Editing Cyclopes (section)

===Hesiodic Cyclopes===
[[File:Forge of the Cyclopes LACMA M.88.91.96.jpg|thumb|"The Forge of the Cyclopes", a Dutch 16th-century print after a painting by [[Titian]]]]

[[Hesiod]], in the ''[[Theogony]]'' (c. 700 BC), described three Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges, who were the sons of [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] (Sky) and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Earth), and the brothers of the [[Titans (mythology)|Titans]] and [[Hundred-Handers]], and who had a single eye set in the middle of their foreheads.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA32 p. 32]; Gantz, p. 10; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:139-172 139–146]; cf. [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.2 1.1.2]. These Hesiodic Cyclopes are sometimes called the "Uranian" (or "Ouranian") Cyclopes after their father Uranus (Ouranos), see Caldwell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GyIKBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 p. 36 on lines 139&ndash;146]; Grimal s.v. Cyclopes p. 119.</ref> They made for Zeus his all-powerful thunderbolt, and in so doing, the Cyclopes played a key role in the Greek succession myth, which told how the Titan [[Cronus]] overthrew his father Uranus, and how in turn Zeus overthrew Cronus and his fellow Titans, and how Zeus was eventually established as the final and permanent ruler of the cosmos.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA65 pp. 65&ndash;69]; Hansen, pp. 66&ndash;67, 293&ndash;294; West 1966, pp. 18&ndash;19; Dowden, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GrGAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 35&ndash;36].</ref> The names that Hesiod gives them: Arges (Bright), Brontes (Thunder), and Steropes (Lightning), reflect their fundamental role as thunderbolt makers.<ref>Most 2018a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml p. 15]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA66 p. 66]. According to West 1966, p. 207 on line 140, the three names represent different aspects of the same thing: a lightning bolt, i.e. that which is heard: Brontes, from ''βροντή'' ("thunder", see ''[[LSJ]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dbronth%2F s.v. βροντ-ή]), that which is seen: Steropes, from ''στεροπή'' ("flash of lightning", see ''[[LSJ]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dsteroph%2F s.v. στεροπ-ή]) and that which strikes: Arges, a "formulaic epithet of ''κεραυνός''" ("thunderbolt", see ''[[LSJ]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkerauno%2Fs s.v. κεραυνός]).</ref> As early as the late seventh-century BC, the Cyclopes could be used by the [[Sparta]]n poet [[Tyrtaeus]] to epitomize extraordinary size and strength.<ref>West 1966, p. 207 on line 139; Bremmer, p. 140; [[Tyrtaeus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tyrtaeus-fragments/1999/pb_LCL258.57.xml 12.2&ndash;3]: "...&nbsp;not even if / he had the size and strength of the Cyclopes".</ref>

According to the accounts of Hesiod and the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], the Cyclopes had been imprisoned by their father Uranus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml 154&ndash;158], says that Uranus "put them all away out of sight in a hiding place in Earth and did not let them come up into the light", while according to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.2 1.1.2], Uranus "bound and cast [them] into Tartarus", the two places perhaps being the same (see West 1966, p. 338 on line 618, and Caldwell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GyIKBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 p. 37 on lines 154–160]).</ref> Zeus later freed the Cyclopes, and they repaid him by giving him the thunderbolt.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.43.xml 501&ndash;506].</ref> The Cyclopes provided for Hesiod, and other theogony-writers, a convenient source of heavenly weaponry, since the smith-god [[Hephaestus]]&mdash;who would eventually take over that role&mdash;had not yet been born.<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54]: the Cyclopes "would supply the obvious answer any theogony-writer would pose: who made the weapons in the early wars, before even Hephaistos was born?"; see also West 1966, p. 207 on line 139, who, after mentioning that "for Hesiod [the Cyclopes] are simply one-eyed craftsmen who made Zeus' thunder", notes parenthetically by way of explanation, "Hephaestus had not yet been born".</ref> According to Apollodorus, the Cyclopes also provided [[Poseidon]] with his [[Trident of Poseidon|trident]] and [[Hades]] with his [[cap of invisibility]],<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA69 p. 69]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.1 1.2.1]. The hat given to Hades in Apollodorus is presumably the same "cap of Hades" mentioned in the [[Iliad]] [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.835-5.863 5.844&ndash;845], that Athena wore so that "mighty Ares should not see her", see Gantz, p. 71.</ref> and the gods used these weapons to defeat the [[Titans (mythology)|Titans]].

Although the primordial Cyclopes of the ''Theogony'' were presumably immortal (as were their brothers the Titans), the sixth-century BC Hesiodic ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', has them being killed by [[Apollo]].<ref>Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA66 66], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA151 151] Gantz, pp. 13, 92; Hesiod [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.131.xml fr. 57 Most] [= fr. 52 MW], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.131.xml fr. 58 Most] [= frr. 54a + 57 MW], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.133.xml fr. 59 Most] [= frr. 54c, b MW]. For further discussion of the story around Apollo's killing the Cyclopes, see Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 pp. 74&ndash;79]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA151 pp. 151&ndash;152].</ref> Later sources tell us why: Apollo's son [[Asclepius]] had been killed by Zeus' thunderbolt, and Apollo killed the Cyclopes, the makers of the thunderbolt, in revenge.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-alcestis/1994/pb_LCL012.155.xml 5&ndash;7]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.10.4 3.10.4]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#71 4.71.3]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 49, which adds that Apollo, because he could not attack his father directly, chose to exact his revenge on the Cyclopes "instead".</ref> According to a scholiast on Euripides' ''Alcestis'', the fifth-century BC mythographer [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] supplied the same motive, but said that Apollo, rather than killing the Cyclopes, killed their ''sons'' (one of whom he named Aortes) instead.<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA151 p. 151]; Bremmer, p. 139; Gantz, p. 13; [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA298 fr. 35 Fowler] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 fr. 35]; [[James George Frazer|Frazer's]] note 2 to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.10.4 3.10.4]. Fowler, notes that Pherecydes having Apollo kill&mdash;not the Cyclopes themselves&mdash;but their mortal offspring, solves the "difficulty" in killing the immortal Cyclopes of the ''Theogony'', as well as ensuring the continued supply of Zeus' thunderbolts.</ref> No other source mentions any offspring of the Cyclopes.<ref>Gantz, p. 13.</ref> A Pindar fragment suggests that Zeus himself killed the Cyclopes to prevent them from making thunderbolts for anyone else.<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA66 p. 66]; Gantz, p. 13.</ref>

The Cyclopes' prowess as craftsmen is stressed by Hesiod who says "strength and force and contrivances were in their works."<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml 146].</ref> Being such skilled craftsmen of great size and strength, later poets, beginning with the third-century BC poet [[Callimachus]], imagine these Cyclopes, the primordial makers of Zeus' thunderbolt, becoming the assistants of the smith-god [[Hephaestus]], at his forge in Sicily, underneath Mount Etna, or perhaps the nearby [[Aeolian Islands]].<ref>Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA66 66], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA166 p. 166]; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54]; Bremmer, p. 139; Grimal, p. 119 s.v. Cyclopes.</ref> In his ''Hymn to Artemis'', Callimachus has the Cyclopes on the Aeolian island of [[Lipari]], working "at the anvils of Hephaestus", make the bows and arrows used by [[Apollo]] and [[Artemis]].<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn III to Artemis'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/60/mode/2up 8-10].</ref> The first-century BC [[Latin]] poet [[Virgil]], in his epic ''[[Aeneid]]'', has the Cyclopes: "Brontes and Steropes and bare-limbed Pyracmon"<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL064.91.xml 8.425].</ref> toil under the direction of Vulcan (Hephaestus), in caves underneath Mount Etna and the [[Aeolian islands]].<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL064.89.xml 8.416&ndash;422].</ref> Virgil describes the Cyclopes, in Vulcan's smithy forging iron, making a thunderbolt, a chariot for [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], and [[Athena|Pallas]]'s [[Aegis]], with Vulcan interrupting their work to command the Cyclopes to fashion arms for [[Aeneas]].<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL064.91.xml 8.424&ndash;443].</ref> The later Latin poet [[Ovid]] also has the Hesiodic Cyclopes, Brontes and Steropes (along with a third Cyclops named Acmonides), work at forges in Sicilian caves.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/208/mode/2up 4.287&ndash;288], [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/222/mode/2up 4.473].</ref>

According to a [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] astral myth, the Cyclopes were the builders of the first altar. The myth was a [[catasterism]], which explained how the constellation the Altar (Ara) came to be in the heavens. According to the myth, the Cyclopes built an altar upon which Zeus and the other gods swore alliance before their war with the Titans. After their victory, "the gods placed the altar in the sky in commemoration", and thus began the practice, according to the myth, of men swearing oaths upon altars "as a guarantee of their good faith".<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA66 p. 66]; Bremmer, p. 140; [[Eratosthenes]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 39]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomica|Astronomica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 2.39].</ref>

According to the second-century geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], there was a sanctuary called the "altar of the Cyclopes" on the [[Isthmus of Corinth]] at a place sacred to Poseidon, where sacrifices were offered to the Cyclopes.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.2.1 2.2.1].</ref> There is no evidence for any other [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]] associated with the Cyclopes.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA66 p. 66]; West 1966, p. 207 on line 139.</ref> According to a version of the story in the ''Iliad'' scholia (found nowhere else), when Zeus swallowed [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], she was pregnant with [[Athena]] by the Cyclops Brontes.<ref>Gantz, p. 51; Yasumura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7cXUAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 p. 89]; scholia bT to ''Iliad'' 8.39.</ref>

Although described by Hesiod as "having very violent hearts" (''ὑπέρβιον ἦτορ ἔχοντας''),<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml 139].</ref> and while their extraordinary size and strength would have made them capable of great violence, there is no indication of the Hesiodic Cyclopes having behaved in any other way than as dutiful servants of the gods.<ref>Fowler 2103, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54].</ref>

[[Walter Burkert]] suggests that groups or societies of lesser gods, like the Hesiodic Cyclopes, "mirror real [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]] associations (''thiasoi'') ... It may be surmised that [[Metalsmith|smith]] [[guild]]s lie behind [[Cabeiri]], [[Dactyl (mythology)|Idaian Dactyloi]], [[Telchines]], and Cyclopes."<ref name="auto3">Burkert 1991, p. 173.</ref>