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Talos-The guardian robot of Minoan Crete

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posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:00 PM
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One of the most enigmatic points of Cretan myths is the existence of a giant,bronze android .

Creation of god Hephaestus,present to king Minos,Talos was guarding Crete. Hephaestus put the blood of the gods(Ichor) in the giant android's vains to give him life.
According to myth,Talos was moving around the island(2940 km) three times a day(the average speed to do that is 250 km/h),carrying the bronze plaques with Minos' laws and taking care of the implementation of those laws.

The reason for his creation,was the armament of Minos,king of Crete and half brother of Hephaestus,with the ultimate defensive weapon:A giant humanoid,which was wandering around the island 3 times a day and sank the enemy ships and destroy the invaders,either by throwing giant rocks or burning the ships.His size is speculated
to be that of a 8 storey building.
And it's a fact that Crete didn't have defensive walls.Was it because King Minos was so powerful?Was it because of the scary myth of Talos or because the myth wasn't a myth at all?

As Homer tells us in Iliad,Talos was not the only "robot" the god had created.He made golden handmaidens,that could move,talk and think like real humans:

but there moved swiftly to support their lord handmaidens wrought of gold in
the semblance of living maids. In them is understanding in their hearts, and in them
speech and strength, and they know cunning handiwork by gift of the immortal gods.


Hephaestus had also created the tripod tables,that were all around his workshop and the gods used them to bring the food and drinks in their gatherings.

for he was fashioning tripods, twenty in all, to stand around the wall of his
well-builded hall, and golden wheels had he set beneath the base of each that of
themselves they might enter the gathering of the gods at his wish and again return to
his house, a wonder to behold.


According to other sources Talos was created by Daedalus,well known engineer,which
among other things he created the maze where Minotaur lived and the guardians of the
maze: golden,moving statues in human size that were using mercury to operate.

Myth or real robots in the ancient world?None of these legendary creations were
found,so most will think that they are all fantasies.Even if they were all creations
of an imaginative artist,it's still amazing how people that supposedly never had any
advanced technology could imagine the impossible.

A few years back a man from Crete claimed that he found ,inside a mountain,the tomb
of King Minos.He said that the entrance of the tomb was guarded by gold statues that
where moving and some other amazing technologies for the protection of the
king.Unfortunatelly the archaeological department never took him seriously and noone
ever went there to investigate if this man was telling the truth.I was following his
story for a while,but then i lost track of him.

Sources:
Homer-Iliad (book 18)
Appolodorus-Bibliotheca(1,6,4,9,26,)
Apollonius of Rhodes-Argonautica(4,1644)
Ancient greek science ,Archetype publications






posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:13 PM
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i have read of robots in other cultures to 6bc egypt historys by herodotus



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:18 PM
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Originally posted by geobro
i have read of robots in other cultures to 6bc egypt historys by herodotus

I just finished reading Book 2 (the history of Egypt) and don't recall any mention of robots. Can you be more specific?
edit on 30-7-2012 by FOXMULDER147 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:19 PM
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Very interesting thread....wish there was more info.

Might have to try to dig a little after i get supper on the table.



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:22 PM
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Originally posted by geobro
i have read of robots in other cultures to 6bc egypt historys by herodotus


I don't recall robots in Egypt,but if my memory serves me well,there are mentiions of robots in ancient Chinese stories.



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:36 PM
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...that were using mercury to operate.
Interesting. I've read somewhere else that the mythical Vimana used mercury as well.

Edit: Link
edit on 30/7/2012 by Planet teleX because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:38 PM
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I believe there is truth at the heart of every myth, but we must remember that the ancient Greeks were extremely superstitious and gullible when it came to this kind of thing.

And you say Crete had no defensive walls? Well, perhaps there's the answer as to the origin of the myth. To scare other Greeks away from a vulnerable island...



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 05:44 PM
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Jason & the Argonauts Loved watching this movie over & over when I was growing up.
Talos scared me to pieces.



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 06:01 PM
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reply to post by Phantom traveller
 

If they could make that then, and they are returning creators...what could they do today! I think beyond our comprehension.



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 06:21 PM
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reply to post by Phantom traveller
 


SnF op good read, a lot lighter on deatails than one would wish though. Damnit, the story was just getting good when it ended, now I will have to actually do somthing instead of waiting for someone to post somthing interesting. Gj op you have roused me from the couch, now I gotta screw the brain cap back on and find the rest of the details I don't know.

Bastards making me get off my ass and type iin key word searches, should have just stayed off the net today. With their damned, good mythological tidbits, now I wanna know more. : and thus IP disapears for many hours until his curiousity is finally sated, after 36 hours of constant reading and research.



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 06:50 PM
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Originally posted by SeekingDepth
Jason & the Argonauts Loved watching this movie over & over when I was growing up.
Talos scared me to pieces.

Ahh thanks couldnt think what the film was called

the skeleton zombie army ressurrected from teeth alwasys freaked me out, or was that the other film?
Interesting post OP well done Stared



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 07:17 PM
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S & F

I remember reading book upon book at my local library on the history of the region regarding this topic and a few others which fired my imagination then and still to this day. I'm glad there are a few here at ATS who share this interest.



As far as Egypt having robots. The closes thing I can think of was when it was explained to the Greeks how they built the Great Pyramids it was mentioned or mistranslated as such that they used "Machines" How they were made or what of or even what those were we'll never know.

I highly doubt it was similar in reference to the OP's context



posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 07:25 PM
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Antikythera mechanism............

That was Talos Heart...............




posted on Jul, 30 2012 @ 07:55 PM
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The most interesting interpretation I've seen:


In Argonautica, Apollonius notes that the ichor ran out like molten lead. A.B. Cook first suggested that the single vein closed by a nail or plug referred to the lost-wax method of casting; Robert Graves (whose interpretation of Greek mythology is controversial among many scholars) suggests that this myth is based on a misinterpretation of an image of Athena demonstrating the process of lost-wax casting of steel, which Daedalus would have brought to Sardinia.

From wiki

Harte



posted on Jul, 31 2012 @ 01:16 AM
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reply to post by FOXMULDER147
 

I don't recall any mention of robots in Herodotus either. Nor is Talos mentioned in Iliad 18 as the OP says; that chapter is about the making of Achilles' shield by Hephaestos – maybe somebody googled 'men of bronze' (decorations on the shield), got a hit on the Iliad and didn't bother to read any further.

Talos is part of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. Apollodorus is the source for his origin, which is firmly mythical. More here.

King Minos was also a myth (brother of the god Hephaestos) not a real king. Crete was already an advanced civilization when the Greeks were just getting started in the game, so early Cretan history was their prehistory. King Minos was the king of Crete in Greek myth-time.

The story of Talos is an interesting one for us moderns, but believing it is true discounts the perennial fertility of human imagination. Talos was neither the first fictional robot nor the last.


edit on 31/7/12 by Astyanax because: order word of.



posted on Jul, 31 2012 @ 06:58 AM
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reply to post by Astyanax
 


The story of Talos is an interesting one for us moderns, but believing it is true discounts the perennial fertility of human imagination. Talos was neither the first fictional robot nor the last.



Do not discount the abilities of Ancient cultures or overestimate our modern abilities.
Ancient Discoveries - The Antikythera Machine


I know the Bible is not much valued on ATS, in this instance, truth is truth.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 New International Version (NIV) 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

www.biblegateway.com...


Enjoyed the thread OP

edit on 31-7-2012 by Iamschist because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 31 2012 @ 09:33 AM
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reply to post by Iamschist
 


Do not discount the abilities of Ancient cultures or overestimate our modern abilities.

I do neither. Ancient cultures were created by people exactly like us, except that we are longer-lived and better-nourished than they. Our forebears were not children or naifs, and their minds were no less acute than ours.


The Antikythera Machine

Quite a well-known piece of kit nowadays. Probably a manually operated calculator of some kind; we can't tell exactly what kind because we lack the cultural context. But manufacturing it would have been well within the capabilities of a watchmaker of the Baroque period; even a High Renaissance jeweller could probably have made it. Compared to simple modern household objects mass-produced in factories today, it is primitive.

Let us not overestimate the abilities of ancient cultures or discount our own.



posted on Jul, 31 2012 @ 09:47 AM
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reply to post by FOXMULDER147
 


And you say Crete had no defensive walls?

The walls of Knossos, the Cretan capital, were – to quote a later saying of the Delphic Oracle concerning Athens – wooden. Minoan power was naval power; Crete dominated the Mediterranean for a very long time. The Greek city-states, which were in their infancy when the island was at the zenith of its power, paid tribute to 'King Minos'. Collection was made, at spear point, by the ships of the Minoan navy.

Remember the legend of the founding of Athens? The Greeks were forced to yield up young men and women to the Minoans – a dozen of each, every year, IIRC – to be used in their sacred games, as palace slaves, etc. The hero Theseus allowed himself to be captured in one such party and taken to Knossos, where he escaped, penetrated a labyrinth beneath the royal palace and killed the fabulous Minotaur before escaping and becoming the founding father of the great city-state of Athens.

Great maritime powers have less use than most for battlements.



posted on Jul, 31 2012 @ 10:01 AM
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Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but could this phenomenon be related to the golem?

A golem could be part mechanical, but typically involved organic material in its composition as well.

Just a thought to add to the puzzle.



posted on Jul, 31 2012 @ 10:28 AM
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Originally posted by SLAYER69
As far as Egypt having robots. The closes thing I can think of was when it was explained to the Greeks how they built the Great Pyramids it was mentioned or mistranslated as such that they used "Machines" How they were made or what of or even what those were we'll never know.

Yes we will. We already know. Herodotus told us:

- "The pyramids were built in steps, battlement-wise, as it is called, or, according to others, altar-wise. After laying the stones for the base, they raised the remaining stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden planks."

- "The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first step. On this there was another machine, which received the stone upon its arrival, and conveyed it to the second step, whence a third machine advanced it still higher."

(translation by Rawlinson, Everyman's Library)

The Great Pyramid was built, over twenty years (approx.), by 100,000 slaves (approx.), using wooden machines which lifted the stones into place.

There is no mystery.
edit on 31-7-2012 by FOXMULDER147 because: (no reason given)







 
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