What is the meaning of Cyclops? Concept and Definition of Cyclops

Definition of Cyclops


Concepto de Cíclope

1. Concept of Cyclops

In Greek mythology, the Cyclops (Kyklops Κύκλωψ, plural Κύκλωπες Kyklopes, Greek κύκλος kyklos, 'wheel', 'circle' coming and ὤψ-ops, 'eye') were members of a race of giants with a single eye in the middle of the forehead. There were two generations of Cyclopes.

First generation

The Cyclops of the first generation were the sons of Ouranos and Gea and known craftsmen and builders. They were giants with a single eye in the middle of the forehead and a horrible temper. According to Hesiod, they were strong, stubborn, and «sudden emotions». Over time, their names came to be synonymous with strength and power, and were used to refer to weapons particularly well manufactured.
They were three: Brontes, Arges, and Esteropes (although some sources changed to Arges Acmonides or Piracmon). There were also other four so-called Eurialo, Elatreo, Traquio and Halimedes, which presumably were the sons of the first three.
Uranus feared his force and locked them in Tartarus. Later Crono, another son of Uranus and Gaea, freed the Cyclopes, along with the Giants and the Hekatonkheires. They helped overthrow and castration to Uranus, but Chrono returned them to imprisoned in Tartarus, where they remained, guarded by Campe, until Zeus freed them. Rays forged so that Zeus used them as a weapon and helped him in the war to overthrow to Chrono and the other Titans (Titanomachy). Rays which became the favorite weapon of Zeus were forged by three Cyclopes: Arges put the brightness, Brontes Thunder and lightning Esteropes.
This first generation of Cyclopes also created a Trident which produced earthquakes to Poseidon, bow and arrows of ARTEMIS, and the helmet of invisibility that Hades gave to Perseus on his quest to kill Medusa. They helped to Hephaestus and said they built the first altar, as well as the walls and fortifications of Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese, among others. Noise arising from the heart of the volcanoes is attributed to its operations.
He is later told that it was Apollo who killed the Cyclops, after Zeus killed his son, Asclepius, with a lightning forged by them. Although it can be assumed that these Cyclops were immortal, so perhaps the Cyclops that Apollo killed were children.

Second generation

The second generation of Cyclopes was a primitive tribe of huge one-eyed monsters discovered by Odysseus on a remote island (occasionally identified with Hesperia). It was said that they were closely related with the Giants and a Phoenician tribe (the Phaiakai) emerged from the drops of blood that fell on Gea (Earth) when Uranus was castrated.
However, the best-known Cyclops of this generation was a son of Poseidon and the nymph Thoosa named Polyphemus, who loses the eye because of Ulysses. Another of the Cyclops of the second generation was Telemo, a seer.

"Cyclopean" walls

After the "dark age" the Hellenes looked with amazement at huge polished blocks, called cyclopean structures that had been used in micénicas buildings, in places like Mycenae and Tiryns or on Cyprus, and concluded that only the Cyclopes met the skill and strength necessary to build such monumental form.

Archaeological explanation

It is believed that the myth of the Cyclops appeared after the discoveries of skulls of giant beings with a huge hole in the center of the face, which made it seem the head of a man with one huge eye. However, that would be the fossil skull of a dwarf mammoth (Elephas falconeri), and that large hole would be the cavity of the tube. This theory was proposed by Othenio Abel, paleontologist at the University of Vienna, in 1914.

2. Definition of Cyclops

The Cyclops are giant one-eyed, very strong, stubborn and sharp emotion.
His single eye is large and is located in the center of the forehead. This eye special powers attributed to him since it is able to disintegrate almost anything with a look.
According to Greek mythology, there are two generations of Cyclopes:
• The first generation was formed by three brothers, that the "main artisans' have been called.
• The second is formed by a group of Cyclops who lived in Sicily.
The first generation of Cyclopes was formed by the brothers; Arges (glow), (Thunder) Brontes and Steropes (lightning). These 3 Cyclopes were, along with the Titans and Giants of a hundred hands, the children of Gaia and Uranus. Became blacksmiths forgers of the Olympus of the gods due to its great ability to handle metal. They also forged the Thunderbolt of Zeus.
Uranus, who hated their descendants, kept the Cyclops prisoners inside Gaia (the earth goddess) until he was killed by another of his sons: Cronus (a titan). Cronus feared the power of the huge Cyclops so he returned them to lock up. Zeus rescued the Cyclopes and these with its rays helped Zeus against the Titans.
The second generation of Cyclopes were the descendants of Poseidon and did not have the ability for the metallurgy which his predecessors had. Engaged in grazing in Sicily, where they lived under any law.
The most famous of these Cyclops is Polyphemus, one of the protagonists of Homer's Odyssey. The story tells that Polyphemus was especially cruel and got caught Ulysses and his twelve companions, who locked in a cave to devour them alive. Day after day went falling group members until Ulysses got drunk with dessert wine to the bobo Cyclops to let him sleep. At that time it attacked him and wounded his only eye. The next day, with the virtually blind Cyclops, they managed to escape leaving camouflaged with the herd of goats.

3 Meaning of Cyclops

The word Cyclops, from the latin "cyclōpis" and in turn from the Greek "Kýklops", refers to the characters of Greek mythology, colossal, gigantic, size characterized by having in the middle of his forehead, one eye. From there "kyklos" means circle and "ops", eye, or more precisely, vista.
There were two generations of Cyclopes: those of the first, were stubborn and violent, Giants great architects, of there Greek constructions, from the Mycenaean period, made by raising walls by lace blocks of irregular shape, which is held with stones, called cyclopean. Stones and blocks were so huge, that it said had been made by non-human beings, attributing this work to the Cyclops.
These Cyclops of the first generation, according to the poet Hesiod, were engendered by Uranus (sky) and Gaea (Earth); and they were Arges, Brontes and Esteropes, and their descendants, who after being locked up by her father, might take revenge on it is released, castrating him and overthrowing it. Returned to lock up and released by Dios Zeus, they built rays making it invincible in the fight. They perished at the hands of Apollo.
The second generation of Cyclopes, belong among others, Polyphemus and Telemo. They were discovered on a remote island, in Sicily, by Ulysses or Odysseus. They were shepherds, wicked and man-eaters.
The Greek poet Euripides, representative of the genre of tragedy, wrote based on the fight between Odysseus and Polyphemus, a satirical drama called "The Cyclops".
Everything that represents something gigantic, is said to be cyclopean, for example: "the task of learning the languages used in the world, is Herculean".