How many Cyclopes are mentioned in Hesiod's account?

Hesiod’s account names three Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges.

They appear in Hesiod’s Theogony as children of Uranus, the sky god, and Gaia, the earth goddess. Unlike the later, more familiar Cyclops Polyphemus, Hesiod’s Cyclopes are a group of three divine smiths. They are associated with the creation of the signature weapons of the younger gods.

After Zeus and his siblings rebelled against Cronus and the Titans, Zeus released the Cyclopes from captivity. In gratitude, they forged Zeus’s thunderbolt, Poseidon’s trident, and Hades’ helmet of invisibility. These gifts helped the Olympians defeat the Titans in the Titanomachy.

A common mix-up comes from treating every Cyclops in Greek myth as the same creature. Homer’s Odyssey presents Cyclopes as a broader race of one-eyed shepherds, including Polyphemus, while Hesiod specifically describes three brothers. Hesiod also names a separate group of three Hecatoncheires, or Hundred-Handers.