| Cyclops | |
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Real Name |
Cyclops |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
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Created by |
Greek Myth |
Origin[]
In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes are giant one-eyed creatures.
Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguished: the Hesiodic, the Homeric and the wall-builders. In Hesiod's Theogony, the Cyclopes are the three brothers: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges, sons of Uranus and Gaia, who made for Zeus his characteristic weapon, the thunderbolt. In Homer's Odyssey, the Cyclopes are an uncivilized group of shepherds, one of whom, Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, is encountered by Odysseus. Cyclopes were also said to have been the builders of the Cyclopean walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. A scholiast, quoting the fifth-century BC historian Hellanicus, tells us that, in addition to the Hesiodic Cyclopes (whom the scholiast describes as "the gods themselves"), and the Homeric Cyclopes, there was a third group of Cyclopes: the builders of the walls of Mycenae.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances of Cyclopes before January 1, 1929 are in the public domain.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Theogony
- Ehoiai
- Aeneid
- Odyssey
- Cheirogastores/Encheirogastores
- Natural History by Pliny the Elder
- Dionysiaca
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Blue Bolt v2 #4-6 - Sergeant Spook blinds a ghost cyclops with a snowball, and he follows the cyclops back to a cave where various spirit ghosts fulfill the monster's every whim. Spook attacks the cyclops and appears to be in trouble when Hercules comes to his defense.
- Planet Comics #7 - Flint Baker deals with the Invasion of the Cyclops-Men of Mars.
- Smash Comics #36 - Midnight tumbles to his death from a battle with Cyclops Ceylon, is declined entrance to heaven, and asks to be sent to Hell so he can fight the Devil himself, only to find out the Mrs. is in charge, who subjects him to unspeakable tortures. Meanwhile, a strange Professor bargains with Doc Wackey, and offers to exchange his life for Midnight's. The gambit works, and Midnight leaves Hell just as he'd convinced its inmates to revolt (and prevent further Nazi evils in the "waking world").
- Pep Comics #17 - Danny in Wonderland has an adventure inspired by the encounter with Polyphemus in the Odyssey.
- Red Band Comics #1-4, Zoom Comics #[nn] - the Plutonanian named Satanas resembled a Cyclops.
- Moon Girl #4 - Moon Girl takes on the Challenge of the Cyclops.
- Humdinger v1 #4 - Butch encountered the The Cyclops of Ophir.
Notes[]
- A possible origin for one-eyed Cyclopes was advanced by the palaeontologist Othenio Abel in 1914. Abel proposed that fossil skulls of Pleistocene dwarf elephants, commonly found in coastal caves of Italy and Greece, may have given rise to the Polyphemus story. Abel suggested that the large, central nasal cavity (for the trunk) in the skull might have been interpreted as a large single eye-socket