Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries by Brian Haughton (beginner reading books for adults txt) 📕

In modern day Costa Rica, the stones can be found in museums and adorning the lawns outside various official buildings, hospitals, and schools. Two of them have been transported to the United States: one is on display in the museum of the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., while the other is in a courtyard near the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The spheres can also be found decorating the gardens of the homes of the rich, where they are regarded as status symbols. In a way then, though many of the stones have long ago been moved from their place of origin, some of them at least may be serving the purpose for which they were originally intended.

Talos: An Ancient, Greek Robot,?

Photograph by Y. Dondas

The coast of Crete, which was once patrolled by the bronze giant, Talos.

Many people are familiar with the figure of Talos through his depiction as a bronze giant in the 1963 movie Jason and the Argonauts using Ray Harryhausen's stunning special effects. But where did the idea for Talos come from, and could he have been the first robot in history?

Originally, Talos was a figure of Cretan legend, though there are many diverse myths to account for his origins. After Zeus kidnapped Europa and took her to Crete, he gave her

three presents to demonstrate his love, one of which was the giant bronze automaton Talos. In another version of the tale, the giant was forged by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes and given to Minos, king of Crete. According to yet another myth, Talos was the son of Cris and father of Phaestos, or he was Minos's brother. Others have said that he was in fact a bull, probably identical to the Cretan Minotaur in the Labyrinth. According to the ancient writer Apollodorus of Rhodes's Argonautica he may have been the last of a generation of men of bronze, originally sprung from the ash trees and who survived to the age of the demigods.

Talos, or Talus, in the ancient Cretan dialect means sun, and in Crete the god Zeus was also given the same name, Zeus Tallaios. Talos was the guardian of the island of Crete, and made a circuit of the island's coast three times daily, to prevent an enemy invasion, and also to stop the inhabitants from leaving without Minos's permission. He also traveled thrice yearly to the villages of Crete, carrying with him bronze tablets on which were inscribed Minos's sacred laws, and was responsible for these laws being obeyed in the country. Talos was said to hurl enormous boulders and other debris at approaching enemy vessels so that they would not land on the island. If the enemy got through this initial bombardment, the bronze giant would leap into a fire until he glowed red-hot, and would then clasp the strangers in his burning embrace as they landed on the island. It was also said that Talos was once in the possession of the Sardinians, and that when they refused to hand over the brazen man to Minos, Talos leapt into a fire, clasping them to his breast and killing them with their mouths open. From this incident, apparently, comes the expression sardonic laugh, which is applied to those who laugh at their own or others' troubles.

Jason and the Argonauts encountered Talos as they approached Crete on their way home from obtaining the Golden Fleece. The giant kept their boat, the Argo, at bay by hurling great

boulders towards it, which he had broken off from the cliffs. Medea, the witch accompanying Jason, helped them escape Talos's destructive blows by using her magic. It is recorded that Talos had a single red vein covered by a thin skin running from his neck to his heel, bound shut by a bronze nail. This nail sealed in the divine ichor (an oily substance often referred to as the blood of the gods), which enabled his metal limbs to move. This was the one vulnerable spot on his body. In the Argonautica, Medea bewitched the giant with a hostile gaze and invoked the Keres (spirits of death) with songs and prayers. As Talos was attempting to hurl boulders to repel these wailing spirits, he accidentally grazed his ankle on a sharp stone at a spot where his vulnerable vein lay concealed. He collapsed to the ground with a great crash, causing the divine ichor to gush out like molten lead. In another version, Medea enchanted the bronze man and deceived him into thinking that she would give him a secret potion to make him immortal if he would let her stop on the island. Talos agreed and drank the potion, which immediately put him to sleep. Medea went to him in his sleep and pulled the plug from his ankle, whereupon he died.

Others believed that the Argonaut Poeas (father of Philoctetes, who was to fight in the Trojan War) pierced the giant's vein with an arrow. After Talos's death, the Argo was able to land safely on Crete. Coins depicting Talos, dating from the fourth to the third centuries B.c. have been found in the Cretan city of Phaistos. A late fifth-century A.D. red-figure krater (vase) shows the Dioskouroi (hero-gods Castor and Polydeukes) catching the dying Talos, as Medea, in Oriental dress, stands at the side in front of the Argo, holding an embroidered sack (presumably containing her magic potions and drugs).

There are various ways to interpret the myth of the giant bronze man of Crete. The story certainly has overtones of the very similar fate of Achilles during the Trojan War, and perhaps they had the same source. A political interpretation would suggest that Talos represented the Minoan fleet armed with metal weapons. When the mainland Greeks from the Argo defeated Talos, the power of Crete vanished and the control of the Greek world was transferred to the mainland. Or perhaps the harbors of Crete were infested with pirates and Talos represented the