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Below is a marvelous essay
by student Anna Baldwin
The Cyclopes were
giant beings with a single, round eye in the middle of their
foreheads. According to the ancient Greek writer Hesiod, they
were strong, stubborn, and “abrupt of emotion.” Their every
action ebbed with violence and power and their name means
"ring-eyed".
There are actually two generations of Cyclopes in Greek myth.
The first generation consisted of three brothers, Brontes (“thunderer”),
Steropes (“lightning”), and Arges (“brightness”), who came from
the union of Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Sky). The second
generation descended from Poseidon, and the most famous of these
was Polyphemus from Homer’s Odyssey.
According to some versions of early Olympian history, the
Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires (Hundred-handed-ones) were failed
attempts by Mother Earth to create a race of mortals to populate
the planet.
Brontes, Steropes, and Arges (the three descended from Gaia and
Uranus) were the inventive blacksmiths of the Olympian gods.
They were skilled metal workers and created Zeus’ thunderbolts,
Poseidon’s trident, and Hades’ Helmet of Darkness that was later
used by Perseus while on his quest to decapitate Medusa.
However, they spent the majority of their early existence
imprisoned. Their father Uranus (sky) hated all of his offspring
(the Titans, Cyclopes and Hecatonchires or hundred-handed-ones)
and kept them confined deep within Gaia (earth). The defeat of
Uranus by his son Cronus (a Titan) freed the Cyclopes for a
time, but Cronus was a paranoid ruler. He feared the Cyclopes’
power and cast them into Tartarus (the place of punishment in
the underworld) where they remained imprisoned until Zeus (an
Olympian and son of Cronus) released them, requiring their aid
in the Titanomachy (battle of the Titans).
With the assistance of the Cyclopes and their thunderbolts, Zeus
overthrew Cronus and the Titans and became ruler of the cosmos.
He was grateful for the Cyclopes’ help and allowed them to stay
in Olympus as his armorers and helpers to Hephaestus, god of
smiths. The Greeks also credited them with building the massive
fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese.
It is said that the god Apollo killed the Cyclopes to avenge the
death of his son Asclepius, whom the Cyclopes had killed for
bringing mortals back to life. The ghosts of the Cyclopes then
went to live in the caverns of volcanic Mount Aetna - this
legend served to explain the smoke that frequently rose from
that mountain.
Brontes, Steropes, and Arges are mainly mentioned in passing in
most of the myths to convey strength in heroes and the fine
quality of weapons but are major characters in one other event –
their deaths at the hands of Apollo. Zeus struck Asclepius,
Apollo’s son, down with a thunderbolt for having risen a person
from the dead. Apollo was outraged and killed the Cyclopes who
had forged the deadly thunderbolt. It appears that Apollo’s rage
was misplaced, yet by killing the Cyclopes, he was indirectly
punishing Zeus. The ghosts of Brontes, Steropes, and Arges are
said to dwell in Mt. Aetna, an active volcano that smokes as a
result of their burning forges.
The second generation of Cyclopes was a band of lawless
shepherds living in Sicily who had lost the skill of metallurgy.
Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and the sea nymph Thoosa, is the
only notable individual of the lot and figures prominently in
Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus and his crew landed on Sicily, realm
of the Cyclopes. He and a few of his best men became trapped in
Polyphemus’ cave when Polyphemus rolled a large boulder in front
of the entrance to corral his sheep while Odysseus was still
inside. Polyphemus was fond of human flesh and devoured many of
the men for dinner. On the second night, Odysseus told
Polyphemus that his name was “Nobody,” and tricked him into
drinking enough wine to pass out. While he was incapacitated,
Odysseus/Nobody blinded him with a red hot poker. Polyphemus
shouted in pain to the other Cyclopes on the island that
“Nobody” was trying to kill him, so no one came to his rescue.
Eventually, he had to roll away the stone to allow his sheep to
graze. Odysseus and the remaining crew clung to the bellies of
the exiting sheep where Polyphemus could not feel them as they
passed him on their way to pasture and escaped.
As Odysseus sailed
away from the island, he shouted to Polyphemus that it was
Odysseus who had blinded him. Enraged, the Cyclops threw huge
boulders at the ship and shouted to his father, Poseidon, to
avenge him.
Recent scholars have hypothesized about the origin of the
Cyclopes’ single eye. One possibility is that in ancient times,
smiths could have worn an eye patch over one eye to prevent
being blinded in both eyes from flying sparks. Also, smiths
sometimes tattooed themselves with concentric circles which
could have been in honor of the sun which provided the fire for
their furnaces. Concentric rings were also part of the pattern
for making bowls, helmets, masks, and other metal objects.
Notice that the first generation Cyclopes were associated with
metal-working while the second generation was not. Apparently,
the lawless band of Cyclopes is a later addition to the myths.
The incidence with Polyphemus seems to have had an independent
existence from the Odyssey before Homer added it to his epic
adventure. It was probably told as a separate myth at certain
functions.
It is uncertain why the Cyclopes were demoted from the smiths of
the gods to a lawless group of monsters with no reverence for
the gods. When the universe came into being, there were many
monsters and vague forms that were gradually replaced with
beings with more human forms. Order was replacing chaos. The
monsters were phased out, and this could have lead to the
transformation of the “good” Cyclopes to the “evil” Cyclopes
that were destined to be fought and defeated by the divine human
form.
Following are
excerpts from Thomas Bullfinch's
"Mythology, the Age of
Fable"
They next arrived at
the country of the Cyclopses. The Cyclopses were giants, who
inhabited an island of which they were the only possessors. The
name means "round eye," and these giants were so called because
they had but one eye, and that placed in the middle of the
forehead. They dwelt in caves and fed on the wild productions of
the island and on what their flocks yielded, for they were
shepherds.
Ulysses left the main body of his ships at anchor, and with one
vessel went to the Cyclopses' island to explore for supplies. He
landed with his companions, carrying with them a jar of wine for
a present, and coming to a large cave they entered it, and
finding no one within examined its contents. They found it
stored with the richest of the flock, quantities of cheese,
pails and bowls of milk, lambs and kids in their pens, all in
nice order.
Presently arrived the master of the cave, Polyphemus, bearing an
immense bundle of firewood, which he threw down before the
cavern's mouth. He then drove into the cave the sheep and goats
to be milked, and, entering, rolled to the cave's mouth an
enormous rock, that twenty oxen could not draw. Next he sat down
and milked his ewes, preparing a part for cheese, and setting
the rest aside for his customary drink. Then, turning round his
great eye, he discerned the strangers, and growled out to them,
demanding who they were, and where from. Ulysses replied most
humbly, stating that they were Greeks, from the great expedition
that had lately won so much glory in the conquest of Troy; that
they were now on their way home, and finished by imploring his
hospitality in the name of the gods.
Polyphemus deigned no answer, but reaching out his hand seized
two of the Greeks, whom he hurled against the side of the cave,
and dashed out their brains. He proceeded to devour them with
great relish, and having made a hearty meal, stretched himself
out on the floor to sleep. Ulysses was tempted to seize the
opportunity and plunge his sword into him as be slept, but
recollected that it would only expose them all to certain
destruction, as the rock with which the giant had closed up the
door was far beyond their power to remove, and they would
therefore be in hopeless imprisonment.
Next morning the giant seized two more of the Greeks, and
dispatched them in the same manner as their companions, feasting
on their flesh till no fragment was left. He then moved away the
rock from the door, drove out his flocks, and went out,
carefully replacing the barrier after him. When he was gone
Ulysses planned how he might take vengeance for his murdered
friends, and effect his escape with his surviving companions. He
made his men prepare a massive bar of wood cut by the Cyclops
for a staff, which they found in the cave. They sharpened the
end of it, and seasoned it in the fire, and hid it under the
straw on the cavern floor. Then four of the boldest were
selected, with whom Ulysses joined himself as a fifth.
The Cyclops came home at evening, rolled away the stone and
drove in his flock as usual. After milking them and making his
arrangements as before, he seized two more of Ulysses'
companions and dashed their brains out, and made his evening
meal upon them as he had on the others. After he had supped,
Ulysses approaching him handed him a bowl of wine, saying,
"Cyclops, this is wine; taste and drink after thy meal of men's
flesh." He took and drank it, and was hugely delighted with it,
and called for more. Ulysses supplied him once again, which
pleased the giant so much that he promised him as a favor that
he should be the last of the party devoured. He asked his name,
to which Ulysses replied, "My name is Noman."
After his supper the giant lay down to repose, and was soon
found asleep. Then Ulysses with his four select friends thrust
the end of the stake into the fire till it was all one burning
coal, then poising it exactly above the giant's only eye, they
buried it deeply into the socket, twirling it round as a
carpenter does his auger.
The howling monster with his outcry filled the cavern,
and Ulysses with his aides nimbly got out of his way and
concealed themselves in the cave. He, bellowing, called aloud on
all the Cyclopes dwelling in the caves around him, far and near.
They on his cry flocked round the den, and inquired what
grievous hurt had caused him to sound such an alarm and break
their slumbers. He replied, "O friends, I die, and Noman gives
the blow." They answered, "If no man hurts thee it is the stroke
of Jove (Zeus), and thou must bear it." So saying, they left him
groaning.
Next morning the Cyclops rolled away the stone to let his flock
out to pasture, but planted himself in the door of the cave to
feel of all as they went out, that Ulysses and his men should
not escape with them. But Ulysses had made his men harness the
rams of the flock three abreast, with osiers which they found on
the floor of the cave. To the middle ram of the three one of the
Greeks suspended himself, so protected by the exterior rams on
either side. As they passed, the giant felt of the animals'
backs and sides, but never thought of their bellies; so the men
all passed safe, Ulysses himself being on the last one that
passed.
When they had got a few paces from the cavern, Ulysses and his
friends released themselves from their rams, and drove a good
part of the flock down to the shore to their boat. They put them
aboard with all haste, then pushed off from the shore, and when
at a safe distance Ulysses shouted out, "Cyclops, the gods have
well requited thee for thy atrocious deeds. Know it is Ulysses
to whom thou owest thy shameful loss of sight."
The Cyclops, hearing this, seized a rock that projected
from the side of the mountain, and rending it from its bed he
lifted it high in the air, then exerting all his force, hurled
it in the direction of the voice.
Down came the mass,
just clearing the vessel's stern. The ocean, at the plunge of
the huge rock, heaved the ship towards the land, so that it
barely escaped being swamped by the waves. When they had with
the utmost difficulty pulled off shore, Ulysses was about to
hail the giant again, but his friends besought him not to do so.
He could not forbear, however, letting the giant know that they
had escaped his missile, but waited till they had reached a
safer distance than before. The giant answered them with curses,
but Ulysses and his friends plied their oars vigorously, and
soon regained their companions.
Thank you Thomas
Bullfinch!
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