LaistrygonesLaestrygones

The giant cannibals encountered by Odysseus on his way home to Ithaka (Ithaca).

The encounter with the Laistrygones was one of the most devastating events that Odysseus had to endure after leaving the conquered city of Troy.

After anchoring in a narrow, cliff-faced harbor, Odysseus sent three men ashore to scout for civilized inhabitants; the shore party met a young girl who took them to her father’s home where they encountered a giant woman who summoned her husband, Antiphates.

Antiphates snatched up one of the men and began to prepare him as dinner; the other two men raced back to the ships to warn Odysseus but, before the ships could escape the narrow harbor, thousands of giants rushed to the steep shore and began pelting the ships with “man-sized” boulders; the ships were broken to pieces and the crew members were speared like fish by the Laistrygones; Odysseus’ ship was the only one to escape the harbor.

• Odyssey, book 10, lines 80+