Lestrygons
In the Greek Mythology, the Lestrygons (in Greek old Λαιστρυγόνες / Laistrugónes ) is wild mythical people and cannibal. They are mainly quoted in the Odyssey of Homère, which speaks about the “Lestrygons robust, less men that giants” (X, 120).
Myth
After its second departure from Éole, the Master of the Winds, Ulysses touches the seventh day:
“(...) with the country lestrygon, under the borough of Lamos, high the Télépyle, where one sees the shepherd calling the shepherd: when one returns, it leaves there another which answers; a luke-warm man would gain two wages, one to feed the oxen, the other the white sheep; because the ways of the day côtoient those of the night.Having accosted, Ulysses sends scouts who meet the girl of Antiphatès, the king of Lestrygons. This one indicates the residence of his/her father to them, but as soon as that they enter there, the queen assembles her husband who kills and devours several men. The survivors regain the ships, continued by thousands of Lestrygons which cause a great massacre among the companions of Ulysses. This one manages to flee in a vessel, with some survivors.
This episode precedes the arrival by Ulysses at Circé, on the island of Ééa.
Sources
(X, 82-131; XXIII, 318-322).
- (XIV, 233 and suiv.).
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