Travels in Italy--Anicent Myths

Wherever we travel in Italy, we usually discover some link to ancient Greek civilization.  Sometimes, the link is direct--a Greek temple, for example.  Sometimes, the link is indirect, such as a Renaissance painting or sculpture depicting a Greek myth.

During our travels in Sicily, we saw many reminders that Greek civilization once flourished there.  The many Greek temples in Sicily are evidence that ancient Greeks living in Sicily had a rich culture and mythology.   

While visiting Sicily, one Greek myth especially captured our imagination--the myth of the cyclops.  According to legend, a cyclops is a giant with a single eye in the forehead, like the cyclops depicted below.  The name cyclops means circle-eyed. 

The cyclops Polyphemus by Johann Tischbein (1802)

Over time, the legend of the cyclops became attached to Sicily, specifically, a cave near Mt. Etna.

The origin of the cyclops legend is subject to debate.  One interesting origin story is based on a prehistoric animal that once roamed Sicily, the dwarf elephant.  Although long extinct by the time the Greeks arrived in Sicily, some archaeologists speculate that the skulls of dwarf elephants might have been the source of the cyclops legend in Sicily.  During recent centuries, archaeologists have excavated skulls of dwarf elephants in caves and elsewhere in Sicily.  The archaeologists surmise that ancient people likewise found skulls of dwarf elephants and possibly mistook the hole in the forehead for an eye socket instead of a hole for the elephant's trunk.  Since there were no elephants still roaming Sicily during the Greek age, the inhabitants could not compare the skulls they found to a living animal.  So, perhaps they concluded each skull was the skull of a deceased cyclops. 

You can decide for yourself whether the explanation has merit.  Below is a photo of two well preserved examples of Sicilian dwarf elephants in the archaeology museum in Siracusa.

Skeletons of two dwarf elephants in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi of Syracuse

Could skulls like these explain the myth of the cyclops?

P.S. Have you ever wondered what a cyclops sounds like?  You can listen to one here.