In Greek mythology, Talos or Talon was a giant man of bronze who protected Europa
in Crete from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's shores three times
daily. Alternatively Talos could be figured as
a sacred bull. His bronze nature suggested to the author of Bibliothēkē
that he 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 4. The conception that Hesiod'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. The pseudo-Platonic dialogue Minos
rationalized the myth, thrice yearly showing at each village in turn the laws
of Minos inscribed on brass tablets. History
According to Brian A. Sparkes, "The most detailed treatment in literature is to
be found in the Argonautica ... however, we have detailed images of the episode,
150 years earlier, dated to around 400 BC."
Talos is said to have been made by Hephaestus at the request of Zeus, to
protect Europa from people who would want to kidnap her. In some versions of
the myth, Talos is forged by the inventor Daedalus.
Narratives and meaning 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". In Crete, Zeus was worshipped as Zeus
Tallaios, "Solar Zeus", absorbing the earlier god as an epithet in the
familiar sequence. The god was identified with the Tallaia, a spur of
the Ida range in Crete. On the 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. 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 encyclopedia called the Suda,
it is said that when the Sardinians did not wish to release Talos to Minos, he
heated himself – by jumping into a fire – and clasped them in his embrace.
Talos had one vein, which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only
one bronze nail. The Argo, transporting Jason and the Argonauts, 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' Bibliotheke, Talos was slain when Medea 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 she raised, so that he
dislodged the nail, and "the ichor ran out of him like molten lead",
exsanguinating and killing him. Peter Green, translator of Argonautica, notes
that the story is somewhat reminiscent of the story regarding the heel of
Achilles. Interpretation
In Argonautica, Apollonius notes that "the ichor... ran out like molten lead".
A. B. Cook first suggested that the single vein closed by a nail or plug
referred to the lost-wax method of casting. Robert Graves suggests that
this myth is based on a misinterpretation of an image of Athena
demonstrating the process of lost-wax casting of steel, which Daedalus would
have brought to Sardinia. See also
Talos No. 2, an abstract bronze sculpture in Portland, Oregon
References External links
Talos in the Greek Mythology Link