Editing Talos (section)

==Artistic sources==
Artistic sources linking Talos with the Argonauts significantly predate the account of Apollonius.<ref name="Sparks=1996-RedBlk">{{cite book |last=Sparkes |first=Brian |author-link=Brian A. Sparkes |title=The Red and the Black: Studies in Greek pottery |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=0-415-12661-4 |page=124}}</ref> On three [[Krater|kraters]] from around 400 BCE, his death at the hands of the Argonauts is depicted. One [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure vase]], now in the [[Jatta National Archaeological Museum]], is the [[name vase]] of the Talos Painter. It shows Talos falling backwards, into the arms of the [[Castor and Pollux|Dioskouroi]]. In order to distinguish his form from that of the other figures on the vase, Talos is painted in white, with details painted in brown and yellow.<ref name="LIMC">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Papadopoulos |first=John |encyclopedia=Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)|title=Talos I|volume=7: Oidipous - Theseus|date=1994 |publisher=Artemis & Winkler Verlag |pages=834–837}}</ref> To the left stands Medea, holding a bowl, and looking across at Talos. Behind her is the Argo, with two more seated figures, inscribed as [[Boreads|Zetes and Calais]], whilst a third, unnamed figure, disembarks. To the right, the seated figures of [[Poseidon]] and [[Amphitrite]] look on. Below them a woman, identified by some as a representation of Crete, and by others as Europa, is shown fleeing from the scene.<ref name="LIMC"/>

Another vase, from [[Caudium]] (modern [[Montesarchio]]), has been identified as depicting the death of Talos.<ref name="Lesky">{{cite journal  |first=A. |last=Lesky |author-link=Martin Robertson  |year=1973  |title=Eine Neue Talos-Vase  |journal=Archäologisher Anzeiger  |volume=88 |pages=115–119}}</ref><ref name=Robertson>{{cite journal  |first=M. |last=Robertson |author-link=Martin Robertson  |year=1977  |title=The death of Talos  |journal=Journal of Hellenic Studies  |volume=97 |pages=158–160 |doi=10.2307/631029 |jstor=631029 |s2cid=162062500 }}</ref> A bearded Talos, slightly larger than the other figures, falls to the right, into the arms of the Dioskouroi.<ref name="LIMC"/> An unnamed youth kneels to the left, tightly holding an implement of some sort with which he is manipulating a small, circular object — potentially a nail — on Talos's ankle.<ref name="Buxton-90"/> A woman stands behind the youth, bending down towards him. One arm is obscured, but in the other she holds a bowl.<ref name="LIMC"/> Behind her stands another unnamed woman. Suggestions as to her identity include a representation of Crete as a nymph or an attendant of Medea's.<ref name="Lesky"/><ref name="Robertson-90">{{cite journal  |first=M. |last=Robertson |author-link=Martin Robertson  |year=1977  |title=The death of Talos  |journal=Journal of Hellenic Studies  |volume=97 |page=159 |doi=10.2307/631029 |jstor=631029 |s2cid=162062500 }}</ref> A small, winged, and bearded figure hovers next to Talos's ankle, gesturing closely to the site with the circular object. This figure is probably [[Thanatos]].<ref name="Robertson-90"/>

A third, fragmentary vase from [[Spina]] shows the same scene, with a very similar composition to the Motesarchio vase. Talos whose head and feet have not been preserved, is depicted in white, and is falling backwards into the arms of two men, most probably the Dioskouroi.<ref name="LIMC"/> To his left a crouching female figure, mostly lost but labelled by an inscription as Medea, holds a blade in one hand and a box resting on her knee in the other.<ref name="LIMC"/> To the right of Talos's lower leg is a small, winged, male figure, stretching his arms as if gesturing to Talos's ankle.<ref name=Robertson/> An unnamed female figure stands further to the right, but the head and torso are not preserved. The small figure and the unnamed female figure have sometimes been interpreted as [[Eros]] and [[Aphrodite]] but the winged figure is more probably Thanatos and the identification of Aphrodite is unlikely.<ref name="LIMC"/><ref name=Robertson/>

Talos also appears on three coins from Phaistos dated to the [[Classical Greece|Classical]] and early [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] periods. He is depicted as a naked winged figure in the act of throwing a stone; on one coin there is a hound between his legs.<ref name="LIMC"/> The wings have been interpreted by Richard Buxton as a visual representation of the speed which Talos would have to possess in order to rapidly circuit the island of Crete.<ref>{{cite book |last=Buxton |first=Richard |date=1998 |editor-last=Atherton |editor-first=Catherine |title=Monsters and Monstrosity in Greek and Roman Culture |publisher=Levante Editori |page=91 |chapter=The Myth of Talos|isbn=887949290X}}</ref>