Friday, April 4, 2014

Monsters The Origins - Cyclops

The cyclops is a one eyed monster introduced to the masses  by Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey

Cyclops at the Natural History Museum
Cyclops at the Natural History Museum

Interestingly “cyclops” means “wheel-eyed” rather than “one-eyed” but this post is not a language lesson. So, where on earth can one find a cyclops in a museum?
Look no further than the Natural History Museum in London.
Being all about the Science, the NHM actually tells you a bit about the possible origins of the cyclops story.
It turns out that the race of one-eyed giants were really mastodons – a kind of early elephant. Don’t believe me? Then look at this skull!

Mastodon skull
Mastodon skull

The big ‘eye hole’ is where the trunk was and, in case you were wondering, this skull was found in Greece.
Source

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