Greek Mythology Coloring Pages
Cyclops Coloring Pages
Get ready to stomp into the world of Greek mythology with free Cyclops coloring pages! The word "cyclops" means "round eye," and Greek myth has two very different kinds of one-eyed giants. You'll find both here, plus simpler pages for younger kids.
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The cyclops, Polyphemus
Polyphemus was a wild shepherd giant, son of the sea god Poseidon. He's the cyclops Odysseus met on his way home from the Trojan War. Odysseus told him his name was "Nobody," which is how he escaped.
The blacksmith cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges
The blacksmith cyclopes (Brontes, Steropes, and Arges) were master metalworkers. They forged Zeus's thunderbolts, Poseidon's trident, and the helmet that made Hades invisible.
In later stories, they worked as assistants to Hephaestus (the god of fire and blacksmithing) inside his massive volcanic forge underneath Mount Etna.
Polyphemus and the Stranger Called Nobody
My name is Polyphemus. I am a Cyclops, a son of the sea god Poseidon, and I keep my sheep on a green hillside above the shore. I have one eye, set in the middle of my forehead, and it misses very little.
That evening I came home with a load of pine logs and my flock ahead of me. Before the last sheep had passed through the door, I knew something was wrong. A pail had been moved. The cheeses had been touched. Someone was in my cave... my home.
I rolled the great stone across the doorway, the one a hundred men could not budge, and lit the fire. The flames showed me a crowd of strangers huddled in the corner. Their leader stepped forward and said they were shipwrecked sailors. He asked for my hospitality in the name of Zeus.
I laughed at him. We Cyclopes do not fear Zeus. What has he ever done for us?
I won't pretend to be kind. I ate two of his men, and then I slept.
At dawn I ate two more, stretched my tired muscles, drove my flock out and sealed the door behind me. When I came back that night the leader of the men was waiting with a goatskin of wine. My olive staff was shorter than I remembered. I noticed that, and I did not think hard enough about why.
The wine was dark as a storm cloud and sweeter than anything I had ever tasted. Strong wine. I knew I should be careful. But even a clever creature likes to be pleased so I drank.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"Nobody," he said.
"Then, Nobody, I will eat you last. That is my gift to you."
Then the cave spun slowly around me and I slept.
I woke to a great fire in my eye. I remember the roar I made. My brothers came running over the hills and shouted through the stone, asking who was hurting me.
"Nobody is hurting me!" I cried.
"If no one is hurting you what's with all the fuss," they said and they shrugged and went home.
It was a good trick. I will say that much for him, the blinder of my poor great eye. Nobody was very smart.
By morning I had a plan of my own. I rolled the stone aside and sat in the doorway with my hands out. The men would have to leave with the flock, I reasoned, and I would catch them as they went. One by one the sheep went by, and I felt along every back. Wool. Wool. Wool.
I never thought to feel underneath the sheep which is where the intruders were hiding.
When the sheep were gone, I heard a voice from the water, far down the shore. It was Nobody finally, defiantly, shouting his real name... Odysseus. I saw nothing but darkness and heard nothing but his mocking laughter. I tore a rock from the hillside and threw it toward the sound. It missed his ship by a hair.
Then I raised my face to the sea and prayed to my father.
"Poseidon, hear me. Let this man struggle to find his way home. Take his ships and take his men."
I don't know if father heard me. But the sea is wide and Odysseus has all of it to cross.
Print the story of Polyphemus and the Stranger Called Nobody with coloring pages (PDF)