CYCLOPES. (1) In Homer the Cyclopes are one-eyed can nibal giants (KuKXwili, Round-eye), living a rude pastoral life in a distant land (traditionally identified with Sicily), having no social unit larger than the family (see Acis; POLYPHEMUS). (2) In Hesiod they are sons of Heaven and Earth, three in number Arges, Brontes and Steropes (Bright, Thunderous, Lightener)— who forge the thunderbolts of Zeus; later authors say Apollo killed them for making the thunderbolt which slew Asclepius, and make them the workmen of Hephaestus (q.v.). (3) The walls of several ancient cities, e.g., Tiryns, of Mycenaean archi tecture, are sometimes said to have been built by Cyclopes, per haps the same as (2) . Hence in modern archaeology the term Cyclopean applied to walling of which the stones are not squared.
See Roscher's Lexikon, art. "Kyklopen" (bibl.) .