Cyclops

GREEK MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES


The Cyclops, or the "Cyclopes" (plural), are a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead. The plural is cyclopes. 

They are characters of Greek Mythology. The first group of Cyclopes are Brontes, Steropes and Arges. Their children are Euryalos, Elatreus, Trachios and Halimedes. The younger Cyclopes are the sons of Poseidon, who feature in the Odyssey.


In Mythology :

Greek and Roman writers like Hesiod describe the Cyclops as been a group or family of three brothers who were primordial members of the giants. Writers like Homer describe the Cyclopes as living on a distant island ruled by the cyclops Polyphemus who was one of the sons of Poseidon.

The poet Callimachus states on one of his hymns that the Cyclopes helped Hephaestus at his forge. The Cyclopes were said to be responsible for the cyclopean fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. According to the hymn, the noises proceeding from the heart of volcanoes were attributed to the Cyclopes' activities.

According to Hesiod and as he states in his Theogony, the known cyclops were Brontes, Steropes and Arges, and their names meant thunderer, lightning and bright respectively. This cyclopes were the primordial sons of Uranus and Gaia and were the brothers of the Hecatonchires, making them brothers to the Titans and akin to the Olympian and later Gods and other creatures. According to Hesiod, they were strong, stubborn, and "abrupt of emotion".

Because of their showcasing of power, Uranus feared the Cyclops and imprisoned them on Tartaros. They, along with the Hecatonchieres, supported Cronus in his coup d'etat overthrow Uranus but instead of freeing the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, he kept them is Tartaros. They remained there, guarded by the dragon Campe, until they and the Hecatonchires, were freed once and for all by their nephews, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. In gratitude, they aided the three brothers and fashioned Zeus' thunderbolts, Poseidon's trident and Hades' helmet of invisibility. To create Zeus' thunderbolt, Arges added the brightness, Brontes added the thunder and Steropes the lightning. The Cyclopes aided Zeus in his battle against the Titans and with their help, Zeus finally deposed Cronus, just as Cronus did to his own father Uranus. The thunderbolt became Zeus' trademark weapon and symbol.