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A odisseia - Cíclope ( The odyssey - cyclops )

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The Cyclopes were giant; one-eyed monsters; a wild race of lawless creatures who possess neither social manners nor fear of the Gods. Cyclopes means 'round eye.' Considered the sons of Uranus and Gaea they were the workmen of the God Hephaestus whose workshop was in the heart of the volcanic mountain Etna. According to Homer's Odysseus where he introduced likely the most famous Cyclopes, Polyphemus, Cyclopes were the sons of Poseidon, not Gaea. Homer described the Cyclopes as wild savages, who abstained from agriculture and laws other than every man for himself. They were shepherds who lived in the southwestern part of Sicily, actively ate human beings and lived with their wives and children in caves ruling over them with arbitrary power. The Homeric Cyclopes were not servants of Zeus, and in fact, they mostly disregarded him.

Polyphemus was a man-eating monster with a bloody and barbaric story. He fell in love with a beautiful nymph called Galatea who rejected him in favour for a man named Acis. Polyphemus enraged by the rejection, threw Acis and killed him on a massive rock. The blood of Acis formed a stream, which still bears his name today.

The Cyclopes encounters Odysseus in Homer's tale where he is outwitted and blinded by the hero and turns the wrath of his father, Poseidon on Odysseus. Odysseus arrived on the island of the Cyclopes on his way home to Ithica and led his men into a cave full of food unknowing of who the owner was. Polyphemus sealed the cave and the crew within it, eating a few of them.

Odysseus managed to trick the Cyclopes into getting drunk off of strong wine and told the monster his name was 'No One.' Polyphemus fell asleep, and the hero blinded him with a wooden stake, when the other giants came to help, Polyphemus told him 'No One' had attacked him, and so they left him. Odysseus and his men bound themselves to the bellies of Polyphemus's sheep and escaped when the giant let them out to graze. Odysseus could not help but boast about his victory over his defeated adversary and told Polyphemus his name which in turn led to Poseidon punishing him and causing him to deviate from his route home even more.

Hesiod, the Greek historian, mentions only three Cyclopes, who were primordial giants; Arges (thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning) and Brontes (thunder) who are all storm deities and were the first smiths. When Cronus was in power, he imprisoned them in Tartarus and upon being freed by Zeus they pledged their allegiance and fought for him against the Titans. As a reward for their freedom, the Cyclopes gave Zeus his weapons of thunder and lightening and continued as his smiths at Mount Olympus forging his thunderbolts. These Cyclopes are also responsible for forging Hades' helmet of invisibility, Artemis' bow and arrows of moonlight, Apollo's bow and arrows of sun rays and Poseidon's trident.

According to a hymn of Callimachus, the Cyclopes were Hephaestus' helpers at the forge and were said to have built the fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises, heat and rumblings of the volcano Etna were attributed to their operations and work in the forges.

In Euripides' play Alcestis, Apollo killed the Cyclopes in retaliation for his son Asclepius' murder at the hands of Zeus. For his crime, Zeus sentenced Apollo into the servitude of Admetus for one year. In other versions, Zeus revives the Cyclopes due to how integral they were in the succession of the Titans; and also revives Asclepius to settle his feud with Apollo.

Other Interesting Facts About Greek Cyclopes

* The Roman poet, Virgil, also writes of the hero Aeneas and his crew landing on the Island of the Cyclopes and meeting Polyphemus
* Some historians believe the idea of the Cyclopes may have come from Greek blacksmiths using eye patches to protect one of their eyes while forging
* Another possible origin for the myth of these monsters is Ancient Greeks may have found prehistoric dwarf elephant skulls that had large naval cavities and may have been mistaken for one large eye
* The walls of several ancient cities were said to have been built by Cyclopes, and this is why in modern archaeology the term cyclopean is applied to walling of which the stones are not squared

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Link will appear as Cyclopes: https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net - Greek Gods & Goddesses, January 3, 2017

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Cyclopes * Facts and Information the Greek One-Eyed Monsters, Cyclops

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The Cyclopes were giant; one-eyed monsters; a wild race of lawless creatures who possess neither social manners nor fear of the Gods. Cyclopes means 'round eye.' Considered the sons of Uranus and Gaea they were the workmen of the God Hephaestus whose workshop was in the heart of the volcanic mountain Etna.

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The Blinding of Polyphemus - Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596)

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How the Cyclopes functions in The Odyssey 

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How the Cyclopes functions in The Odyssey 

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In the Odyssey, when Odysseus was swept ashore near the coast of Polyphemus' cave, he locked Odysseus and his crew of 12 others in a cage blocked by a huge rock. Odysseus was able to make Polyphemus drunk, and then blinded him with a wooden spear to the eye. The Cyclopes had devoured half of Odysseus' crew yet Odysseus still taunted him. Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name is Nobody. The Cyclops cried that "Nobody" was attacking him to the other Cyclopes' but Odysseus feels jealous that his real name wasn't getting recognized for the defeat of the the Cyclopes and yelled his true name of Odysseus. All of the Cyclopes were alerted that Odysseus was attacking and Odysseus had to run away in a narrow escape.

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Cyclops ultimately represent the power of nature through their extraordinary strength. Additionally, they demonstrate ideas of savagery caused by a lack of order in a society. These creatures were known to be wild or untamed and often used in literature to represent mankind as uncivilized or even a particular community.

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1) Cartwright, Mark. “Cyclops (Creature).” World History Encyclopedia, 17 Dec. 2022, www.worldhistory.org/Cyclops_(Creature). Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
2) The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Cyclops | Greek Mythology.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/topic/Cyclops-Greek-mythology.

3) Geller. “Cyclops.” Mythology.net, 4 Jan. 2017, mythology.net/greek/greek-creatures/cyclops. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022

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Cyclops, meaning "Round Eye" in Greek, appears in the Mythology of Ancient Greece as a one-eyed giant. Originating from writer Hesiod in his work, "Theogony," it tells the story that Cyclopes were the children of the Earth and Sky. Hesiod states the Cyclopes were "like Gods [who had] . . . Strength and force". This illustrates how Hesiod had originally described their abilities. Many Greeks believed that a large population of Cyclops may have lived in a far away area, lacking law and order.