Which Cyclops was named 'Thunder'?

Which Cyclops was named “Thunder”? Brontes was the Cyclops whose name means “thunder.”

Brontes was one of three primordial Cyclopes born to Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth. His brothers were Steropes, associated with lightning or flashes, and Arges, associated with brightness or the thunderbolt. Their names collectively evoke the sights and sounds of a storm.

In the Titanomachy, Cronus had imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus. Zeus released them, and in gratitude they helped the Olympians defeat the Titans. The Cyclopes forged Zeus’s thunderbolt, Poseidon’s trident, and Hades’ helmet of invisibility. Brontes therefore has both a storm-related name and a direct connection to Zeus’s most famous weapon.

Brontes is sometimes confused with Polyphemus, the one-eyed shepherd encountered by Odysseus. Polyphemus belongs to a different generation and tradition of Cyclopes; Brontes is one of the ancient, divine smith-Cyclopes of Hesiod’s creation mythology.