Cyclopes
Two different one-eyed peoples share the name. Hesiod's Cyclopes are three sons of Earth and Heaven, Brontes, Steropes and Arges, who forged the thunderbolt for Zeus; Homer's are a lawless race of giant shepherds, among them Polyphemus son of Poseidon, whom Odysseus blinded. Later Greeks credited the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns to Cyclopes too.
Why this wins its question: Answers the question most pages fudge, whether Polyphemus is one of the thunderbolt-makers, by quoting what each of Hesiod, Homer and Pausanias actually says a Cyclops is.
Key takeaways
- Hesiod's three smiths and Homer's race of shepherds share only the single eye; neither text knows the other's Cyclopes.
- The thunderbolt, the helmet of Hades and the trident are Cyclopean work (Theog. 501–506; Apollod. 1.2.1).
- Polyphemus is Poseidon's son, not Uranus's, which is why his blinding brings Poseidon's wrath on Odysseus.
- "Cyclopean" walls are a third tradition, recorded by Pausanias for Mycenae and Tiryns.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Hesiod's Cyclopes are three: Earth bore to Heaven "the Cyclopes, overbearing in spirit, Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges, who gave Zeus the thunder and made the thunderbolt"; "one eye only was set in the midst of their foreheads", whence the name "Cyclopes (Orb-eyed)", and "strength and might and craft were in their works" (Theog. 139–146). Apollodorus lists the same three and adds that Sky "bound and cast" them "into Tartarus" (Apollod. 1.1.2).
The thunderbolt is their gift. Zeus "set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father, sons of Heaven whom his father in his foolishness had bound", and in gratitude they "gave him thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightning" (Theog. 501–506). Apollodorus adds that Zeus first "slew their jailoress Campe" and that the Cyclopes also gave Pluto a helmet and Poseidon a trident, with which the gods won the war against the Titans (Apollod. 1.2.1).
Their death: when Zeus killed Asclepius, "angry on that account, Apollo slew the Cyclopes who had fashioned the thunderbolt for Zeus", and was sentenced to a year's service to Admetus (Apollod. 3.10.4).
Homer's Cyclopes are another race entirely: "an overweening and lawless folk" who neither plant nor plough, have "neither assemblies for council ... nor appointed laws", and live in mountain caves, each a law to his own family (Od. 9.105–115); they have no ships (Od. 9.125–129); and Polyphemus boasts that "the Cyclopes reck not of Zeus, who bears the aegis, nor of the blessed gods, since verily we are better far than they" (Od. 9.275–276). Nothing is said of smithcraft or of Uranus.
Polyphemus is "the godlike Polyphemus, whose might is greatest among all the Cyclopes", son of Poseidon and the nymph Thoosa (Od. 1.68–73). Odysseus made him drunk, gave his name as "Noman", and with his comrades drove a heated olive stake into his eye, so that when he cried out, the other Cyclopes heard that "Noman" was hurting him and went away (Od. 9.366–414). Apollodorus's Epitome retells it and calls him "a huge, wild, cannibal man, with one eye on his forehead" (Apollod. E. 7.4–9).
Pausanias knows a third use of the name, as master builders: the walls of Mycenae with the lion gate "are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, who made for Proetus the wall at Tiryns" (Paus. 2.16.5); the wall of Tiryns is "a work of the Cyclopes made of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the smallest" (Paus. 2.25.8; cf. 7.25.6), and a stone head of Medusa at Argos is "another of the works of the Cyclopes" (Paus. 2.20.7).
Virgil keeps both Greek traditions: the "Cyclops' crags" and the "Cyclops' land" that Aeneas passes are Homer's Sicily (Aen. 1.198; Aen. 3.548, 3.613), and the Cyclopes "in vast cavern forging steel" are Hesiod's smiths, now at work for Vulcan (Aen. 8.407), with the walls of Tartarus "in furnace of the Cyclops forged" (Aen. 6.628).
Questions answered
- Did the Cyclopes make the thunderbolt of Zeus?
- The thunderbolt is their gift. Zeus "set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father, sons of Heaven whom his father in his foolishness had bound", and in gratitude they "gave him thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightning" (Theog. 501–506). Apollodorus adds that Zeus first "slew their jailoress Campe" and that the Cyclopes also gave Pluto a helmet and Poseidon a trident, with which the gods won the war against the Titans (Apollod. 1.2.1). source
- Is Polyphemus one of Hesiod's Cyclopes?
- Homer's Cyclopes are another race entirely: "an overweening and lawless folk" who neither plant nor plough, have "neither assemblies for council ... nor appointed laws", and live in mountain caves, each a law to his own family (Od. 9.105–115); they have no ships (Od. 9.125–129); and Polyphemus boasts that "the Cyclopes reck not of Zeus, who bears the aegis, nor of the blessed gods, since verily we are better far than they" (Od. 9.275–276). Nothing is said of smithcraft or of Uranus. source
- Why did Apollo kill the Cyclopes?
- Their death: when Zeus killed Asclepius, "angry on that account, Apollo slew the Cyclopes who had fashioned the thunderbolt for Zeus", and was sentenced to a year's service to Admetus (Apollod. 3.10.4). source
- Who built the walls of Mycenae?
- Pausanias knows a third use of the name, as master builders: the walls of Mycenae with the lion gate "are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, who made for Proetus the wall at Tiryns" (Paus. 2.16.5); the wall of Tiryns is "a work of the Cyclopes made of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the smallest" (Paus. 2.25.8; cf. 7.25.6), and a stone head of Medusa at Argos is "another of the works of the Cyclopes" (Paus. 2.20.7). source
- Why are they called Cyclopes?
- Hesiod's Cyclopes are three: Earth bore to Heaven "the Cyclopes, overbearing in spirit, Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges, who gave Zeus the thunder and made the thunderbolt"; "one eye only was set in the midst of their foreheads", whence the name "Cyclopes (Orb-eyed)", and "strength and might and craft were in their works" (Theog. 139–146). Apollodorus lists the same three and adds that Sky "bound and cast" them "into Tartarus" (Apollod. 1.1.2). source