Cyclopes

This page is about the mythical creature. For other uses, see Cyclops (disambiguation).

Polyphemus the Cyclops.

In Greek mythology a cyclops (Template:PronEng), or kyklops (Greek Κύκλωψ), is a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead. The plural is cyclopes (pronounced /saɪˈkloʊpiːz/) or kyklopes (Greek Κύκλωπες). In English, the plural cyclopses is also used. The name is widely thought to mean "round-" or "wheel-eyed".^[1]

Hesiod describes one group of cyclopes and Homer describes another. In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus releases three Cyclopes, the sons of Uranus and Gaia, from the dark pit of Tartarus. They provide Zeus's thunderbolt, Hades' helmet of invisibility, and Poseidon's trident, and the gods use these weapons to defeat the Titans. In a famous episode of Homer's Odyssey, the hero Odysseus encounters the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon and a nereid (Thoosa), who lives with his fellow Cyclopes in a distant country. The connection between the two groups has been debated in antiquity and by modern scholars.^[2]

Hesiod's Cyclops

*The Cyclops*, a 1914 painting by Odilon Redon.

In the Theogony, the Cyclopes—Arges,^[3] Brontes, and Steropes —were the primordial sons of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth) and brothers of the Hecatonchires. They were giants with a single eye in the middle of their forehead and a foul disposition. According to Hesiod, they were strong, stubborn, and "abrupt of emotion". Collectively they eventually became synonyms for brute strength and power, and their name was invoked in connection with massive masonry. They were often pictured at their forge.

Uranus, fearing their strength, locked them in Tartarus. Cronus, another son of Uranus and Gaia, later freed the Cyclopes, along with the Hecatonchires, after he had overthrown Uranus. Cronus then placed them back in Tartarus, where they remained, guarded by the female dragon Campe, until freed by Zeus. They fashioned thunderbolts for Zeus to use as weapons, and helped him overthrow Cronus and the other Titans. The thunderbolts, which became Zeus' main weapons, were forged by all three Cyclopes, in that Arges added brightness, Brontes added thunder, and Steropes added lightning.

These Cyclopes also created Poseidon's trident, Artemis' bow and arrows of moonlight, Apollo's bow and arrows of sun rays, and the helmet of darkness that Hades gave to Perseus on his quest to kill Medusa. According to a hymn of Callimachus,^[4] they were Hephaestus' helpers at the forge. The Cyclopes were said to have built the "cyclopean" fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises proceeding from the heart of volcanoes were attributed to their operations.

Apollo slew the Cyclopes in revenge when Zeus killed his son, Asclepius, with a Cyclopes-forged thunderbolt.

Homer's Cyclopes

The Cyclopes were huge one-eyed monsters that resided on an island with the same name. Commonly, the term "Cyclops" refers to a particular son of Poseidon and Thoosa named Polyphemus who was a Cyclops. Another member of this group of Cyclopes was Telemus, a seer.

Polyphemus

In Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey, a scouting party led by Odysseus lands on the Island of the Cyclopes and discovers a large cave. They enter into the cave and feast on food they find there. This cave is the home of Polyphemus, who soon returns. Odysseus and his crew attempt to befriend him in the cave; but he traps them instead. He proceeds to eat several crew members, whereupon Odysseus devises a cunning plan for escape.

To make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gives him a skin of very strong, unwatered wine. When Polyphemus asks for Odysseus' name, he tells him that it is 'Outis',^[5] Greek for 'no man' or 'nobody'. Once the giant falls asleep as a result of being drunk, Odysseus and his men take the spit from the fire and drive it through Polyphemus' only eye. Polyphemus' cries of help are answered by the others of his race; however, they turn away from aiding him when they hear that "Nobody" is the cause of his woes.

In the morning, Odysseus ties his men and himself to the undersides of Polyphemus' sheep. When the Cyclops lets the sheep out to graze, the men are carried out. Since Polyphemus has been blinded, he cannot see the men, but feels the backs of his sheep to make himself sure that the men are not riding them. As he sails away, Odysseus shouts "Cyclops, when your father asks who took your eye, tell him that it was Odysseus, Sacker of Cities, Destroyer of Troy, son of Laertes, and King of Ithaca", which proves to be a catastrophic example of hubris. Knowing his attacker's name, Polyphemus asks his father Poseidon to prevent Odysseus from returning home to Ithaca, or to at least deprive him of his ship and crew.

This tale from the Odyssey is more humorously told in the only surviving satyr play, entitled Cyclops by Euripides.

The Sicilian Greek poet Theocritus wrote two poems circa 275 BC concerning Polyphemus' desire for Galatea, a sea nymph. When Galatea instead married Acis, a Sicilian mortal, a jealous Polyphemus killed him with a boulder. Galatea turned Acis' blood into a river of the same name in Sicily.

Origins

Walter Burkert among others suggests^[6] that the archaic groups or societies of lesser gods mirror real cult associations: "it may be surmised that smith guilds lie behind Cabeiri, Idaian Dactyloi, Telchines, and Cyclopes." Given their penchant for blacksmithing, many scholars believe the legend of the Cyclopes' single eye arose from an actual practice of blacksmiths wearing an eyepatch over one eye to prevent flying sparks from blinding them in both eyes. The Cyclopes seen in Homer's Odyssey are of a different type from those in the Theogony; they were most likely much later additions to the pantheon and have no connection to blacksmithing. It is possible that legends associated with Polyphemus did not make him a Cyclops before Homer's Odyssey; Polyphemus may have been some sort of local daemon or monster originally.

Another possible origin for the Cyclops legend, advanced by the paleontologist Othenio Abel in 1914,^[7] is the prehistoric dwarf elephant skulls - about twice the size of a human skull - that may have been found by the Greeks on Crete and Sicily. Abel suggested that the large, central nasal cavity (for the trunk) in the skull might have been interpreted as a large single eye-socket.^[8] Given the inexperience of the locals with living elephants, they were unlikely to recognize the skull for what it actually was.^[9]

Veratrum album, or white hellebore, an herbal medicine described by Hippocrates before 400 BC,^[10] contains the alkaloids cyclopamine and jervine, which are teratogens capable of causing cyclopia (holoprosencephaly). Students of teratology have raised the possibility of a link between this developmental deformity and the myth sharing its name.^[11].

"Cyclopean" walls

Main article: Cyclopean masonry.

After the "Dark Age", when Hellenes looked with awe at the vast dressed blocks, known as Cyclopean structures that had been used in Mycenaean masonry, at sites like Mycenae and Tiryns or on Cyprus, they concluded that only the Cyclopes had the combination of skill and strength to build in such a monumental manner.

Horror writer H.P. Lovecraft frequently used the adjective "cyclopean" to describe weird, massive architecture.

In popular culture

In the fantasy film The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, a colony of cyclopes inhabit the island of Colosa. They feature prominently, and are one of the major antagonists. One is blinded and tricked off a cliff, while a second fights a dragon to the death. The special effects were created by Ray Harryhausen. The cyclopes in this movie are less human-like, having horns (one or two), furry legs with cloven hooves and no human speech.
Based upon the Cyclops concept: In the Masters of the Universe toy franchise, a second wave figure is called Tri-Klops. The figure has a helmet with three large eyes on, one of which faces forwards. The helmet can be rotated for the other eyes to face forwards in turn, and each eye is said to have a different ability. Although standard sized as opposed to being a giant, Tri-Klops is sometimes displayed to have advanced strength. The character also appears in the Filmation cartoon series, although is one of the lesser used characters, only appearing in a handful of episodes.
In the second series of the original Garbage Pail Kids sticker sets, card 44a is of a giant one-eyed baby named 'Sy Clops'. His "alias" card (cards which give different names but otherwise use the same artwork), 44b, is called 'One-Eyed Jack'. The sticker also was adapted for a number of spin-off and overseas releases.
The loosely Greek myth-based television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and its spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess, occasionally feature Cyclops characters. One of the most notable instances is in the second regular episode of Hercules, "Eye of the Beholder", where Hercules must stop a Cyclops who is being manipulated into terrorizing a village. "Sins of the Past", the first episode of Xena, also features a Cyclops, whom Xena blinded in a previous (unseen) encounter. In these series, the Cyclops are portrayed as having a standard-sized eye located slightly above the human location of eyes, as well as protruding foreheads.
In the animated series Futurama, the character of Leela has one large eye instead of two normal eyes. At the beginning of the series, she believes she is the last member of an unknown alien race; later on she learns that she was born to mutants who live in the sewers.
In the popular Playstation 2 game God of War II, Cyclops are common enemies, resembling large troll-like creatures, with very little evidence of intelligence, being easily manipulated and summoned by more advanced enemies. They attack with clubs and bats made from damaged tree trunks. Those found in the Swamp can be blinded and can have their single eye torn out; the player must collect 20 of these eyes to unlock a secret gift.
Cyclops is the name of one of the popular X-Men characters, who wears a visor that covers both of his eyes, giving him the appearance of a single eye.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Cyclops is portrayed as a small non-humanoid creature with hooves for legs.
A robotic take on a cyclops is featured in the cult 80's cartoon series Ulysses 31. The hero destroys it and is punished by the gods of olympus
Mike Wazowski from the movie Monsters, Inc. is a Cyclops monster in the shape of a tennis ball.
In the 1983 movie Krull (film), Bernard Bresslaw plays the character of Rell the Cyclops. In the Krull story world the Cyclops race has traded their second eye for the ability to see the future. But Rell says the gods tricked them. Instead of the ability to see the future, the Cyclops were given the ability to see the moment of their own death.

Notes

^ As with many Greek mythic names, however, this might be a folk etymology. Another theory holds that the word is derived from PIE kuh-klops -- "cattle thief". See: Paul Thieme, "Etymologische Vexierbilder," Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforschungen 69 (1951): 177-78; W. Burkert, Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual 157 (Berkeley 1979); J.P.S. Beekes, Indo-European Etymological Project, s.v. Cyclops.[1]
^ As Robert Mondi says: "Why is there such a discrepancy between the nature of the Homeric Cyclopes and the nature of those found in Hesiod's Theogony? Ancient commentators were so exercised by this problem that they supposed there to be more than one type of Cyclops, and we must agree that, on the surface at least, these two groups could hardly have less in common." (R. Mondi, 1983. "The Homeric Cyclopes: Folktale, Tradition, and Theme," Transactions of the American Philological Association 113 (1983), pp. 17-18.)
^ Arges was elsewhere called Acmonides (Ovid, Fasti iv. 288), or Pyraemon (Virgil, Aeneid viii. 425).
^ To Artemis, 46f. See also Virgil's Georgics 4.173 and Aeneid 8.416ff.
^ Odyssey, book IX, line 366
^ Greek Religion,III.3.2
^ Abel's surmise is noted by Adrienne Mayor, The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times (Princeton University Press) 2000.
^ The smaller, actual eye-sockets are on the sides and, being very shallow, were hardly noticeable as such
^ "Meet the original Cyclops". Retrieved 18 May 2007.
^ "1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica, citing Codronchius (Comm.... de elleb., 1610), Castellus (De helleb. epistola, 1622), Horace (Sat. ii. 3.80-83, Ep. ad Pis. 300)".
^ Armand Marie Leroi, Mutants; On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body, 2005:68.