(Group ), 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. (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. (POLYPHEMUS.) The Homeric Cyclopes are no longer the servants of Zeus, but they
disregard him. (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 (Aen. 8.433; Callim. Hymn. in Dian.
56, &c.; Hymn. in Dian. 68;
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. (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
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.