Laestrygonians were a tribe of man-eating giants in Greek mythology, said to have descended from Laestrygon, a son of Poseidon. They appear in Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus encounters them on his journey home to Ithaca. Ancient writers also placed them in Sicily and Italy, and some linked the myth to real places and peoples in the Mediterranean.
The Odyssey Encounter
In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew reach Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians. The giants destroy eleven of the twelve ships by hurling rocks from cliffs, and they eat many of the men. Only Odysseus's ship, which was moored outside the harbor, escapes. The survivors then sail on to Aeaea, the island of Circe.
Ancient Locations and Traditions
The historian Thucydides named the Laestrygones as ancient inhabitants of part of Sicily but admitted he could not say who they were or where they came from. Pliny the Elder placed them in Italy and Sicily. One tradition claims Heracles destroyed most of them, while another holds that they were later replaced by settlers from Leontini in Sicily. Some modern commentators have suggested that the legend arose from sightings of giant statues in Sardinia.