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Cyclopean masonry is a type of masonry found in Mycenaean Greece 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.
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".Pliny, Hist. Nat.vii.56.195 : turres, ut Aristoteles, Cyclopes invenerunt.
While Peck's first and possibly second and third styles conform to what archaeology today would classify as cyclopean, the fourth now is referred to as ashlar and is not considered cyclopean. There is a more detailed description of the Cyclopean styles at the Perseus Project. Cyclōpes at the Perseus Project
Modern archaeologists use "Cyclopean" in a more restricted sense than the description by Pausanias; while Pausanias attributes all of the fortifications of Tiryns and Mycenae, including the Lion Gate, to the Cyclopes, only parts of these walls are built in Cyclopean masonry. The accompanying photograph shows the difference between Cyclopean masonry (shown in the blue rectangle), and the ashlar masonry of the Lion Gate.
In Cyprus, the Kition archaeological site in present-day Larnaca, has revealed cyclopean walls. Additionally, Nitovikla, Enkomi and Maa Palaeokastro use Cyclopean masonry.
In Italy, polygonal masonry is particularly indicative of the region of Latium; scholars including Giuseppe Lugli have carried out studies of the technique.Tenney Frank 1924. "Roman buildings of the Republic: an attempt to date them from their materials." MAAR 3. Some notable sites that have fortification walls built in this technique include Norba, Segni, Aletrium, Boiano, Circeii, Cosa, Alba Fucens, Palestrina,Terracina and Santa Severa. One of the largest and least known is the "acropolis" in Alatri, an hour south of Rome. It also seems to have a portal through which the summer solstice sun shines and some think it is also has a number of other astronomical significant points to it. It is thought to be the second largest in Europe, after Athens. In Sicily, there are many Cyclopean structures especially in Erice, in the western part of the island. The Nuraghe of Bronze Age Sardinia also are described as being constructed in cyclopean masonry, as are some of the constructions of the Talaiot culture abounding on Menorca and present to a lesser extent on Mallorca.
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