Talos

This article is about the man of bronze in Greek mythology. For other uses, see Talos (disambiguation).

Winged 'ΤΑΛΩΝ' armed with a stone. Silver didrachm from Phaistos, Crete (ca. 300/280-270 BC), obverse. (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris)

Talos, a sculpture by Michael Ayrton in Cambridge

In Greek mythology, Talos ( /ˈtɑːlɵs/; Greek: Τάλως, Talōs) or Talon ( /ˈtɑːlɵn/; Greek: Τάλων, Talōn) was a giant man of bronze^[1] who protected Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders by circling the island's shores three times daily^[2] while guarding it.

History

According to Brian 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."^[3]

Talos is said to be created from a petition from Zeus to Hephaestus, to protect Europa from persons 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,^[4] "Solar Zeus", absorbing the earlier god as an epithet in the familiar sequence.^[5] The god was identified with the Tallaia, a spur of the Ida range in Crete. On the coin from Phaistos (illustration) 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:^[6] he seems to have been an enigmatic figure to the Greeks themselves.^[7]

Talos is described by Greeks as either a gift from Hephaestus to Minos, forged with the aid of the Cyclopes in the form of a bull^[8] or a gift from Zeus to Europa.^[9] Or he may have been the son of Kres, the personification of Crete;^[10] In Argonautica Talos threw rocks at any approaching ship to protect his island.^[11] In the Byzantine encyclopia The Suda, Talos is said, when the Sardinians did not wish to release him to Minos, to have heated himself red-hot by jumping into a fire and to have clasped them in his embrace.^[12]

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 the 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.^[13]

Interpretation

In Argonautica, Apollonius notes that the ichor ran out like melted lead. A.B. Cook^[14] 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^[15] 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.

Popular culture

There have been numerous modern adaptations of the Minoan-Mycenaean figure of Talos. The grotesquely threatening figure of the colossal man of bronze with a hidden weakness has appealed to the inventors of fantasy fiction and computer games.

• The 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts features a detailed stop motion animation sequence of Talos as a bronze giant in battle with the Argonauts, animated by Ray Harryhausen.
• The Ray Harryhausen version of Talos is directly paid homage to in the 1978 Italian film Starcrash, through the character of the Guardian; a golden robotic giantess, who serves a race of hostile alien Amazons. Supplementary material from the 2010 Shout Factory DVD features production artwork, and a prototype model of the Guardian, that is more in tune with its source inspiration (minus the gender change), than the stop-motion prop used in the finished film.
• In the animated television series Mummies Alive!, Talos is a sentient bronze statue created by the main antagonist, Scarab. Talos has several abilities such as growing to a height of over 90 feet, using his body to reflect light to cause a blinding flash, and absorbing various types of metal to make himself stronger and taller. He is considered one of the single most powerful characters in the series.
• In the children's action/adventure television show, Class of the Titans, the main villain reawakens Talos, casting a protection spell over his ankle bolt to keep it from being removed. Three of the seven heroes come up with a plan and manage to knock Talos into the island volcano.
• The final episodes of the Japanese tokusatsu series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger featured a gigantic knight robot called Dora Talos. The robot is carried into the English adaption of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as Cyclopsis.
• In the Justice League episode "Paradise Lost", Wonder Woman battles a giant bronze automaton which is guarding an ancient relic. She defeats it by smashing its leg and punching its head off.
• In the early nineties animated series X-Men, the episode "Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape" features a metallic robot called Talos. It's silver, but metallic and has the achilles heel under his armor.
• In the 1980 Filmation series Flash Gordon, an episode called "King Flash" has Flash Gordon battle against "Talos" - a giant bronze dragon. Flash defeats the creature by shooting it with an energy neutralizing beam, thereby turning it into an ice statue.
• In the Disney animated series Hercules, Talos appears in the episode "Hercules and the Minotaur", throwing rocks at and sinking the ships carrying first Daedalus and Icarus, and then Hercules himself. Daedalus then takes over its controls and helps defeat the minotaur.
• In Book Five of Edmund Spenser's allegorical poem the Faerie Queene, Talus (now made of iron) appears as the law-enforcement sidekick of Artegal, the Knight of Justice.
• In the novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, the author originally chose the surname Talos for the character eventually renamed Willie Stark, a Southern governor. The name was intended to highlight the character's protective and yet parasitic relationship with the poor rural 'hicks' who made up his constituency. On the advice of his editor, Warren changed the surname to sound more stereotypically Anglo-American, but a restored version of the novel edited by literary critic Noel Polk and released in 2001 reverted to the original surname of Talos.
• In Valerio Massimo Manfredi's novel Spartan, Talos is the name given to the crippled Spartan child who was exposed in the Taygetus mountains by his father due to Spartan law decreeing all newborns who were weak or disabled be abandoned in the nearby mountain range. When the baby is found by the elderly Helot shepherd he is named after the mythical bronze giant Talos who was said to have his weakness in his right leg. The child's deformity laid within his right leg and hence he was given the name Talos. In addition the name would remind the young boy of his disability in future in order to further compel him to strengthen himself.
• In the Book of the Long Sun novels written by Gene Wolfe, a talos (as talus) is a simple-minded chemical automaton made from bronze utilising tracks for movement. They were part of the ship's complement of chemical crew that were used to protect areas of the asteroid that the colonists (cargo) inhabited. Some of them were reprogrammed for personal use and protection by the inhabitants and the gods of Mainframe. A more intelligent creation, "Doctor" Talos, is a supporting character in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun.
• In The Titan's Curse, an earlier version of Talos is found in the god's junkyard, which Thalia describes as "defective". It is also smaller than the original, although Percy describes it as having three metre [10 feet] toes. When Bianca steals a figurine from the junkyard, the statue attacks, but she is able to defeat it by climbing into an access panel under its foot, and destroy it from the inside. Unfortunately, she loses her life in the process.
• The Life and Death of Talos the Bronze, by Rafael C. Gonzalez and Philip Clark, was a twelve-page segment from the 2009, independently produced graphic novel Iconic; an anthology based around classic literature. The short story presents a more comical take on the character of Talos, by telling that chapter of the Argonauts tale from the giant's own point of view. Talos is also featured on the book's cover art, standing alongside other famous literary characters such as John Henry and Sherlock Holmes.
• Talos is a "triple iron golem" serving the archdevil Dispater in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Talos is also the name of an evil god of thunder and destruction in the game's Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
• In The Elder Scrolls series, Talos is the divine name of Tiber Septim, the first Emperor of Tamriel in the Third Era. He later ascended to godhood and is worshiped as part of the "Nine Divines."
• In Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance Talos appears right at the beginning where Juste has to outrun him until he gets to the castle bridge, which Talos falls through. Talos appears later in the underground caverns as a Boss. The only way he can be hurt is to attack his ankle, which apparently was broken in the fall.
• In the videogame Spartan: Total Warrior Talos is an automaton sent by the Roman army to destroy the walls of Sparta. The player must defeat him through use of catapults.
• In Brigandine, a level 30 Golem unit changes into a Talos, an upgrade from the Bronze Golem.
• In the computer game Titan Quest, Talos appears as a huge golden Master Automaton guarding the court of king Minos on Crete.
• In the Sega Genesis strategy video game Shining Force II, Talos makes an appearance as the boss character dubbed Taros, who guards an ancient shrine, and can only be defeated with the sword of Achilles.
• In the MMORPG City of Heroes, Talos was a large superhero who defended Paragon City in the 50s and 60s. Standing over 300 feet tall, he became famous for fighting giant monstrosities. The city district of Talos Island arose from the sea following the last climactic battle between Talos and his nemesis, the Chimera. His life and actions are commemorated with a plaque and a life-sized statue of the hero in the bay south of the island.
• Talos appears in the computer game Zeus: Master of Olympus.
• Talos is a capturable monster in the game Lost Magic.
• Talos is a summoned monster used to fight with you in the game Wizard101
• Talos (as Talus) is in the Monster in My Pocket series. He bears a strong resemblance to the likeness in Jason and the Argonauts.

References

1. ^ Alternatively he could be figured as a mythic bull, as on the reverse of the Phaistos didrachm illustrated. His bronze nature suggested to the author of Bibliotheke that he may have been a survivor from the Age of Bronze, "a descendant of the brazen race that sprang from Meliai [ash-trees, or ash-tree nymphs]" according to Argonautica 4; the conception that Hesiod's men of the Age of Bronze were actually of bronze themselves is extended to men of the age of gold by Lucian of Samosata, for humorous effect.
2. ^ Or, as the pseudo-Platonic dialogue, Minos, rationalized the myth, thrice yearly, showing at each village in turn the laws of Minos inscribed on brass tablets.
3. ^ Brian Sparkes, The Red and The Black: studies in Greek pottery (Routledge) 1996:124. ISBN 0415126614, 9780415126618 ; two late fifth-century vase paintings depicting the death of Talos are discussed by M. Robertson, "The death of Talos", Journal of Hellenic Studies 97 (1977:159f).
4. ^ Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks 1951:110.
5. ^ Martin P. Nilsson noted that "Talos is evolved out of an old Cretan god, who became identified with Zeus" and concluded that, like Cronus, Zeus Tallaios belongs certainly to the pre-Greek stratum (Nilsson, "Fire-Festivals in Ancient Greece" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 43.2 [1923, pp. 144-148] p. 148); A.B. Cook, Zeus: God of the Bright Sky I, 729ff. treats Zeus Tallaios.
6. ^ In a note in Bibliotheke, vanquished by an arrow shot by Poeas to his vulnerable heel; in Argonautica, vanquished by the magical arts of Medea. In Attic and South Italian vase-paintings, the Dioscuri, flank his falling figure; no literary source mentions them in connection with Talos (Thalia Phillies Howe, "Sophokles, Mikon and the Argonauts" American Journal of Archaeology 61.4 [October 1957, pp. 341-350] p. 347 and notes).
7. ^ Pausanias, noting the unorthodox genealogy of Talos given by Cinaethon, remarks "The legends of Greece generally have different forms, and this is particularly true of genealogy."
8. ^ Bibliotheke 1.9.26; this is the source of the later impression that Talos was an automaton.
9. ^ Only in Argonautica 4 and in Eustathius, according to H. de la Ville de Mirmont, Apollonios de Rhodes: les Argonautiques: traduction française suivie de notes critiques (Paris and Bordeaux) 1892:402, noted in J. Douglas Bruce, "Human Automata in Classical Tradition and Mediaeval Romance" Modern Philology 10.4 [April 1913, pp. 511-526] p. 513 and note.
10. ^ According to a fragment of the early poet Cinaethon of Sparta, for whom Talos was the father, not the creation, of Hephaestus; it was noted by Pausanias (VIII.53.2, .5).
11. ^ The Talos episode in Argonautica 4.
12. ^ Nilsson 1923:148 compares the stories told by Hellenes of the bronze Molech at Carthage.
13. ^ Green, The Argonautika: Apollonios Rhodios 2007:355, notes to 4:1638ff.
14. ^ Cook, Zeus vil. I (1914:723f).
15. ^ Graves, The Greek Myths (1955) 1960 §92.8.

External links

• Talos in the Greek Mythology Link