Page "Cyclops" Paragraph 16

Walter Burkert among others suggests that the archaic groups or societies of lesser gods mirror real cult associations :" It may be surmised that smith guilds lie behind Cabeiri, Idaian Dactyloi, Telchines, and Cyclopes.

" Given their penchant for blacksmithing, many scholars believe the legend of the Cyclopes ' single eye arose from an actual practice of blacksmiths wearing an eyepatch over one eye to prevent flying sparks from blinding them in both eyes.

The Cyclopes seen in Homer's Odyssey are of a different type from those in the Theogony and they have no connection to blacksmithing.

It is possible that independent legends associated with Polyphemus did not make him a Cyclops before Homer's Odyssey ; Polyphemus may have been some sort of local daemon or monster in original stories.