In Greek mythology, Arges (Ἄργης) was one of the three elder Cyclopes, the sons of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth), alongside his brothers Brontes and Steropes. His name means "Bright," reflecting his role in fashioning the lightning of the heavens. With his brothers he forged Zeus's thunderbolt, and the three are remembered above all as master smiths whose craft armed the gods for the war against the Titans.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Arges (Cyclops)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family and name
Arges was one of the three elder Cyclopes, born of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). His brothers were Brontes ("Thunder") and Steropes ("Lightning"), and through his parents he was a sibling of the Titans and the Hundred-Handed Ones (Hecatoncheires).
His name, Arges, means "Bright," and along with the names of his brothers it reflects the brothers' fundamental role as makers of the thunderbolt. He is also given the names Acmonides and Pyracmon in some sources.
II.Smiths of the gods
The chief characteristic of Arges and his brothers is their skill as craftsmen. Hesiod stresses their prowess, saying that "strength and force and contrivances were in their works." They are best known for forging Zeus's all-powerful thunderbolt.
According to Apollodorus, the Cyclopes also fashioned other divine implements: the trident for Poseidon and the cap (or helmet) of invisibility for Hades. In later traditions the Cyclopes were depicted as smiths laboring at the forges of Hephaestus, set in Sicily and the Aeolian Islands.
III.Imprisonment and release
Fearing his offspring, Uranus imprisoned the Cyclopes underground as soon as they were born. They remained confined until Zeus freed them to aid in his war against the Titans, the Titanomachy.
In gratitude, and as their decisive contribution to the conflict, the Cyclopes gave Zeus the thunderbolt and lightning, the weapons by which he overcame the Titans and secured his rule.
IV.Death
The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women records that the Cyclopes were slain by Apollo. The killing was an act of revenge: Apollo's son Asclepius had been struck dead by Zeus's thunderbolt, and Apollo retaliated by killing the Cyclopes, the makers of that thunderbolt.
This account stands in tension with the Theogony, which implies the Cyclopes were immortal. Ancient writers offered resolutions: Pherecydes suggested that Apollo killed the sons of the Cyclopes rather than the Cyclopes themselves, while another tradition held that Zeus killed them so that no one else could obtain the thunderbolt.