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Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places |
Cyclops, or Arimaspi
Greek mythology, particularly Homer's Odyssey, tells of one-eyed giants that lived on an island as shepards. Ulysses visited this island during his travels and he and his men were captured by a particular cyclops, Polyphemus. Ulysses got Polyphemus drunk on wine, and then poked his eye out with a stake and escaped.
Hesiod, in the Theogeny, tells that the Cyclopes were gods, sons of Uranus and Terra. There were 3 of them (Brontes, Steropes, and Arges) and they forged the thunderbolts for Zeus.
Pliny tells that in the Northern Regions, near the boundary of the earth, the Arimaspi live. They each have one eye in the center of the forehead. The Arimaspi constantly try to dig gold out of the ground, but the land is guarded by griffins.
Isidore of Seville tells us that the "Cyclopes" are from India and have a single eye in the midst of their forehead, and they eat nothing but the flesh of wild beasts.
Sir John Mandeville reports that in India "in one of these isles are men that have but one eye, and that is in the middest of theyr front, and they eat flesh and fish all rawe."
