Telchines

In Greek mythology, the Telchines (Greek: Τελχῖνες Telkhines) were the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, and were known in Crete and Cyprus.

Their parents were either Pontus and Gaia, or Tartarus and Nemesis, or else they were born from the blood of castrated Ouranos along with the Erinyes.^[1] In another story there were nine Telchines, children of Thalassa and Pontus; they had flippers instead of hands and dogs' heads and were known as fish children.^[2]

They were regarded as excellent metallurgists: various accounts^[3][4] state that they were skilled metal workers in brass and iron, and made a trident for Poseidon and a sickle for Cronus, both ceremonial weapons.^[5] By some accounts, their children were the goddesses Ialysos (Ἰαλυσός), Kamiros (Κάμειρος) and Lindos (Λίνδος)^{[citation needed]}. The Telchines were entrusted by Rhea with the upbringing of Poseidon, which they accomplished with the aid of Capheira (Καφείρα), a daughter of Oceanus.^[6] Another version says that Rhea accompanied them to Crete from Rhodes, where nine of the Telchines, known as the Curetes, were selected to bring up Zeus.^[7]

The Telchines were associated and sometimes confused with the Cyclopes, Dactyls and Curetes.^[8]

The gods (Zeus, Poseidon or Apollo) eventually killed them because they began to use magic for malignant purposes;^[9] particularly, they produced a mixture of Stygian water and sulfur, which killed animals and plants^[10] (according to Nonnus, they did so as a revenge for being driven out of Rhodes by the Heliadae.^[11] Accounts vary on how exactly they were destroyed: by flood,^[12] or Zeus's thunderbolt,^[13] or Poseidon's trident,^[14] or else Apollo assumed the shape of a wolf to kill them.^[15] They apparently lost one of the titanomachias, the battles between the gods and the Titans.

Origins

Research suggests^{[citation needed]} they were the original gods of Rhodes, before the advent of Greek monoculture. In the classical records of the post-catastrophe period, the Telchines tend to play an important part which link them to myths involving Atlantis^{[citation needed]}. This race of artificers, artists and magicians was connected with the sea at every stage in their history. They were believed to bring about hailstorms, snow, and rain at will, to assume any shape they pleased,^[16] and produced a substance poisonous to living things. Their habits have been variously given on most of the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean. It is this ability to cast metal that would make them appear magical to early societies, and may have been a real, but advanced race of people.

Names

The following individual names are attested in various sources:^{[17][18][19][20][21]}

1. Aktaios (Actaeus)
2. Argyron
3. Atabyrius
4. Chalcon
5. Chryson
6. Damnameneus
7. Damon or Demonax
8. Hormenius or Ormenos
9. Lykos (Lycus) or Lyktos
10. Megalesius
11. Mylas
12. Nicon
13. Simon
14. Skelmis

Known female Telchines were Makelo, Dexithea (one of Damon's daughters)^[22] and probably Lysagora (the attesting text is severely damaged).^[23] Ovid in his Ibis mentions that Makelo, like the other Telchines, was killed with a thunderbolt;^[24] according to Callimachus^[25] and Nonnus,^[26] however, Makelo was the only one to be spared. According to Bacchylides,^[23] the survivor is Dexithea. Bacchylides also mentions that Dexithea later had a son Euxanthios by Minos.^[27] This Euxanthios is also known from Pindar's works.^[28]

Video games

In the PC videogame Titan Quest, the Telchines appear as Telkines and are powerful enemy sorcerers with grey skin and glowing eyes that act as bosses. Although many Telchines are referenced in the game, only Megalesios, Aktaios and Ormenos are ever encountered (and fought against) by the player.

The three Telchines are assaulting three different locations. Magalesios is attacking Greece, where he destroys the conduit connecting humanity and the gods. Aktaios attacks Egypt to find information about the Sickle of Cronus. Ormenos finds the sickle in the Orient, and uses it to free Typhon.

Modern Literature

• Telchines appear in the fourth book of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, The Battle of the Labyrinth under the name telekhines, where they remade the scythe of Kronos in the fires of Mount St. Helens and claim to have made Poseidon's trident. They are later seen presenting the scythe to Kronos after his rebirth.
• A Telchine is a major character in the Orphans of Chaos trilogy by John C. Wright.
• The Telchines are mentioned in David Drake's book The Mirror of Worlds.^[29]

References

1. ^ Tzetzes on Theogony 80
2. ^ Eustathius on Homer, p. 771
3. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 55. 5 ff
4. ^ Strabo, Geography 14. 2
5. ^ Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 28 ff
6. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 55. 5 ff
7. ^ Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 19
8. ^ Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 7
9. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 365 ff
10. ^ Strabo, Geography 14. 2. 7
11. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 36 ff
12. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 365 ff
13. ^ Pindar, Paean 5
14. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 18. 35
15. ^ Servius' on Aeneid IV. 377
16. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 55.
17. ^ Eustathius on Homer p. 772
18. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 36
19. ^ Tzetzes' commentary on Theogony 80
20. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Ataburon
21. ^ Hesychius s. v. Mylas
22. ^ Callimachus, Aitia Fragment 75
23. ^ ^{a b} Bacchylides, Fragment 1
24. ^ Ovid, Ibis, 475
25. ^ Callimachus, Aitia Fragment 3. 1
26. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 18. 35
27. ^ Confirmed by the account of Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3. 1. 2
28. ^ Pindar, Paean 5
29. ^ The Mirror of Worlds, Chapter 10 ISBN 0765312603

External links

• The Theoi Project, "Telkhines"