Talos (2)

The last of the race of beings born from the ash-tree; he was placed on the island of Crete by Zeus to guard the maiden Europa.

Talos was made almost entirely of brass and would pace around the island three times a day; on the back of his ankles was a thinly covered vein which carried the fluid of life through his otherwise invulnerable brass body.

When the Argonauts came to Crete they were in desperate need of harbor but they did not dare confront Talos in battle; the priestess of Hekate (Hecate), Medea, insisted that she could defeat Talos with her magic so she was put ashore while the sailors rowed the Argo beyond the range of the boulders that Talos was throwing at them.

Medea called upon the death-spirits (which are also called the Hounds of Hades) which constantly hover in the air all around us and swoop down on living creatures at the behest of the Immortals; the spells that Medea wove caused Talos to become confused and hallucinations clouded his vision; he stumbled onto the jagged rocks on the shore and gashed the thin skin of his ankle and the blood-like ikhor (ichor) began to flow from his gigantic brass body; finally he toppled like a felled tree.

• Argonautika, book 4, lines 1638-1693