BEWARE OF THE CYCLOPS

Cyclops having a look around.

What is the origin of the legend of the Cyclops, the great one-eyed giant of Greek mythology.  We cannot say with certainty.  Initially, there were only three of them.  However, the story most people remember is the encounter Ulysses/Odysseus had with one of them, an inhospitable chap called Polyphemus.  This was supposed to have taken place on an island called Trinacria, which the ancients identified with Sicily.  The idea that Sicily once harbored gigantic humanoids may have come from the finding of elephant skulls with what was taken to be a single eye socket in the front, which resembled gigantic human skulls.  Actually, the "socket" was in fact where the trunk connected to the skull.  The eye sockets were around the side.

It is actually possible for a human to be born with cyclopeanism, one eye in the center rather than two in the usual places.  Often this condition means that you have no nose.