Talos (giant)

Talos armed with a stone. Silver coin ( didrachm ) of Phaistos in Crete. Front, approx. 300 / 280-270 BC Chr.

Talos ( ancient Greek Τάλος or Τάλως , sometimes also Τάλων or Ταλῶς ) is a figure in Greek mythology . As a Cretan hero , depending on the source, he was the last of the brazen line , a son of Kres , a son of Oinopion or a creation of Hephaestus .

Myths

The best-known is Talos in the form of a bronze (bronze) giant, brought to life by a "blood channel" reaching from head to heel. It is said to have either been stationed on Crete by Zeus for the protection of Europe or given to Minos by Hephaestus as a gift. As a giant made of ore, Talos circled the island three times a day and threw stones at every ship that approached. If somebody landed anyway, the giant would get red hot. If the attacker was not deterred by this either, Talos burned him by hugging him.

The Argonauts on their way home finally knew what to do. Medea bewitched him by promising him immortality; then she pulled the "nail" (the sealing plug) from his heel, whereupon the blood flowed out and the giant died. In another version, Poias accurately shot an arrow on the nail.

Interpretations

According to some researchers, Talos is a mythological personification of the Minoan eruption of the Thera island volcano in the 17th and 16th centuries. Century BC Another controversial interpretation of the Talos myth comes from Robert Graves , who understands it as a misinterpretation of a picture which shows Athena demonstrating the lost wax technique .

Talos as namesake

The Talos Dome in Antarctica was named after Talos .

literature

• Karl Buslepp : Talos 1 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 5, Leipzig 1924, Sp. 22-37 ( digitized version ).
• Richard Hennig : Ancient Greek legendary figures as personifications of earth fires and volcanic processes. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . Vol. 54, 1939, pp. 230-246.
• J. Schoo: Volcanic and seismic activity of the Aegean sea basin as reflected in Greek mythology. In: Mnemosyne . 3rd series. Vol. 4, Issue 4, 1937, pp. 257-294.

Web links

Commons : Talos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Günther Kehnscherper: Santorin. Traditional historical studies of memories of the Santorink disaster in the Revelation of St. John chap. 6, 12-15; 8, 5-12 and 9, 2-10. Dissertation, Leipzig 1965, p.?.
2. ^ Robert Graves: The Greek Myths. 1955, ISBN 3-499-55404-6 , p.?.