CYCLOPS - 3 reference results
Cyclops, plural Cyclopes, in Greek mythology, immense one-eyed beings. They appear in at least two distinct traditions. According to Hesiod the Cyclopes were smiths, the sons of Uranus and Gaea. They were imprisoned in Tartarus by their father and again by their brother Kronos. In return for their freedom they gave Zeus the thunderbolt that aided him in overthrowing Kronos. In Homer the Cyclopes are a lawless, barbarous, and pastoral people, one of whom (Polyphemus) Odysseus encounters in his wanderings.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
In Greek mythology, any of several one-eyed giants. In the Odyssey, the Cyclopes were cannibals who lived in a faraway land (traditionally Sicily). Odysseus was captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, but he escaped being devoured by blinding the giant. According to Hesiod, there were three Cyclopes (Arges, Brontes, and Steropes) who forged thunderbolts for Zeus. In a later tradition, they were assistants to Hephaestus in this task. Apollo destroyed them after one of their thunderbolts killed Asclepius.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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