In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...
, Talos — also spelled Talus (; el, Τάλως, ''Tálōs'') or Talon (; el, Τάλων, ''Tálōn'') — was a giant
automaton
An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
made of
bronze to protect
Europa in
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's shores three times daily.
Narrative
Talos is usually said to have been made by
Hephaestus
Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter ...
at the request of
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...
, to protect
Europa from people who would want to kidnap her. (According to
B.A. Sparkes (1996),
[ "The most detailed treatment in literature is to be found in the '']Argonautica
The ''Argonautica'' ( el, Ἀργοναυτικά , translit=Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the ''Argonautica'' tells the myth of the voyage of Jas ...
'' rd century BC... however, we have detailed images of the episode, 150 years earlier, dated to around 400 BC."[ ])
According to (pseudo-)Apollodorus, however, there were three theories regarding Talos:
# Talos may have been a survivor from the Age of Bronze, a descendant of the brazen race () that sprang from '' meliae'' "ash-tree nymphs" according to ''Argonautica
The ''Argonautica'' ( el, Ἀργοναυτικά , translit=Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the ''Argonautica'' tells the myth of the voyage of Jas ...
'' (The conception that Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
's men of the Age of Bronze were actually made of bronze is extended to men of the age of gold by Lucian for humorous effect).
# Talos was a brass ''robot'' measuring 30m high, who was forged by the god Hephaestus and was given to Minos to protect the island of Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
against the invaders. The island was 260 km long and Talos had to cover this distance 3 times a day.
# Talos was a brass ''bull'' who was forged by the god Hephaestus and was given to Minos
The pseudo-Platonic dialogue ''Minos'' rationalized the myth, thrice yearly showing at each village in turn the laws of Minos inscribed on brass tablets.
Talos had one vein, which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail. The '' Argo'', transporting Jason
Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek mythology, mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was marri ...
and the Argonauts
The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, '' Argo ...
, approached Crete after obtaining the Golden Fleece. As guardian of the island, Talos kept the ''Argo'' at bay by hurling great boulders at it. According to (pseudo-)Apollodorus,[ Talos was slain when ]Medea
In Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the ...
the sorceress either drove him mad with drugs, or deceived him into believing that she would make him immortal by removing the nail. In ''Argonautica'', Medea hypnotized him from the ''Argo'', driving him mad with the '' keres'' (female death-spirits) that she raised, so that he dislodged the nail, and "the ichor ran out of him like molten lead", exsanguinating and killing him. Translator P. Green,[ notes that the ''Argonautica''s Talos story is somewhat reminiscent of the story of Achilles' heel.]
Variations and interpretations
In the Cretan dialect, ''talôs'' was the equivalent of the Greek ''hêlios'', the Sun: The lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria notes simply "Talos is the Sun".:126 In Crete, Zeus was worshipped as ''Zeus Tallaios'', "Solar Zeus", absorbing the earlier god as an epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
in the familiar sequence.
''"Zeus Tallaios"'' is discussed in Cook (1964).[ The god was identified with the ''Tallaia'', a spur of the Ida range in Crete. On a coin from Phaistos he is winged; in Greek vase-paintings and Etruscan bronze mirrors he is not.
The ideas of Talos vary widely, with one consistent detail: in Greek imagery outside Crete, Talos is always being vanquished.
He seems to have been an enigmatic figure to the Greeks themselves.
Talos is described by Greeks in two versions:
* In one version, Talos is a gift from Hephaestus to Minos, forged with the aid of the Cyclopes in the form of a ]bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species '' Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
incl ...
.[ this is the source of the later impression that Talos was an ]automaton
An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
.
* In the other version, Talos is a gift from Zeus to Europa.
Or he may have been the son of '' Kres'', the personification of Crete;
in ''Argonautica'', Talos threw rocks at any approaching ship to protect his island. In the Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
encyclopedia called the '' Suda'' (10th century), it is said that according to the Simonides of Keos when the Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...
ns did not wish to release Talos to Minos, he heated himself – by jumping into a fire – and clasped them in his embrace.
A.B. Cook
Arthur Bernard Cook (22 October 1868 in Hampstead – 26 April 1952 in Cambridge) was a British archeologist and classical scholar, best known for his three-part work, ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion''.
Early life and education
Arthur Bern ...
(1914)[ first suggested that the single vein closed by a nail or plug referred to the lost-wax method of casting.] Robert Graves — whose interpretation of Greek mythology is controversial among many scholars — suggests that this myth is based on a misinterpretation of an image of Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...
demonstrating the lost-wax process of casting steel, which Daedalus would have brought to Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...
.
In the film '' Jason and the Argonauts'' from 1963, Talos dies in a dramatic way that makes the public wonder if he is a programmed robot or maybe more.[Frontisi-Ducroux, Françoise. “Dédale Et Talos. Mythologie Et Histoire Des Techniques.” Revue Historique, vol. 243, no. 2 (494), 1970, pp. 281–296 Alexandre Marcinkowski et Jérôme Wilgaux, « Automates et créatures artificielles d’Héphaïstos : entre science et fiction », Techniques & Culture ]n ligne
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
43-44 , 2004
See also
* '' Talos No. 2'' – an abstract bronze sculpture in Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...
* '' Jason and the Argonauts'' – a 1963 movie in which Talos appears
Footnotes
References
External links
*
Talos in the Greek Mythology Link
*Mayor, Adrienne
"The Robot and the Witch: Talos and Medea"
chapter 1 of ''Gods and Robots : Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.
{{Authority control
Automata in Greek Mythology
Characters in the Argonautica
Greek giants
Legendary creatures in popular culture
Solar gods
Cretan characters in Greek mythology
Helios