Question

What motivates Cyclops to ask Poseidon to interfere with Odysseus’s journey home?

Answer 1

Polyphemus (the Cyclops) asks Poseidon to interfere because he wants revenge. Odysseus and his men blind Polyphemus after the Cyclops eats several of them and steals their property; in addition Odysseus later boasts his true name, humiliating Polyphemus. Blinded, humiliated, and grieving his losses, Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon to punish Odysseus — asking that Odysseus never reach home, or if he must, that he come late, having lost all his companions and on a stranger’s ship. This vengeful prayer explains Poseidon’s wrath and the long troubles that befall Odysseus on his voyage home.