Cyclops

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This page is about the mythical creature. For other uses, see Cyclops (disambiguation).

Image:Polyphemus.gif In Greek mythology a Cyclops, or Kyklops, is a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead. The word is from the Greek Κύκλωψ, meaning round eye (κύκλος), "circle" or "wheel" + ōps (ώψ). The plural Cyclopes (pronounced SIE klo peez) can also be spelled as Kyklopês<ref>In English usage, this more strictly accurate transliteration may appear pretentious.</ref>.

There were 2 generations of Cyclopes.

1 First generation
2 Second generation
- 2.1 Polyphemus
3 Origins
4 "Cyclopean" walls
5 Notes
6 External links

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First generation

The first Cyclopes—Brontes (thunderer), Steropes (flasher) and Arges (brightener)—were the sons of Uranus and Gaia, like the Hecatonchires primordial sons of Sky and Earth. They were giants with a single eye in the middle of their forehead and a foul disposition. According to Hesiod, they were strong, stubborn, and "abrupt of emotion". Their individual names were secondary, save Polyphemus, singled out for his encounter with Odysseus. Collectively they eventually became synonyms for strength and power, and were used to signify especially well-crafted weapons.

Uranus, fearing their strength, locked them in Tartarus. Cronus, another son of Uranus and Gaia, later freed the Cyclopes, along with the Hecatonchires, after Uranus was castrated and overthrown by Cronus. But Cronus then placed them back in Tartarus, where they remained, guarded by Campe, until freed by Zeus. They fashioned thunderbolts for Zeus to use as weapons, and helped him overthrow Cronus and the other Titans. The thunderbolts, which became Zeus' signature weapons, were forged by all three Cyclopes: Arges added brightness, Brontes added thunder, and Steropes added lightning.

These Cyclopes also created Poseidon's trident, Artemis' bow and arrow, and the helmet that Hades gave to Perseus on his quest to kill Medusa. According to a hymn of Callimachus<ref>To Artemis, 46f. See also Georgics iv. 173 and Aeneid Aen.viii. 416f.</ref> they were Hephaestus' helpers (daimones). Cyclopes were said to have built the "cyclopean" fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises proceeding from the heart of volcanoes were attributed to their operations.

It is said that these Cyclopes were later killed by Apollo after Zeus killed his son, Asclepius, with a Cyclopes-forged thunderbolt.

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Second generation

The Cyclopes were a race of huge one-eyed monsters that resided on an island with the same name. Commonly, the term "Cyclops" refers to a particular son of Poseidon and Thoosa named Polyphemus who was a Cyclops. Another of the second generation of Cyclopes was Telemus, a seer.

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Polyphemus

In Homer's Odyssey (book ix), a scouting party led by the Trojan War hero Odysseus lands on the Island of the Cyclopes and ventures upon a large cave. They enter into the cave and proceed to feast on some food they find there. Unknown to them, this cave is the home of Polyphemus who soon comes upon the trespassers and traps them in his cave. He proceeds to eat several crew members, but Odysseus devised a cunning plan for escape.

To make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gave him a barrel of very strong, unwatered wine. When Polyphemus asked for Odysseus' name, he told him that it was 'Outis', Greek for 'no man' or 'nobody'. Once the giant fell asleep drunk, Odysseus and his men took a spear and destroyed Polyphemus' only eye. Polyphemus' cries of help were ignored by fellow Cyclopes on the island as he said, "Nobody has blinded me." In the morning, Odysseus tied his men and himself to the undersides of Polyphemus' sheep. When the Cyclops let the sheep out to graze, the men were carried out. Since Polyphemus was blinded, he didn't see the men, but felt the tops of his sheep to make sure the men weren't riding them. As he sailed away, Odysseus shouted his name and declared his own victory, incurring the wrath of Poseidon.

This tale from the Odyssey is more humorously told in the only surviving satyr play, entitled Cyclops by Euripides.

The Sicilian Greek poet Theocritus wrote two poems circa 275 BC concerning Polyphemus' love for Galatea, a sea nymph. When Galatea instead loved Acis, a Sicilian mortal, a jealous Polyphemus killed him with a boulder. Galatea turned Acis' blood into a river of the same name in Sicily.

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Origins

Walter Burkert among others suggests<ref>Greek Religion,III.3.2</ref>that the archaic groups or societies of lesser gods mirror real cult associations: "it may be surmised that smith guilds lie behind Kabeiroi, Idaian Dactyloi, Telchines, and Cyclopes." Given their penchant for blacksmithing, many scholars believe the legend of the Cyclopes' single eye arose from an actual practice of blacksmiths wearing an eyepatch over one eye to prevent flying sparks from blinding them in both eyes<ref>Blacksmiths also tattooed themselves with concentric circles Template:Fact in honor of the sun; this is another possible source of the legend</ref>. The second generation of Cyclopes are of a different type from the first generation; they were most likely much later additions to the pantheon and have no connection to blacksmithing. It is possible that legends associated with Polyphemus did not make him a Cyclops before Homer's Odyssey; Polyphemus may have been some sort of local daemon or monster originally. The Triamantes in Cretan legend have been suggested - they were a rural race of man-eating ogres who had a third eye on the back of their head. Other than the detail of the eyes, they sound very similar to the Cyclops of Homer.

Another possible origin for the Cyclops legend is that prehistoric dwarf elephant skulls - about twice the size of a human skull were found by the Greeks on Crete. Due to the large central nasal cavity (for the trunk) in the skull, it might have been believed that this was a large, single, eye-socket. The smaller, actual, eye-sockets are on the sides and, being very shallow, hardly noticeable as such. Given the paucity of experience that the locals likely had with living elephants, they were unlikely to recognize the skull for what it actually was.

It is also possible that the rare but occasional birth of malformed children affected by cyclopia, a rare congenital cephalic disorders, could have inspired the legend.

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"Cyclopean" walls

Main article: Cyclopean structures.

After the "Dark Age" Hellenes looked with awe at the vast dressed blocks, known as Cyclopean structures that had been used in Mycenaean masonry, at sites like Mycenae and Tiryns or on Cyprus, he then concluded that only the Cyclopes had the combination of skill and strength to build in such a monumental fashion. Template:Commonscat

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