Cybĕlus, a mountain of Phrygia, where Cybele was worshipped.
Cy̆bĭra, a town of Phrygia, whence Cybiraticus. Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 6, li. 33.
Cybistria, a town of Cappadocia. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 15.
Cycesium, a town of Peloponnesus, near Pisa.
Cychreus, a son of Neptune and Salamis. After death he was honoured as a god in Salamis and Attica. As he left no children, he made Telamon his successor, because he had freed the country from a monstrous serpent. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 35.—Plutarch, Theseus.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 12.
Cyclădes, a name given to certain islands of the Ægean sea, those particularly that surround Delos as with a circle; whence the name (κυκλος, circulus). They were about 53 in number, the principal of which were Ceos, Naxos, Andros, Paros, Melos, Seriphos, Gyarus, Tenedos, &c. The Cyclades were reduced under the power of Athens by Miltiades; but during the invasion of Greece by the Persians, they revolted from their ancient and natural allies. Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades, ch. 2.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Ptolemy, bk. 3, ch. 15.—Strabo, bk. 10.—Dionysius Periegeta.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 64.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 127; bk. 8, li. 692.—Silius Italicus, bk. 4, li. 247.
Cyclōpes, a certain race of men of gigantic stature, supposed to be the sons of Cœlus and Terra. They had but one eye, in the middle of the forehead; whence their name (κυκλος, circulus, ὠψ, oculus). They were three in number, according to Hesiod, called Arges, Brontes, and Steropes. Their number was greater according to other mythologists, and in the age of Ulysses, Polyphemus was their king. See: [Polyphemus]. They inhabited the western parts of the island of Sicily; and because they were uncivilized in their manners, the poets speak of them as men-eaters. The tradition of their having only one eye originates from their custom of wearing small bucklers of steel which covered their faces, and had a small aperture in the middle, which corresponded exactly to the eye. From their vicinity to mount Ætna, they have been supposed to be the workmen of Vulcan, and to have fabricated the thunderbolts of Jupiter. The most solid walls and impregnable fortresses were said, among the ancients, to be the work of the Cyclops, to render them more respectable; and we find that Jupiter was armed with what they had fabricated, and that the shield of Pluto, and the trident of Neptune, were the produce of their labour. The Cyclops were reckoned among the gods, and we find a temple dedicated to their service at Corinth, where sacrifices were solemnly offered. Apollo destroyed them all, because they had made the thunderbolts of Jupiter, with which his son Æsculapius had been killed. From the different accounts given of the Cyclops by the ancients, it may be concluded that they were all the same people, to whom various functions have been attributed, which cannot be reconciled one to the other, without drawing the pencil of fiction or mythology. Apollodorus, bk. 1, chs. 1 & 2.—Homer, Odyssey, bks. 1 & 9.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 140.—Theocritus, Idylls, poem 1, &c.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 170; Æneid, bk. 6, li. 630; bk. 8, li. 418, &c.; bk. 11, li. 263.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 780; bk. 14, li. 249.——A people of Asia.
Cycnus, a son of Mars by Pelopea, killed by Hercules. The manner of his death provoked Mars to such a degree that he resolved severely to punish his murderer, but he was prevented by the thunderbolts of Jupiter. Hyginus, fables 31 & 261.—Hesiod, Shield of Heracles.——A son of Neptune, invulnerable in every part of his body. Achilles fought against him; but when he saw that his darts were of no effect, he threw him on the ground and smothered him. He stripped him of his armour, and saw him suddenly changed into a bird of the same name. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, fable 3.——A son of Hyrie, changed into a swan.——A son of Sthenelus king of Liguria. He was deeply afflicted at the death of his friend and relation Phaeton, and in the midst of his lamentations he was metamorphosed into a swan. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 367.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 189.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 30.——A horse’s name. Statius, bk. 6, Thebiad li. 524.
Cydas, a profligate Cretan, made judge at Rome by Antony. Cicero, Philippics, speeches 5 & 8.
Cydias, an Athenian of great valour, &c. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 21.——A painter who made a painting of the Argonauts. This celebrated piece was bought by the orator Hortensius, for 164 talents. Pliny, bk. 34.