrates’ Outis: doesn’t care for glory, would choose private citizen life, seeks no military valor, wouldn’t shout name after blinding Cyclops
Plato mirrors Homer’s structure: Odyssey puts Achilles in underworld conceding to Odysseus; Republic’s Myth of Er puts Odysseus in underworld choosing private citizen life, conceding to Socrates
Three value systems:
Iliadic: kleos worth suffering, worth trading nostos for
Odyssean: kleos still worth suffering, but metis allows both kleos and nostos — Odyssey has Achilles regret his choice
Platonic: the trade-off isn’t worth it; epic life (war, wandering, dead comrades) vs good life — drama is too seductive, asks if you really want to be a hero
