Talos

Talos was a giant man of bronze who guarded the island of Crete by walking around it and keeping unwanted visitors away, in some accounts by hurling rocks at their ships. Ancient writers disagree about his origin: in Apollonius’ Argonautica Zeus gave him to Europa, while in Apollodorus he is either a survivor of the Bronze race or a gift from Hephaestus to Minos. He had a single vein, closed at the ankle, and Medea brought him down when the Argonauts reached Crete (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1638–1688; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.26).

The Nature of Talos

There are conflicting stories about the origin of Talos.

An Automaton Cast by Hephaestus

According to Apollodorus, some say that Talos was given to Minos by Hephaestus (Library 1.9.26). The poet Simonides, quoted in the Suda under “Sardonic laughter”, likewise calls him “made by Hephaestus”. Homer shows Hephaestus making golden handmaids that move and think for him (Iliad 18.417–420), so a bronze guardian fits the god’s craft, though none of the sources on Talos calls him an automaton in so many words.

The Last of the Brazen Men

Apollonius of Rhodes gives another account. For him Talos was the last remaining one of the bronze race of men born from ash trees, a survivor among the demigods, and the son of Cronus (Zeus) gave him to Europa to be the guardian of the island (Argonautica 4.1641–1644). Apollodorus also records that some call him a man of the Brazen Race (Library 1.9.26). The Bronze race is the third of the ages of men in Hesiod, who says that it was made from ash trees (Hesiod, Works and Days 143–145).

Portrayal

Apollodorus says that Talos was a bronze man, “but some say that he was a bull” (Library 1.9.26); Apollonius makes him a man throughout.

In Apollonius, Talos was bronze and unbreakable in the rest of his body and limbs, but beneath the sinew by his ankle there was a blood-filled vein, and only a thin membrane held in the boundaries of life and death (Argonautica 4.1645–1648). Apollodorus puts it differently: he had a single vein that ran from his neck to his ankles, and a bronze nail was driven in at the end of the vein (Library 1.9.26). In both versions the fluid that flowed from the wound was ichor, the divine fluid in Apollonius’ text “like molten lead” (Argonautica 4.1679–1680).

Medea and the Death of Talos

Apollodorus says that Talos kept guard by running round the island three times every day (Library 1.9.26); in Apollonius, too, he circles Crete three times on his bronze feet (Argonautica 4.1644). Plato gives him another task: Minos used him as guardian of the laws in the rest of Crete, outside the city, and Talos went round the villages three times a year with the laws written on bronze tablets, which is why he was called “bronze” (Plato, Minos 320c). Simonides, in the same Suda entry, adds that when the Sardinians refused to cross over to Minos, Talos leapt into a fire, became red hot, and killed them by embracing them.

When Jason and the Argonauts came near Crete, Talos kept them from mooring, breaking off rocks from the cliff and throwing them, and the heroes backed water, afraid, from the shore. The Argonauts would have drifted away from Crete in thirst and pain if Medea had not said that she alone could overcome the man, even if his body was all bronze, unless his life was everlasting (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1638–1658).

In Apollonius, Medea went up on deck, holding the folds of her purple robe over her cheeks, with Jason leading her by the hand. She called on the Keres, the swift dogs of Hades that hover about the living, three times in songs and three times in prayers, and, with a hostile intent, bewitched the eyes of Talos with her gaze and sent dreadful phantoms against him. The bronze man yielded to her spells; as he lifted a heavy rock to keep the ship from the harbour, he grazed his ankle on a sharp crag, and the ichor flowed out like molten lead. He swayed like a tall pine half-cut by woodcutters and fell with a huge crash (Argonautica 4.1659–1688). The heroes spent the night on Crete and, the next morning, set up a shrine of Athena Minoïs (Argonautica 4.1689–1691).

Apollodorus preserves two other versions. In one, Medea drove Talos mad with drugs. In the other, she promised to make him immortal, then drew out the nail so that all the ichor poured out and he died. He adds that some say that Poeas, an Argonaut and the father of Philoctetes, shot Talos dead in the ankle (Library 1.9.26).

Talos Sources

The fullest account of the story is in Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1636–1693. A summary of all the versions is in Apollodorus, Library 1.9.26. Talos is also mentioned as the law-guardian of Crete in Plato, Minos 320c, and the fragment of Simonides about his fiery embrace is preserved in the Suda, under “Sardonic laughter”. Hesiod, Works and Days 143–145, describes the Bronze race.

See Also: Europa, Hephaestus, Minos, Jason, Medea