  In this paper we highlight the connection between Ramanujan cubic polynomials
(RCPs) and a class of polynomials, the Shanks cubic polynomials (SCPs), which
generate cyclic cubic fields. In this way we provide a new characterization for
RCPs and we express the zeros of any RCP in explicit form, using trigonometric
functions. Moreover, we observe that a cyclic transform of period three
permutes these zeros. As a consequence of these results we provide many new and
beautiful identities. Finally we connect RCPs to Gaussian periods, finding a
new identity, and we study some integer sequences related to SCPs .
