Polites (friend of Odysseus)

Mythology

Polites sailed with Odysseus as part of his crew after the Trojan War, heading home to Ithaca. Odysseus once called him his dearest friend, though that is the only time he is mentioned in the main story. While exploring Circe’s island, Polites joined Eurylochus’s scouting party. When they found Circe’s house, Polites urged the others to ask her for help. Circe welcomed them warmly and offered hospitality, but then turned all of them except Eurylochus into pigs. Odysseus later forced her to reverse the spell. Like every other crewmate, Polites died before reaching Ithaca; only Odysseus survived. It is not known whether Polites was among the six men eaten by Scylla or was killed by the lightning bolt Zeus threw after the crew ate the Sun god’s sacred cattle. In some versions of the folk tale The Hero of Temesa, Polites plays a larger role. The story tells of one of Odysseus’s crew—unnamed in some accounts, but called Polites in others, including a version by Strabo—who was killed on the island of Temesa and came back as a vengeful ghost. Different sources give different reasons for his death: some say he was stoned after raping a woman, others simply that locals murdered him. In every version, the ghost terrorized the people and demanded a heavy tribute in return for peace. This continued until a visitor, sometimes named as the Olympic boxer Euthymus of Locri, defeated the ghost. Because the ghost is sometimes described wearing a wolfskin, scholar David Ogden suggests it may be a mixanthropic monster, partly human and partly animal, making it an early classical example of a werewolf story.