Cyclops
Giants with
only one eye in their forhead, children of the earth, Gaea They ate humans,
were thick and had given Zeus the thunder and lightning as a sign of gratitude
when he released them from the underworld. They worked as Hephaestus helpers
under the volcano Etna making Zeus's lightnings, but were killed by Apollo
as a revenge for Zeus's killing his son Aclepius.
The most famous cyclop was Polyphemus who Odysseus blinded after making him
drunk.
In general, Homer described the cyclops as wild savages who did not use agriculture
or laws other than each man to himself. This can be seen as an allegory of
the barbarians, the non-Greeks. Other named cyclops were Brontes, Steropes
and Arges.
