Giant Cyclops Research Paper

The Giant Cyclops Another important myth was born of a fossil: the Giant Cyclops. The Cyclops is a one eyed giant. The word Cyclops comes from the greek words cyclos, meaning circle, and ops, meaning eye (“Cyclops Facts”). The Cyclops is known as cruel and carnivorous. The most famous of the Cyclopes is Polyphemus from Homer’s, the Odyssey. Although many Greek mythical origins are unknown, many scientists suspect the Cyclops came from misidentified baby dwarf elephant remains. This theory was popularised in 1914 by paleontologist, Othenio Abel (Mayor 35). Abel suggests that when looking at a dwarf elephant skull, the nose hole looks like one giant eye socket and although larger, the elephant skull appears similar to the human skull. Because living elephants were not commonly interacted with, Abel says that ancient Greeks would have mistakenly believed they were looking at a giant one-eyed human skull, rather than a dwarf elephant skull (Mayor 35).

Being on the coast, it is most likely that shipwrecked sailors, not recognizing the remains of the elephant, mistaken the large nasal cavity in the center of the skull as an eye socket. To further prove this theory, dwarf elephants often lived and died in caves (Palombo); when shipwrecked sailors took shelter in caves, they could have come across the remains of a dwarf elephant. Additionally, the skeletal system of a dwarf elephant has similar features to that of a human when lying flat. Particularly, the femur bone of a dwarf elephant is the same as a human femur, only it is much larger (Mayor