[[548]]Ipse arduus, altaque pulsat sidera.
As these buildings were oftentimes light-houses, and had in their upper story one round casement, Argolici clypeï, aut Phœbeæ lampadis instar, by which they afforded light in the night-season; the Greeks made this a characteristic of the people. They supposed this aperture to have been an eye, which was fiery, and glaring, and placed in the middle of their foreheads. Hence Callimachus describes them as a monstrous race:
[[549]]αινα Πελωρα,
Πρηοσιν Οσσειοισιν εοικοτα· πασι δ' ὑπ' οφρυν
Φαεα μουνογληνα σακει ισα τετραβοειῳ.
The Grecians have so confounded the Cyclopian Deity with his votaries, that it is difficult to speak precisely of either. They sometimes mention him as a single person; the same as Nilus of Egypt, who was esteemed the father of the Gods. At other times they introduce a plurality, whom they still represent as of the highest antiquity, and make the brethren of Cronus: [[550]]Κυκλωπες—ὁι αδελφοι ησαν του Κρονου, του πατρος του Διος. Proclus in Photius informs us, that, according to the antient mythology of the Auctores Cyclici, the giants with an hundred hands, and the Cyclopes, were the first born of the [[551]]Earth and Cœlus. But in these histories every degree of relation has been founded upon idle surmises: and is uniformly to be set aside. The Cyclopian Deity was [[552]]Ouranus, and the Cyclopians were his priests and votaries: some of whom had divine honours paid to them, and were esteemed as Gods. Upon the Isthmus of Corinth was an antient temple; which seems to have been little more than a ταφος or high altar, where offerings were made to the Cyclopian [[553]]Deities. People of this family settled upon the southern coast of Sicily at Camarina; which some have supposed to have been the Hupereia of Homer, where the Pheacians once resided.
[[554]]Ὁι πριν μεν ποτ' εναιον εν ευρυχορῳ Ὑπερειᾳ,
Αγχου Κυκλωπων ανδρων ὑπερηνορεοντων.
But there is no reason to think, that the city Hupereia was in Sicily; or that the Pheacians came from that country. The notion arose from a common mistake. All the Greek and Roman Poets, and even Strabo, with other respectable writers, have taken it for granted, that the Cyclopians of Homer were near Ætna in Sicily. Others except to their being near Ætna; and insist, that they were in the vicinity of Eryx upon the opposite part of the island. But Homer does not once mention the island during his whole account of the Cyclopes: nor does Ulysses arrive in Sicily, till after many subsequent adventures. That there were Cyclopians near Ætna is certain: but those mentioned by Homer were of another country, and are represented as natives of the continent though his account is very indeterminate and obscure. There were probably people of this family in many parts of Sicily, especially about the city Camarina. They seem to have been of the Anakim race, and worshippers of the Sun. Hence they were styled Camarin, and their chief city Camarina, which was so called from a city of the same name in [[555]]Chaldea, the Ur of the Scriptures. Polyphemus is mentioned as a musician and a shepherd; but of a savage and brutal disposition: which character arose from the cruel rites practised by the Cyclopians. According to [[556]]Bacchylides it was said, that Galatus, Illyrius, and Celtus were the sons of Polyphemus. By this was certainly signified, that the Galatæ, Illyrii, and Celtæ, were of Cyclopian original, and of the Anakim race; all equally Amonians. Lycophron mentions the cave of this personage, by which was meant an antient temple; and he calls it [[557]]μονογληνου στεγας Χαρωνος: the habitation of Charon, a personage with one eye. But here, as I have often observed, the place is mistaken for a person; the temple for the Deity. Charon was the very place; the antient temple of the Sun. It was therefore styled Char-On from the God, who was there worshipped; and after the Egyptian custom an eye was engraved over its portal. These temples were sometimes called Charis, [[558]]Χαρις; which is a compound of Char-Is, and signifies a prutaneion, or place sacred to Hephastus. As the rites of fire were once almost universally practised, there were many places of this name, especially in [[559]]Parthia, Babylonia, and Phrygia. The Grecians rendered Char-Is by Χαρις, a term in their own language, which signified grace and elegance. And nothing witnesses their attachment to antient terms more than their continually introducing them, though they were strangers to their true meaning. The Arimaspians were Hyperborean Cyclopians; and had temples named Charis, or Charisia, in the top of which were preserved a perpetual fire. They were of the same family as those of [[560]]Sicily, and had the same rites; and particularly worshipped the Ophite Deity under the name of [[561]]Opis. Aristeas Proconnesius wrote their history; and among other things mentioned that they had but one eye, which was placed in their graceful forehead.
[[562]]Οφθαλμον δ' ἑν' ἑκαστος εχει χαριεντι μετωπῳ.