The cyclops was a one eyed giant from Greek mythology, and later adapted to Roman myth after the Romans conquered Greece. There are thought to be at least three different types of cyclops, both benevolent and malevolent; most myths describe the cyclops' as being as mean as their countenance. They were also renown for their blacksmithing skills.
The first cyclops' were the children of Uranus and Gaia, who had a total of twelve children. The cyclops' were named Sterops, Brontes, and Arges. Though the cyclops had been imprisoned by Uranus, they learned that their sibling Cronus had taken the throne from the first Sky-God. But he too, imprisoned the cyclops', and even went so far as to imprison his own children by devouring them. The youngest child of Cronus, alone, was able to flee the fate of his siblings with the help of his mother, Rhea. As a baby, Rhea stashed her youngest child, Zeus, in a mountain and disguised a rock as the baby. Cronus ate the rock, never suspecting that it wasn't one of his children, and never looked for Zeus.
Rhea raised Zeus secretly until he was old enough to free his siblings. Then, at the words of an oracle, freed the cyclops' and enlisted their aid in overthrowing Cronus and the Titans. The cyclops created weapons for the gods, including a thunderbolt which Zeus could use to cast lightning at his enemies, a helmet that Hades wore to make himself invisible, and a trident, which acted as the focus of Poseidon's power. Armed with the weapons, the titans were overthrown and then imprisoned in Tartarus.
The second type of cyclops closely resembles the first, at least in the skills department. These cyclops' were also gifted smiths, but instead of being gods themselves, they were subordinates under the guidance of Hephaestus, the smith-god. The cyclops' were in charge of creating weapons and tools for the gods of Olympus, such as the thunderbolts and lightning of Zeus, and the arrows of Athena, Apollo and Demeter. As time moved on, the creatures began to inhabit the mountains of Sicily, then later they became the companions to Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon and the most famous of cyclops, and take on a more malevolent role. They became shepherds and breeders of sheep, though were cannibalistic by choice. Polyphemus was the largest, strongest and cruelest of the cyclops.
At one point Polyphemus fell in love with a sea nymph by the name of Galatea, who was in love with a human named Acis. In an effort to please Galatea, Polyphemus cleaned himself up, and even tried to sing a song for her. However, he saw the Galatea and Acis together, and in his anger, dropped a mountain on top of Acis, while Galatea fled.
Later, he unknowingly trapped Odysseus in a cave and began to eat Odysseus' men, two by two, over the span of several days. Odysseus finally gave the cyclops' several skins of wine which had been given to him by a priest of Apollo. Polyphemus had never had wine before and was soon in a drunken stupor. When asked, Odysseus gave him the name Nobody,' and in an attempt at being nice, told Odysseus that he would leave Odysseus for last. He then fell asleep and
Odysseus used a stake to pierce Polyphemus' eye. Odysseus and the rest of his men then fled the island.
Polyphemus asked the other cyclops for help, but when they couldn't get a name from him, they thought he was mad and left him alone. Because of this, Poseidon became angry and caused a storm that would keep Odysseus away from Ithaca for ten years.
The last of the cyclops was from Lycia. They were believed to have been the builders of the monuments around the country, because of the size of the stones used. The Grecians believed that no man could move a stone that size into place, so it had to be the cyclops. Unfortunately, not much is known about this type of cyclops except that they could have either been a prehistoric tribe of one eyed beings, or that they had been the brothers of the original cyclops. These cyclops' were thought to have hands growing out of their chests, and the brothers of Brontes, Sterops, and Arges were called the hundred-handed giants.