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How does Odysseus escape from Polyphemus’s cave?

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Sixteenth-century engraving by Hieronymus Wierix depicting Homer, shown as an older man with a beard and laurel wreath, wearing a draped garment. — Odyssey: A Reader’s Guide to Homer’s Epic Engraving of Homer by Hieronymus Wierix, 16th century; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus escapes from the cave of Polyphemus through a clever plan involving deception and stealth.12

After Polyphemus traps the men inside his cave with a massive boulder and devours several of them, Odysseus gets the giant drunk on strong, unmixed wine. When the Cyclops asks for his name, Odysseus identifies himself as "Nobody". Once the giant falls into a drunken sleep, Odysseus and his remaining companions drive a fire-hardened wooden stake into his single eye. When neighboring Cyclopes hear Polyphemus’s cries and ask who is hurting him, he replies that "Nobody" is killing him, leading them to assume he is suffering from a divine affliction and leave him alone.12

The next morning, Polyphemus removes the boulder to let his flock out to pasture, feeling the backs of the animals to ensure the men do not escape. Odysseus and his surviving crew evade this by clinging to the undersides of the rams, successfully exiting the cave undetected.12