THE ELDER KYKLOPES (Cyclopes) were three, orb-eyed, immortal giants who forged the lightning-bolts of Zeus. As soon as they were born, their father Ouranos (Uranus, the Sky) locked them away inside the belly of Earth, along with their stormy brothers, the hundred-handed Hekatonkheires (Hecatoncheires). When the Titanes overthrew Ouranos, they drove the giants into the pit of Tartaros. Zeus and his brothers later released them and in return they provided the god with his thunderbolts, Poseidon with his storm-raising trident, and Haides with a helm of invisibility.

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Some say there were a total of seven forging Kyklopes. The lesser four, sons of the first, were slain by Apollon to avenge the death of his son Asklepios (Asclepius), who had been slain by Zeus with a Kyklops-forged lightning-bolt.

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The tribe of younger Kyklopes which Odysseus encountered on his travels were a different breed.