In Greek and Roman mythology, a cyclops is a very strong giant with a single eye in the middle of its forehead.

Depending on the author they are the sons of Uranus and Gaia (Heaven and Earth) or the sons of Neptune and Amphitrite.

They are described as barbaric monsters who live in poverty eating only what grows wild on the land and/or human flesh.

Their homes are large dark caves in the land of Vulcan where they labor at forging weapons for the armory of the gods including thunderbolts for Zeus, the helmet of invisibility for Pluto, and the trident for Neptune.

From The Odyssey by Homer:

Thence we sailed on with aching hearts, and came to the land of the Cyclops, a rude and lawless folk, who, trusting to the immortal gods, plant with their hands no plant, nor ever plough, but all things spring unsown and without ploughing, - wheat, barley, and grape-vines with wine in their heavy clusters, for rain from Zeus makes the grape grow. Among this people no assemblies meet; they have no stable laws. They live on the tops of lofty hills in hollow caves; each gives the law to his own wife and children, and for each other they have little care (Homer 129).

From The Aeneid by Virgil:

...left me behind in the Cyclops' enormous den. It is a house of gore and bloody feasting, deep, and dark, and huge; its master towers aloft, and strikes the stars on high (ye gods, remove from the earth a plague like this!), whom no eye rests on with pleasure, no tongue dare accost. The flesh of wretched men and their black blood are the food he feeds on (Virgil 70).

There, in the enormous den, the Cyclops were forging the iron, Brontes, and Steropes, and Pyracmon, the naked giant. In their hands was the rough cast of the thunder-bolt, one of those many which the great Father showers down on earth from all quarters of heaven - part was polished for use, part still incomplete (Virgil 188).

Certain giants of cannibal nature who dwelt in Sicily near Aetna. They had a single large round eye in the middle of the forehead (Virgil 315).

From Hesiod:

Then brought she forth The Cyclops brethren of high and daring heart, Brontes, and Steropes, and Arges fierce, Who forged the lightning shaft, and gave to Jove His thunder. They were like unto the gods, Save that a single ball of sight of fix'd In the mid-forehead : Cyclops was their name, For that one circular eye was broad infix'd In the mid-forehead : strength was theirs, and force, And craft in curious works. Then other sons Were born of Earth and Heaven (Hesiod 54).

See Also: Creatures by Type » Giants

References

Hesiod, Bion, Moschus, Sappho, and Musaeus. F. Fawkes (ed.). Hesiod. Translated by C.A. Elton, esq. London: Valpy, 1832.

Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Translated by George Herbert Palmer. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1892.

Bell, John. Bell's New Pantheon; or, Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity. London: J. Bell, 1790.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by John Conington, M.A. New York: Macmillan Company, 1917.