Talos

Here’s my take on Talos (or Talus, or Talon), the bronze “giant” who, in Greek mythology, was responsible for guarding the coasts of the island of Crete. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus and his Bibliotheca, this automaton measured around 30 meters high, and his rounds took him around Crete three times a day. He was created by Hephaestus, the blacksmith god of metallurgy, but different versions of the legend name two different addressees. In one, Talos is offered to Zeus, with the aim of protecting young Europa from invaders of all kinds, after the king of the gods had kidnapped her and taken her to the aforementioned island, in the shape of a white bull. In the other, the giant automaton is offered to King Minos (who is also the son of Zeus and Europa), again to patrol the shores of Crete, and eliminate undesirables. But we can consider that Talos could serve both objectives very well without creating any major inconsistency in the myth.

To annihilate the invaders, this “giant” stoned them with large rocks, or seized them before pressing them against his bronze body heated by the sun, to burn them alive ; and of course, no weapon could pierce the armor of this automaton. But Talos had a weak point, because the ichor, the divine blood which kept him alive (or kept him running ?), circulated in a single vein which crossed his entire body, and which was closed by a nail stuck in one of his heels.
When Jason and the Argonauts made a stopover in Crete (on their way back from Colchis, where they had captured the famous Golden Fleece), they were naturally confronted with the metal colossus. But it is the presence of the magician Medea within the crew that allows the adventurers to triumph over Talos. In a first version, the Argonauts manage to land on the island without problem, and, taking advantage of a moment when the "giant" was warming his body in the sun (perhaps while lying down, it is not specified), Medea enchanted him, and allowed the Argonaut Poeas to tear out the nail in his heel, and therefore to drain the automaton of his “blood”. In another version, Medea goes alone to the island, the ships of the Argonauts having almost been destroyed by the rocks thrown by the colossus ; the magician then causes hallucinations which drive him crazy, and lead him to pull out the nail by suddenly scraping his heel against a rock. And in yet another version, Medea makes him believe that she would make him immortal by removing his nail... Here again, the bronze "giant" dies by emptying himself of his ichor, without Jason and his men even having to deliver battle…

Talos was already represented with wings on Cretan currency. Was this a metaphor referring to the speed of his patrol around Crete, or was he actually winged ? Unfortunately, we cannot confirm anything. In any case, assuming that he never stopped in his march, and that his three daily rounds on the coasts of the island lasted 24 hours, we can say that the giant automaton must have moved at a constant speed of 32.5 km/h.