Cyclops , plural Cyclopes. [sîklô'pçz] , in Greek mythology,
immense one-eyed beings. They appear in at least two distinct
traditions. According to Hesiod the Cyclopes were smiths, the sons
of Uranus and Gaea. They were imprisoned in Tartarus by their
father and again by their brother Kronos. In return for their
freedom they gave Zeus the thunderbolt that aided him in
overthrowing Kronos. In Homer the Cyclopes are a lawless,
barbarous, and pastoral people, one of whom (Polyphemus) Odysseus
encounters in his wanderings.