（*Ku/klwpes), that is, creatures with round or circular
eyes. The tradition about these beings has undergone several
changes and modifications in its development in Greek
mythology, though some traces of their identity remain
visible throughout. According to the ancient cosmogonies,
the Cyclopes were the sons of Uranus and Ge; they belonged
to the Titans, and were three in number, whose names were
Arges, Steropes, and Brontes, and each of them had only one
eye on his forehead. Together with the other Titans, they
were cast by their father into Tartarus, but, instigated by
their mother, they assisted Cronus in usurping the
government. But Cronus again threw them into Tartarus, and
as Zeus released them in his war against Cronus and the
Titans, the Cyclopes provided Zeus with thunderbolts and
lightning, Pluto with a helmet, and Poseidon with a trident.
(Apollod. 1.1; Hes. Th. 503.) Henceforth they remained the
ministers of Zeus, but were afterwards killed by Apollo for
having furnished Zeus with the thunderbolts to kill
Asclepius. (Apollod. 3.10.4.) According to others, however,
it was not the Cyclopes themselves that were killed, but
their sons. (Schol. ad Eurip. Alcest. 1.)
In the Homeric poems the Cyclopes are a gigantic, insolent,
and lawless race of shepherds, who lived in the south-
western part of Sicily, and devoured human beings. They
neglected agriculture, and the fruits of the field were
reaped by them without labour. They had no laws or political
institutions, and each lived with his wives and children in
a cave of a mountain, and ruled over them with arbitrary
power. (Hom. Od. 6.5, 9.106, &c., 190, &c., 240, &c.,
10.200.) Homer does not distinctly state that all of the
Cyclopes were one-eyed, but Polyphemus, the principal among
them, is described as having only one eye on his forehead.
(Od. 1.69, 9.383, &c.; comp. POLYPHEMUS.) The Homeric
Cyclopes are no longer the servants of Zeus, but they
disregard him. (Od. 9.275; comp. Verg. A. 6.636 ; Callim.
Hymn. in Dian. 53.)
A still later tradition regarded the Cyclopes as the
assistants of Hephaestus. Volcanoes were the workshops of
that god, and mount Aetna in Sicily and the neighbouring
isles were accordingly considered as their abodes. As the
assistants of Hephaestus they are no longer shepherds, but
make the metal armour and ornaments for gods and heroes;
they work with such might that Sicily and all the
neighbouring islands resound with their hammering. Their
number is, like that in the Homeric poems, no longer
confined to three, but their residence is removed from the
south-western to the eastern part of Sicily (Verg. G. 4.170,
Aen. 8.433; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 56, &c.; Eur. Cycl. 599;
V. Fl. 2.420.) Two of their names are the same as in the
cosmogonic tradition, but new names also were invented, for
we find one Cyclops bearing the name of Pyracmon, and
another that of Acamas. (Calim. Hymn. in Dian. 68; Verg. A.
8.425; Val. Place. 1.583.)
The Cyclopes, who were regarded as skilful architects in
later accounts, were a race of men who appear to be
different from the Cyclopes whom we have considered
hitherto, for they are described as a Thracian tribe, which
derived its name from a king Cyclops. They were expelled
from their homes in Thrace, and went to the Curetes (Crete)
and to Lycia, Thence they followed Proetus to protect him,
by the gigantic walls which they constructed, against
Acrisius. The grand fortifications of Argos, Tiryns, and
Mycenae, were in later times regarded as their works.
(Apollod. 2.1.2; Strab. viii. p.373; Paus. 2.16.4; Schol.
(ad Eurip. Orest. 953.) Such walls, commonly known by the
name of Cyclopean walls, still exist in various parts of
ancient Greece and Italy, and consist of unhewn polygones,
which are sometimes 20 or 30 feet in breadth. The story of
the Cyclopes having built them seems to be a mere invention,
and admits neither of an historical nor geographical
explanation. Homer, for instance, knows nothing of Cyclopean
walls, and he calls Tiryns merely a πόλις τειχιόεσσα. (Il.
2.559.) The Cyclopean walls were probably constructed by an
ancient race of men--perhaps the Pelasgians-- who occupied
the countries in which they occur before the nations of
which we have historical records; and later generations,
being struck by their grandeur as much as ourselves,
ascribed their building to a fabulous race of Cyclopes.
Analogies to such a process of tradition are not wanting in
modern countries; thus several walls in Germany, which were
probably constructed by the Romans, are to this day called
by the people Riesenmauer or Teufelsmauer.
In works of art the Cyclopes are represented as sturdy men
with one eye on their forehead, and the place which in other
human beings is occupied by the eyes, is marked in figures
of the Cyclopes by a line. According to the explanation of
Plato (apud Strab. xiii. p. 592), the Cyclopes were beings
typical of the original condition of uncivilized men ; but
this explanation is not satisfactory, and the cosmogonic
Cyclopes at least must be regarded as personifications of
certain powers manifested in nature, which is sufficiently
indicated by their names. - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman
biography and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
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