Are cyclops real?

The cyclops has been a staple of the human imagination, from Polyphemus's appearance in The Odyssey nearly three millennia ago to a 2014 episode of Ancient Aliens. But there is also a medical condition called cyclopia that can result in one eye positioned along the midline of the face. read more

Cyclopia (also cyclocephaly or synophthalmia) is a rare form of holoprosencephaly and is a congenital disorder (birth defect) characterized by the failure of the embryonic prosencephalon to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities. read more

There have been people born so severely deformed as to have only one eye. Such may be the source of the legend of the cyclops, although such cannot be confirmed. read more

The Cyclops by Theocritus (circa 270 BC), in which the cyclopes’ home is, following Euripides, near Mount Etna in Sicily. Since Euripides and Theocritus the Sicilian location has become attached to the cyclops story. read more