CyclopesCyclops or Kyklopes

The one eyed sons of Gaia (Earth).

The name, Cyclopes, means Wheel-Eyed and they seem to have at least two different aspects:

1. There are the three Cyclopes who forge the thunder and lightning for Zeus; they are named: Arges (Vivid One), Brontes (Thunderer) and Steropes (Lightener); and
2. The wild Cyclopes who live in a state lawless anarchy; these are the Cyclopes that Odysseus encountered when he was blown off course after the sack of the city of Troy; they live without cultivating food, they build no homes or ships and have no institutions or laws; they live in caves and have no sense of community with the others of their race; their diet consists of the meat of wild goats or sheep, cheese and wine.

When Odysseus blinded Polyphemos (Polyphemus), the Cyclopes son of Poseidon (lord of the Sea), he was punished by not being allowed to return to his home for ten years.

Theogony, lines 139-146

Odyssey, book 9, lines 105-130