Editing Telchines (section)

== Roles ==

=== Ministers of gods ===
The Telchines were regarded as the cultivators of the soil and ministers of the gods and as such they came from Crete to Cyprus and from thence to Rhodes<ref name=":4">[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' 14.2.7</ref> or they proceeded from Rhodes to Crete and [[Boeotia]].<ref name=":5">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 9.19.1</ref> Rhodes, and in it the three towns of [[Camirus|Cameirus]], [[Ialysos]], and [[Lindos]] (whence the Telchines are called ''Ialysii''<ref>Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 7.365</ref>), which was their principal seat and was named after them Telchinis<ref name=":4" /> ([[Sicyon]] also was called ''Telchinia''<ref>Eustathius ad Homer p. 291</ref>) and by some accounts, their children were highly worshiped as gods in the said three ancient Rhodian towns. The Telchines abandoned their homes because they foresaw that the island would be inundated and thence they scattered in different directions; Lycus went to [[Lycia]], where he built the temple of the [[Lycian Apollo]]. This god had been worshiped by them at Lindos (Apollôn Telchinios) and [[Hera]] at Ialysos and Cameiros (Hêra telchinia);<ref name=":6">Diodorus Siculus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55.2 5.55.2]</ref> and [[Athena]] at [[Teumessus]] in Boeotia bore the surname of Telchinia.<ref name=":5" /> [[Nymph]]s also are called after them Telchiniae.

=== Sorcerers and demons ===
The Telchines were also regarded as wizards and envious daemons.<ref>[[Suda]] s.v. ''Baskanoi kai goêtes''</ref><ref>Eustathius ad Homer pp. 941 & 1391</ref> Their very eyes and aspect were said to have been destructive.<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 7.365</ref> They had it in their power to bring on hail, rain, and snow, and to assume any form they pleased;<ref>Diodorus Siculus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55.3 5.55.3]</ref> they further produced a substance poisonous to living things.<ref>Strabo, ''Geographica'' 14.2.7 p. 653</ref><ref>Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' 7.15 p. 126–127</ref> Thus, they were called '''Alastores''' for supervising the ceaseless wanderings of people and '''Palamnaioi''' for pouring the water of Styx with their palms and hands in order to make the fields infertile.<ref>Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' 7.15 p. 128–132</ref> The Telchines were described to have stings and being rough as the echinoid and thus, their names ''teliochinous'' that is “having a poisonous ''telos'' like an echinoid”.<ref>Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' 12.51 p. 839–840</ref>

=== Artists ===
The Telchines were said to have invented useful arts and institutions which were useful to mankind and to have made images of the gods.<ref name=":6" /> Telchines were regarded as excellent metallurgists; various accounts<ref name="ReferenceA">Diodorus Siculus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55.5 5.55.5 ff.]</ref> state that they were skilled metal workers in brass and iron and made a [[trident]] for Poseidon and a sickle for [[Cronus]], both ceremonial weapons.<ref>Callimachus, ''Hymn 4 to Delos'' 28 ff</ref> Together with their help and the [[Cyclopes]], the smith god Hephaestus forged the cursed [[necklace of Harmonia]].<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' 2.265 ff</ref> Because of their excellent workmanship, the Telchines were maligned by rival workmen and thus received their bad reputation.<ref name=":4" />

This last feature in the character of the Telchines seems to have been the reason of their being put together with the [[Dactyl (mythology)|Idaean Dactyls]] and [[Strabo]] even states that those of the nine Rhodian Telchines who accompanied Rhea to Crete brought up the infant Zeus and were called [[Curetes (tribe)|Curetes]].<ref>Strabo, ''Geographica'' 10.3.19</ref><ref>Compare Höck, ''Creta'' i. p. 345, Welcker, ''Die Aeschylus Trilogie,'' p. 182 & Lobeck, ''Aglaopham'' p. 1182</ref> The Telchines were associated and sometimes confused with the Cyclopes, Dactyls, and Curetes.<ref>Strabo, ''Geographica'' 10.3.7</ref>