cyclopean - meaning and definition. What is cyclopean
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What (who) is cyclopean - definition

TYPE OF STONEWORK FOUND IN ANCIENT MYCENAEAN ARCHITECTURE
Cyclopean architecture; Cyclopean wall; Cyclopean walls; Cyclopean; Cyclopean Masonry; Cyclopean Walls; Cyclopean structures; Cyclopean stones; Cyclopean fortification
  • Difference between [[ashlar]] masonry (left) and Cyclopean masonry (right), shown in the blue rectangle; [[Lion Gate]], [[Mycenae]], 13th century BCE
  • A polygonal wall, excavated at [[Delphi]] in 1902.
  • Cyclopean masonry, backside of the [[Lion Gate]], Mycenae, Greece
  • Walls at [[Ramnous]], [[Attica]]; some are made of rectangular, but irregular stones (mix of types '''1''' and '''4''')
  • Stone wall, Ireland.
  • The [[Lion Gate]], at [[Mycenae]], with equal-height courses of unequal-width stones

Cyclopean         
·adj Pertaining to the Cyclops; characteristic of the Cyclops; huge; gigantic; vast and rough; massive; as, Cyclopean labors; Cyclopean architecture.
cyclopean         
a.
Gigantic, colossal, vast, enormous, immense, Herculean.
cyclopean         
[?s??kl?'pi:?n, s??'kl??p??n]
(also cyclopian)
¦ adjective
1. of or resembling a Cyclops, especially in size.
2. denoting a type of ancient masonry made with massive irregular blocks.

Wikipedia

Cyclopean masonry

Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typically seem unworked, but some may have been worked roughly with a hammer and the gaps between boulders filled in with smaller chunks of limestone.

The most famous examples of Cyclopean masonry are found in the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns, and the style is characteristic of Mycenaean fortifications. Similar styles of stonework are found in other cultures and the term has come to be used to describe typical stonework of this sort, such as the old city walls of Rajgir.

The term comes from the belief of classical Greeks that only the mythical Cyclopes had the strength to move the enormous boulders that made up the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. Pliny's Natural History reported the tradition attributed to Aristotle, that the Cyclopes were the inventors of masonry towers, giving rise to the designation "Cyclopean".