Cyclops
In Greek mythology, the Cyclopes (in Greek Κύκλωπες, Kýklōpes, that is, «circular eye») were members of a race of giants with only one eye in the middle of the forehead. In the mythological corpus three types can be distinguished. In Hesiod's Theogony three Cyclopes Uranids are described who made Zeus the thunderbolt. In Homer's Odyssey the hero Odysseus meets the Cyclops Polyphemus and his brothers, who are wild and uncivilized beings leading a herding life. The connection between the two groups has been debated in antiquity and by modern scholars. Finally Strabo describes another group of seven Cyclops originating from Lycia, who had built the walls of Tiryns and perhaps the caverns and labyrinths near Nauplia, which were called "cyclopean walls".
Robert Graves has suggested that the Cyclops may have been a guild of Bronze Age metalsmiths who probably had concentric rings tattooed on their foreheads as a token of homage to the sun as their source of energy.
Hesiodic Cyclops
In Hesiod's Theogony this first generation of Cyclops form a triad and are children of Uranus and Gaea, having been born after the Titans and before the Hundredmans.«And (Gea) gave birth to the Cyclopes of arrogant spirit, to Brontes, to Esteropes and the violent Arges, who gave Zeus thunder and made lightning for him. These were otherwise similar to the gods. Cyclops was his name by eponymy, since indeed, a single completely round eye was found on his forehead. Vigor, strength and resources presided over their actions." Apollodorus agrees with Hesiod but alters the order of birth of the brothers: Arges was born first, then Esteropes and finally Brontes. Hyginus, who confuses the races of the giants Uranidas, says that Esteropes was one of the Titans. Despite the fact that Hesiod tells us that the Cyclops had a "superb spirit" or "very violent heart" (ὑπέρβιον ἦτορ ἔχοντας) the truth is that this characteristic is not reflected in their texts, functioning only as faithful divine servants. The noises that arose from the heart of the volcanoes were attributed to their operations.
Later, Hesiod mentions the Cyclopes again. After Crono vomited his offspring, Zeus decided to free the Cyclopes due to Gaia's instructions, namely: "he freed his paternal uncles from their painful chains, the Uranids Brontes, Stéropes and the vigorous Arges, whom they foolishly he chained his father; those kept him gratitude for his benefits and gave him thunder, flaming lightning and lightning; before they were hidden by the enormous Gaea, and with them she surely rules mortals and immortals". Over time, their names became synonymous with strength and power, and were used to refer to especially well-made weapons.
Apolodorus gives us more information about the Cyclops. Thus he tells us that "Uranus tied them up and threw them into Tartarus (a dark place in Hades as distant from earth as earth is from heaven)". The same author says that Crono once again imprisoned the Cyclops in Tartarus who castrated Uranus and made himself lord of the gods—Hesiod says that they were imprisoned only once, due to the work of Uranus—Finally, he tells us that Zeus allied himself with his brothers during the Titanomachy: «after fighting for ten years, Gaia predicted victory to Zeus if he allied with those thrown into Tartarus. He, after killing Campe, the guardian, untied her ligatures. Then the Cyclops gave Zeus the thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolt, to Pluto the helmet, and to Poseidon the trident." Thus, the Apollodorian version associates Zeus's victory with the Cyclopes while Hesiod refers to the Hundredmans.
Calimachus tells us that Artemis, sitting on his knee when she was still a child, had asked her father Zeus for the bow and arrows that are so characteristic of him. For this she traveled to the island of Lípara, where she found the Cyclops next to the anvils of Hephaestus, while they were making a trough for Poseidon's horses. The author provides us with a fairly extensive description of the Cyclopes, for he says that the Oceanid nymphs who were Artemis's companions "were terrified to see the terrible monsters, similar to the Osean rocks -that is, from Mount Osa-, all with their only eye under the brow, huge as a shield made of four ox skins, shining horribly."
The Cyclops, attendants of the divine forge in the service of Zeus, are said to have been killed by Apollo in revenge for the death of Asclepius at the hand of Zeus. In a scholium we find the summarized story, whose origin appears for the first time in the Catalogue of Women. The text recounts the grievance in the mouth of Apollo: «Zeus is guilty for having killed my son Asclepius by cleaving him the flame in the chest. Irritated by this, I slay the fire-makers of Zeus". In effect, it emphasizes that the Cyclops, despite being gods in Theogony, appear killed in the Catalogue of Women.Eratosthenes tells us that the constellation of the Arrow has its origin in the projectile thrown by Apollo to end the life of the Cyclops. Hyginus also tells us about the Cyclops in association with another of the constellations. Regarding the origin of the constellation of the Altar, the author tells us that the Cyclops built the first altar that existed and that the gods used it to form an alliance against the Titans. Even Statius tells us that the Cyclops were involved in the manufacture of the fabulous necklace of Harmonia, ruin for Thebes.
Latin authors varied the names of the Cyclops. Thus Ovid names them Brontes, Stéropes and Acmonides. Virgil, instead, uses the names Brontes, Stéropes and Piracmon. However, contemporary opinion is that the three Hesiodic Cyclopes are related to the etymology of their names, being "thunder » Brontes, the «lightning» Stéropes and the «sparkle» Arges.
Homeric Cyclops
The second generation of Cyclops are a primitive tribe of huge man-eating monsters discovered by Odysseus on a remote island. The most famous of these was a son of Poseidon and the nymph Toosa named Polyphemus, who loses his eye because of Odysseus. Polyphemus was the greatest by force of him among those giants.However, it must be emphasized that in the Homeric texts the Cyclops with only one eye are never described, nor is the filiation of the rest of the Cyclops mentioned. At least Euripides does explicitly claim that all Cyclops have one eye and as a lineage are children of Poseidon. In the same way Homer vaguely describes the homeland of the Cyclops but Euripides explicitly places it on the island of Sicily, near the Mount Etna. Apart from Polyphemus, Homeric texts also tell us about Telemus, a Cyclops prophet who warned Polyphemus that Odysseus would deprive him of his sight.
Described especially in the Odyssey, these types of cyclops have nothing to do with the previous ones mentioned, who were marvelous craftsmen. Odysseus introduces them in this way, namely: «From there, with pain in our souls, we continued to row until we found the land inhabited by the fierce Cyclops, some lawless beings. Trusting in the eternal gods, they sow or plant nothing, they do not till the fields, but everything comes there to germinate without labor or seed: wheat, barley, vines that give a generous liquor from their segments, nourished only by rains of Zeus. The Cyclops do not deal in meetings or know about rules of justice; the summits inhabit sublime mountains, their caves making a mansion; each one gives the law to his wife and children without further ado and does not think of the others. by Zeus or the other gods, because the Cyclops consider themselves "better than them".
Even Pausanias links giants, Cyclops and Phaeacians as different races with similar characteristics, namely: «Homer makes no mention of giants in the Iliad, but in the Odyssey tells how the Laestrygonians attacked the ships of Odysseus like giants and not men, and makes the king of the Phaeacians say that the Phaeacians are close to the gods, like the Cyclops and the race of giants." late poets already confuse both lines of cyclops. For example, Nono includes them in the uncle of Dionysus, namely: «they equipped themselves like warriors holding in their hands carrying fire the splendor of the forge that is so familiar to them. Their names were Brontes, Esteropes, Euryalius, Elatreus, Arges, Trachius, and the proud Halimedes. Only one of extraordinary qualities was missing, who had stayed to the south, and it was Polyphemus, tall as the clouds, seed of Poseidon, the one who makes the earth tremble."
Wall-Building Cyclops
Differentiating from the two types of cyclops previously exposed is a third type, known especially for being the architects of the cyclopean walls. Thus Strabo tells us that «Preto used Tiryns as a base of operations and had it fortified by the Cyclops; According to what it is said, there were seven of them and they were called Gasterócheires (Gasterócheires) because they fed with the work of their hands; they would have been made to come from Lycia. And perhaps the caves next to Nauplia and the buildings found in them owe their name to them." Other authors, such as Apollodorus or Bacchylides also tell us about the origin of the Cyclopean walls that barricaded Tiryns. After the Dark Ages, the Hellenes looked with amazement at the huge polished blocks, called Cyclopean structures, that had been used in Mycenaean buildings, in places like Mycenae and Tiryns, or in Cyprus, and came to the conclusion that only the Cyclops met the skill and strength required to build so monumentally. The poet Pindar says that Heracles drove Geryon's cattle through the "Cyclopean portal" of Eurystheus, King of Tiryns. Likewise Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, collects a tradition, attributed to Aristotle, according to which these Cyclops were the inventors of masonry towers. The same author also says that these Cyclops were the first to work with iron and bronze. Even Pausanias tells us that in Argos "next to the sanctuary of Cephisus is a head of Medusa made of stone, the work of the Cyclops".
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