About the book: I Am Odysseus
A narrative investigation of Homer’s Odyssey through identity, memory, recognition, Ithaca and the historical horizon of the Late Bronze Age.
Direct answer: why Odysseus calls himself Nobody
Odysseus tells Polyphemus that his name is «Nobody» so language itself becomes part of the escape. After the Cyclops is blinded, he tells the other Cyclopes that Nobody is hurting him, and they leave. The trick works only while Odysseus suppresses his identity. When he later shouts his real name from the ship, heroic pride reverses the advantage and gives Polyphemus the information needed to curse him through Poseidon.
The name extinguished to save a life
A one-eyed giant asks a man his name, and the man answers that his name is Nobody. It is the best-remembered scene in the poem, and not by chance. In a whole book given over to a hero whose name means pain, whose name gives the book its title, whose greatest desire is that his fame reach the heavens, there comes a moment when that man saves his life by erasing his name. He calls himself Nobody. And it works.
Nobody
Odysseus had brought a thick, very strong wine, almost a liquor of the gods, and the story of that wine matters, because it is a lesson in miniature. It did not come from the plunder: a single act of decency earned it. During the sack of the first city of the voyage, Odysseus had protected a priest of Apollo and his family — he kept them clear of the slaughter out of respect for the god — and the priest, in return, gave him gold, silver and twelve jars of a wine so strong it was drunk cut with twenty parts of water. That is: the weapon that will bring the giant down, Odysseus won with the one act of mercy in that whole sack. That mercy on one coast arms, a few weeks later, the defeat of the monster who on another profanes every sacred law. He offers it to the giant as a gesture of friendship. Polyphemus, who has never known anything…
The curse
They should have fled in silence. Everything won by cunning was about to be sealed. Then Odysseus makes the mistake that will cost him ten years. Once in the ship, rowing out to sea, he cannot help himself. He needs it to be known. He shouts his true name to the blind giant, across the water: if anyone asks who put out your eye, tell them it was Odysseus, sacker of cities, son of Laertes, of Ithaca. He says it out of pride, out of fame, because a feat is worth nothing if no one knows it was his. He has just traded his safety for his name.
The Box Without a Name
In the first week of May I walked into a room of the British Museum that was half-lit and entirely empty. It was a Tuesday; the tour groups had not yet arrived, and for a few minutes there was no one in the room but the object and me. The gloom was a curatorial decision, not a liturgy. But it achieved the same thing: it made you lower your voice. That morning I was at work on an article for *Iraq*, the journal of the British institute devoted to the archaeology of Mesopotamia, and I had details to check among the Sumerian cases. It is worth saying, because it tells us something about how certain books begin: these pages were not sought out by a reader of Homer. They were found, in passing, by a man who had come to look at something else.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Odysseus say his name is Nobody?
He uses the false name so that Polyphemus cannot effectively summon help after being blinded: the other Cyclopes hear that Nobody is attacking him.
What is the Greek word behind the Nobody trick?
The pun is built around Outis, meaning «no one» or «nobody», which Odysseus presents as his name.
Why does Odysseus later reveal his real name?
He wants recognition and heroic credit for the victory, but the boast allows Polyphemus to identify him and invoke Poseidon.
What does the episode say about identity?
It stages a central paradox of the poem: anonymity saves Odysseus, while heroic identity and fame expose him to danger.
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Ask I Am Odysseus
A documentary assistant on Homer, Odysseus, Ithaca, identity and recognition.
Answers are generated from a curated documentary corpus and do not reproduce the complete book.
