Cyclops
Cyclops, in Greek legend and literature, any of several one-eyed giants to whom were ascribed a variety of histories and deeds. The name derives from the Greek terms kyklos (circle) and ops (eye), referring to the single round eye set in the middle of their foreheads. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, the three elder Cyclopes were Brontes (Thunder), Steropes (Lightning), and Arges (Bright Flash). They were born of a union between Uranus (personification of heaven) and Gaea (personification of Earth). They forged devices for the gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. In Homer the Cyclopes were cannibalistic shepherds, descended from the sea god Poseidon, living a rude pastoral life in Sicily. The most famous of them was Polyphemus. The walls of several ancient Greek cities such as Tiryns and Mycenae were sometimes said to have been built by Cyclopes. Later authors made them the workmen of the god of fire Hephaestus and said that Apollo, the god of several functions and meanings, killed them for making the thunderbolt that slew his son Asclepius.
The elder Cyclopes
Fearing the power of the elder cyclops, Uranus imprisoned them in Tartarus (the deep abyss of the underworld) immediately after birth, along with their brothers the Hecatoncheires (hundred-handed giants). When the Titan Cronus overthrew his father Uranus at Gaea’s bidding, he briefly freed the Cyclopes but soon re-imprisoned them.
They remained in Tartarus throughout Cronus’s reign until the Olympian god Zeus, rebelling against the Titans, liberated them on the advice of Gaea, who prophesied that victory depended upon their aid. In gratitude the Cyclopes forged three legendary weapons: for Zeus, the thunder and lightning-bolt; for Poseidon, the trident; for Hades, a helmet of invisibility. Armed with these weapons, the Olympian gods defeated the Titans and established Zeus’s rule.
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The Cyclopes thereafter served as divine smiths, working at forges beneath Mount Etna in Sicily, where they continued crafting thunderbolts and weapons for the gods as assistants to Hephaestus.
Zeus slew Asclepius, Apollo’s son and god of medicine, with a thunderbolt for resurrecting the dead and disrupting the natural order. In revenge Apollo killed the Cyclopes who had forged the weapon. According to some accounts, Apollo did not slay the elder Cyclopes but their sons.
The Homeric Cyclopes
Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey presents an entirely different race of Cyclopes: savage, lawless, gigantic shepherds, traditionally located in Sicily. The most famous of these was Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, whose encounter with the hero Odysseus became one of Greek mythology’s best-known episodes. When Polyphemus trapped Odysseus and his companions in his cave, he dismissed the hero’s appeal to the sacred custom of hospitality (Greek: xenia), declaring that the Cyclopes feared no gods. Odysseus escaped by blinding Polyphemus with a heated olive-wood stake.
The builder Cyclopes
A third tradition credited Cyclopes with constructing the massive fortification walls of Mycenaean cities, particularly Tiryns, Mycenae, and Árgos. The Greek traveler Pausanias described these walls as consisting of stones so enormous that even pairs of mules could not budge them. These builder Cyclopes were sometimes described as coming from regions such as Lycia or Thrace at the invitation of rulers who needed impenetrable fortifications. The geographer Strabo reported a tradition of seven craftsmen called “belly-hands” because they worked with their hands to acquire food or earn a living.
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