Myths and Mortals (Greek Mythology)

Telkhines

In , the Telkhines {telk-ine-s} (: Τελχῖνες Telkhines) were the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, and were known in Crete and Cyprus.

Mythology

Their parents were either and , or and , or else they were born from the blood of castrated along with the . In another story there were nine Telkhines, children of and ; they had flippers instead of hands and the heads of dogs and were known as fish children.

They were regarded as excellent metallurgists: various accounts state that they were skilled metal workers in brass and iron, and made a for Poseidon and a sickle for , both ceremonial weapons. By some accounts, their children were highly worshiped as gods in the ancient Rhodes towns of (Ἰαλυσός), (Κάμειρος) and (Λίνδος).[]

The Telkhines were entrusted by with the upbringing of Poseidon, which they accomplished with the aid of Capheira (Καφείρα), one of ' daughters. Another version says that Rhea accompanied them to Crete from Rhodes, where nine of the Telchines, known as the , were selected to bring up .

The Telkhines were associated and sometimes confused with the , and Curetes.

They were believed to bring about hailstorms, snow, and rain at will, to assume any shape they pleased, and produced a substance poisonous to living things.

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

Names

The following individual names are attested in various sources:

Aktaios (Actaeus), Argyron, Atabyrius, Chalcon, Chryson, Damnameneus, Damon or Demonax, Hormenius or Ormenos, Lykos (Lycus) or Lyktos, Megalesius, Mylas, Nicon, Simon, Skelmis.

Known female Telkhines were Makelo, Dexithea (one of Damon's daughters) and probably Lysagora (the attesting text is severely damaged). in his mentions that Makelo, like the other Telkhines, was killed with a thunderbolt; according to and , however, Makelo was the only one to be spared. According to , the survivor is Dexithea. Bacchylides also mentions that Dexithea later had a son by . This Euxanthios is also known from 's works.