Sentry of the Island

On page. 8 of The Marriage of Cadamus and Harmony Calasso is telling the story of Zeus and Europa. Shortly after Zeus and Europa make love in Gortyn, Zeus disappears in the form of an eagle...modern day slang would refer to this as "hitting it and quitting it." But the oh so chivalrous Zeus at least had the decency to leave Europa a guardian on this wild and unknown island she found herself on. The next part, while many of you may have just read over really caught my attention. Calasso speaks of the guardian referred to as "Talos," the guardian bull of the island, but together by the master blacksmith and metal weaver Hephaestus. It is said the Europa could hear the bronze hooves coming from far away as Talos was running up and down the coastline. Calasso depicts Talos as a strong, giant, mechanical creature from nothing of this world.

I thought this was a really cool and interesting depiction of Talos, here we can see the artist viewed Talos as not only a giant golden hoofed beast (as Calasso said) but a mechanical beast from a futuristic technologie built by Hephaestus.

 

                This a more original sculpture of the guardian Talos, and in my opinion not as cool.

Hephaestus is said to be the son of Zeus and Hera. The only god to be born ugly it is said that either Zeus or Hera threw him from mount Olympus which in turn cause him to be lame. He is the god of fire and forge, and the metal worker for all the gods. His forge is a volcano and his armour and weapons are said to be unmatched. He is said to be a very peaceful and loving god, which would explain how he got such a babe of a wife....Aphrodite.