@rogueclassicist Interesting theory! I wrote that the Cyclopes were victims of Greek #Colonialism (embodied by #Odysseus) after translating Book 9. That they could have been Minoan farmers who survived the the collapse of their civilization makes perfect sense!
" 'What had happened to the survivors of Kommos and the other Minoan settlements along this coast? Could they have fallen back to the barest subsistence level, living in caves and practicing the sort of simple pastoral farming that Ulysses found among the Cyclopes?'
"In essence, Severin suggested that the Cyclopes of the Odyssey may have been Minoans who, after the collapse of their magnificent #Bronze Age civilization, returned to a simpler, more primitive way of life. While Severin did not explore this idea in depth, a closer examination reveals there is substantial evidence for this."
https://greekreporter.com/2026/01/06/odyssey-cyclopes-minoans/
#AncientColonialism #Cyclops #Mythology #AncientHistory