Nonnus speaks of the city in the same light:
[[573]]Στεμματι τειχιοεντι περιζωσθεντα Μυκηνη,
Κυκλωπων κανονεσσι.
The gate of the city, and the chief tower were particularly ascribed to them: [[574]]Κυκλωπων δε και ταυτα εργα ειναι λεγουσιν. These too are represented as the work of the Cyclopians. They likewise built Argos; which is mentioned by Thyestes in Seneca as a wonderful performance.
[[575]]Cyclopum sacras
Turres, labore majus humano decus.
All these poetical histories were founded in original truths. Some of them built Hermione, one of the most antient cities in Greece. The tradition was, that it was built by [[576]]Hermion the son of Europs, or Europis, a descendant of Phoroneus, and Niobe; and was inhabited by Dorians, who came from Argos: in which history is more than at first appears. The city stood near a stagnant lake, and a deep cavern; where was supposed to be the most compendious passage to the shades below: [[577]]την εις ἁδου καταβασιν συντομον. The lake was called the pool of Acherusia; near to which and the yawning cavern the Cyclopians chose to take up their habitation. They are said to have built [[578]]Tiryns; the walls of which were esteemed no less a wonder than the [[579]]pyramids of Egypt. They must have resided at Nauplia in Argolis; a place in situation not unlike Hermione above-mentioned. Near this city were caverns in the earth, and subterraneous passages, consisting of [[580]]labyrinths cut in the rock, like the syringes in Upper Egypt, and the maze at the lake Mæris: and these too were reputed the work of Cyclopians. Pausanias thinks very truly, that the Nauplians were from Egypt. [[581]]Ησαν δε ὁι Ναυπλιεις, εμοι δοκειν, Αιγυπτιοι τα παλαιοτερα. The Nauplians seem to me to have been a colony from Egypt in the more early times. He supposes that they were some of those emigrants, who came over with Danaüs. The nature of the works, which the Cyclopians executed, and the lake, which they named Acherusia, shew plainly the part of the world from whence they came. The next city to Nauplia was Trœzen, where Orus was said to have once reigned, from whom the country was called Oraia: but Pausanias very justly thinks, that it was an Egyptian history; and that the region was denominated from [[582]]Orus of Egypt, whose worship undoubtedly had been here introduced. So that every circumstance witnesses the country, from whence the Cyclopians came. Hence when [[583]]Euripides speaks of the walls of antient Mycene, as built by the Cyclopians after the Phenician rule and method: the Phenicians alluded to were the Φοινικες of Egypt, to which country they are primarily to be referred. Those who built Tiryns are represented as seven in number; and the whole is described by Strabo in the following manner. [[584]]Τιρυνθι ὁρμητηριῳ χρησασθαι δοκει Προιτος, και τειχισαι δια Κυκλωπων· ὁυς ἑπτα μεν ειναι, καλεισθαι δε Γαστεροχειρας, τρεφομενους εκ της τεχνης. Prœtus seems to have been the first who made use of Tiryns as an harbour; which place he walled round by the assistance of the Cyclopians. They were seven in number, styled Gastrocheirs; and lived by their labour. Hesychius in some degree reverses this strange name, and says, that they were called Εγχειρογαστερες. The Grecians continually mistook places for persons, as I have shewn. These seven Cyclopes were, I make no doubt, seven Cyclopian towers built by the people, of whom I have been treating. Some of them stood towards the harbour to afford light to ships, when they approached in the night. They were sacred to Aster, or [[585]]Astarte; and styled Astro-caer, and Caer-Aster; out of which the Greeks formed Γαστροχειρ, and Εγχειρογαστηρ; a strange medley made up of hands, and bellies. Strabo in particular having converted these building's into so many masons, adds, [[586]]Γαστεροχειρας, τρεφομενους εκ της τεχνης. They were honest bellyhanded men, industrious people, who got their livelihood by their art. These towers were erected likewise for Purait, or Puratheia, where the rites of fire were performed: but Purait, or Puraitus, the Greeks changed to Προιτος; and gave out that the towers were built for [[587]]Prœtus, whom they made a king of that country.
I imagine, that not only the common idea of the Cyclopians was taken from towers and edifices; but that the term Κυκλωψ, and Κυκλωπις, Cuclops, and Cuclopis, signified a building or temple; and from thence the people had their name. They were of the same family as the Cadmians, and Phœnices; and as the Hivites, or Ophites who came from Egypt, and settled near Libanus and Baal Hermon, upon the confines of Canaan. They worshipped the Sun under the symbol of a serpent: hence they were styled in different parts, where they in time settled, Europians, Oropians, Anopians, Inopians, Asopians, Elopians; all which names relate to the worship of the Pytho Ops, or Opis. What may be the precise etymology of the term Κυκλωψ, Cuclops, I cannot presume to determine. Cuclops, as a personage, was said to have been the son of [[588]]Ouranus and the earth: which Ouranus among the Amonians was often styled Cœl, or Cœlus; and was worshipped under the forementioned emblem of a serpent. Hence the temple of the Deity may have been originally called Cu-Cœl-Ops, Domus Cœli Pythonis; and the priests and people Cucelopians. But whatever may have been the purport of the name, the history of these personages is sufficiently determinate.
There was a place in Thrace called [[589]]Cuclops, where some of the Cyclopian race had settled; for many of the Amonians came hither. Hence Thrace seems at one time to have been the seat of science: and the Athenians acknowledged, that they borrowed largely from them. The natives were very famous; particularly the Pierians for their music, the Peonians for pharmacy, and the Edonians for their rites and worship. Those, who went under the name of Cyclopes, probably introduced architecture; for which art they seem to have been every where noted. There was a fountain in these parts, of which Aristotle takes notice, as of a wonderful nature. [[590]]Εν δε Κυκλωψι τοις Θραξι κρηνιδιον εστιν, ὑδωρ εχων, ὁ τῃ μεν οψει καθαρον, και διαφανες, και τοις αλλοις ὁμοιον· ὁταν δε πιῃ τι ζωον εξ αυτου, παραχρημα διαφθειρεται. In the region of the Cyclopians of Thrace is a fountain, clear to the eye, and pure, and in no wise differing from common water: of which, however, if an animal drinks, it is immediately poisoned. There is another account given by Theopompus; who speaks of the people by the name of the Chropes, which is a contraction for Charopes. He says, that even going into the water was fatal. [[591]]Θεοπομπος ἱστορει κρηνην εν Χρωψι της Θρακης, εξ ἡς τους λουσαμενους παραχρημα μεταλλασσειν. Theopompus mentions a fountain among the Charopes of Thrace, in which, if a person attempts to bathe, he immediately loses his life. I have taken notice of this history, because we find, that the persons who are called [[592]]Cuclopes by one writer, are styled Char-opes by another, and very justly: for the terms are nearly of the same purport. The Charopes were denominated from a temple, and place called Char-Ops, or Char-Opis, locus Dei Pythonis: and the Cyclopes were, as I have before supposed, denominated from Cu-Coel-Ops, or Cu-Coel-Opis, the temple of the same Deity. They were both equally named from the Ophite God, the great object of their adoration, and from the temple where he was worshipped.
The head of Medusa in Argolis is said to have been the work of the [[593]]Cyclopians. This seems to have been an antient hieroglyphical representation upon the temple of Caphisus. It was usual with the Egyptians, and other Amonians, to describe, upon the Architrave of their temples, some emblem of the Deity, who there presided. This representation was often an eagle, or vulture; a wolf, or a lion; also an heart, or an eye. The last, as I have shewn, was common to the temples of [[594]]Osiris, and was intended to signify the superintendency of Providence, from whom nothing was hid. Among others the serpent was esteemed a most salutary emblem: and they made use of it to signify superior skill and knowledge. A beautiful female countenance, surrounded with an assemblage of serpents, was made to denote divine wisdom, which they styled Meed, and Meet, the Μητις of the Greeks. Under this characteristic they represented an heavenly personage, and joined her with Eros, or divine love: and by these two they supposed that the present mundane system was produced. Orpheus speaks of this Deity in the masculine gender: