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Telchines

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Template:Short description In Greek mythology, the Telchines (Template:Langx) were the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes and were known in Crete and Cyprus.

FamilyEdit

Their parents were either Pontus and Gaia or Tartarus and Nemesis or else they were born from the blood of castrated Uranus, along with the Erinyes.<ref name=":0">Tzetzes on Theogony 80 with Bacchylides as the authority for Telchines' parentage, being sons of Nemesis and Tartarus.</ref> According to Diodorus Siculus, the Telchines were the offspring of Thalassa.<ref name=":1">Diodorus Siculus, 5.55.1</ref> They had flippers instead of hands and the heads of dogs and were known as fish children.<ref name=":2">Eustathius on Homer, p. 771</ref> In some accounts, Poseidon was described as the Telchines' father.<ref name=":3">Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14.36 ff</ref>

NamesEdit

The following individual names are attested in various sources: Damon (Demonax); Mylas;<ref>Hesychius s.v. Mylas</ref> Atabyrius;<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Ataburon</ref> Antaeus (Actaeus), Megalesius, Ormenos (Hormenus), Lycus, Nicon and Mimon<ref>Tzetzes, Chiliades 7.15 p. 124–125 & 12.51 p. 836–837</ref>;<ref>Zenob. Cent. 5, par. 41</ref> Chryson, Argyron and Chalcon.<ref>Eustathius on Homer, p. 772</ref> Known female Telchines were Makelo, Dexithea (one of Damon's daughters),<ref>Callimachus, Aitia Fragment 75</ref> Halia<ref>Diodorus Siculus, 5.55.4</ref> and probably Lysagora (the attesting text is severely damaged).<ref name="Bacchylides, Fragment 1">Bacchylides, fr. 1</ref>

Comparative table of Telchines' names and family
Relation Name Sources
Bacch. Pindar Callim. Diod. Ovid Non. Hesy. Steph. Tzetzes Eust. Unknown
Sch. Paean Aitia Bib. His. Sch. Ibis Diony. Ethnica on Theo. Chiliades
Parentage Tartarus and Nemesis ✓ ✓ or
Thalassa ✓
Poseidon ✓
Gaia and blood of Uranus ✓ or
Gaia and Pontus ✓
Pontus and Thalassa ✓
Individual Names Demonax or ✓
Damon ✓
Lycus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Actaeus or ✓
Antaeus ✓
Megalesius ✓ ✓
Hormenius or Ormenos ✓ ✓
Damnameneus ✓
Skelmis ✓
Mylas ✓
Atabyrius ✓
Mimon ✓
Nicon ✓
Argyron ✓
Chalcon ✓
Chryson ✓
Female Telchines Dexithea or ✓ ✓ ✓
Dexione ✓
Halia ✓
Makelo or Macelo ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Lysagora ✓

RolesEdit

Ministers of godsEdit

The Telchines were regarded as the cultivators of the soil and ministers of the gods and as such they came from Crete to Cyprus and from thence to Rhodes<ref name=":4">Strabo, Geographica 14.2.7</ref> or they proceeded from Rhodes to Crete and Boeotia.<ref name=":5">Pausanias, 9.19.1</ref> Rhodes, and in it the three towns of Cameirus, Ialysos, and Lindos (whence the Telchines are called Ialysii<ref>Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.365</ref>), which was their principal seat and was named after them Telchinis<ref name=":4" /> (Sicyon also was called Telchinia<ref>Eustathius ad Homer p. 291</ref>) and by some accounts, their children were highly worshiped as gods in the said three ancient Rhodian towns. The Telchines abandoned their homes because they foresaw that the island would be inundated and thence they scattered in different directions; Lycus went to Lycia, where he built the temple of the Lycian Apollo. This god had been worshiped by them at Lindos (Apollôn Telchinios) and Hera at Ialysos and Cameiros (Hêra telchinia);<ref name=":6">Diodorus Siculus, 5.55.2</ref> and Athena at Teumessus in Boeotia bore the surname of Telchinia.<ref name=":5" /> Nymphs also are called after them Telchiniae.

Sorcerers and demonsEdit

The Telchines were also regarded as wizards and envious daemons.<ref>Suda s.v. Baskanoi kai goêtes</ref><ref>Eustathius ad Homer pp. 941 & 1391</ref> Their very eyes and aspect were said to have been destructive.<ref>Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.365</ref> They had it in their power to bring on hail, rain, and snow, and to assume any form they pleased;<ref>Diodorus Siculus, 5.55.3</ref> they further produced a substance poisonous to living things.<ref>Strabo, Geographica 14.2.7 p. 653</ref><ref>Tzetzes, Chiliades 7.15 p. 126–127</ref> Thus, they were called Alastores for supervising the ceaseless wanderings of people and Palamnaioi for pouring the water of Styx with their palms and hands in order to make the fields infertile.<ref>Tzetzes, Chiliades 7.15 p. 128–132</ref> The Telchines were described to have stings and being rough as the echinoid and thus, their names teliochinous that is “having a poisonous telos like an echinoid”.<ref>Tzetzes, Chiliades 12.51 p. 839–840</ref>

ArtistsEdit

The Telchines were said to have invented useful arts and institutions which were useful to mankind and to have made images of the gods.<ref name=":6" /> Telchines were regarded as excellent metallurgists; various accounts<ref name="ReferenceA">Diodorus Siculus, 5.55.5 ff.</ref> 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.<ref>Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 28 ff</ref> Together with their help and the Cyclopes, the smith god Hephaestus forged the cursed necklace of Harmonia.<ref>Statius, Thebaid 2.265 ff</ref> Because of their excellent workmanship, the Telchines were maligned by rival workmen and thus received their bad reputation.<ref name=":4" />

This last feature in the character of the Telchines seems to have been the reason of their being put together with the Idaean Dactyls and Strabo even states that those of the nine Rhodian Telchines who accompanied Rhea to Crete brought up the infant Zeus and were called Curetes.<ref>Strabo, Geographica 10.3.19</ref><ref>Compare Höck, Creta i. p. 345, Welcker, Die Aeschylus Trilogie, p. 182 & Lobeck, Aglaopham p. 1182</ref> The Telchines were associated and sometimes confused with the Cyclopes, Dactyls, and Curetes.<ref>Strabo, Geographica 10.3.7</ref>

MythologyEdit

The Telchines were entrusted by Rhea with the upbringing of Poseidon, which they accomplished with the aid of Capheira, one of Oceanus' daughters.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref>Strabo, Geographica 10.3.19 p. 653</ref>

However, in other versions of the tale, Rhea, Apollo, and Zeus were described as hostile to the Telchines.<ref>Scholia ad Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.1141</ref> The gods (Zeus, Poseidon or Apollo) eventually killed them because they began to use magic for malignant purposes;<ref name="ReferenceB">Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.365 ff</ref> particularly, they produced a mixture of Stygian water and sulfur, which killed animals and plants<ref name=":4" /> (according to Nonnus, they did so as revenge for being driven out of Rhodes by the Heliadae).<ref name=":3" /> Accounts vary on how exactly they were destroyed: by flood<ref name="ReferenceB" /> or Zeus's thunderbolt<ref name="Pindar, Paean 5">Pindar, Paean 5</ref> or Poseidon's trident<ref name="ReferenceC">Nonnus, Dionysiaca 18.35</ref> or else Apollo assumed the shape of a wolf to kill them.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 4.377</ref> They apparently lost the Titanomachy, the battle between the gods and the Titans.

Ovid in his Ibis mentions that Makelo, like the other Telchines, was killed with a thunderbolt;<ref>Ovid, Ibis 475</ref> according to Callimachus<ref>Callimachus, Aitia fr. 3.1</ref> and Nonnus,<ref name="ReferenceC" /> however, Makelo was the only one to be spared. According to Bacchylides, the survivor is Dexithea.<ref name="Bacchylides, Fragment 1" /><ref name="Pindar, Paean 5" /> Bacchylides also mentions that Dexithea later had a son Euxanthios by Minos.<ref>Confirmed by the account of Apollodorus, 3.1.2</ref> This Euxanthios is also known from Pindar's works.<ref name="Pindar, Paean 5" />

In rare accounts, the Telchines were originally the dogs of Actaeon, who were changed into men.<ref name=":2" />

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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