Paper short abstract:

The paper aims at exploring the relationship between the Telchines, monstrous entities without feet and hands, and the arts.

Paper long abstract:

The Telchines are envious creatures, whom mythical tradition reports as the children either of Nemesis and Tartarus, or of Ge and Pontos, or Thalassa, described as having neither feet nor hands. Diodorus Siculus (5.55) describes them as “protoi heuretai” of several arts and as the first to build statues for the gods, but also as monstrous and disturbing beings, capable of charming and bewitching. Innovators but also destroyers, the Telchines somehow represent the dark side of art and technology. From them and from the etymology of their name also derive some onomastic attributes such as Telchis; Telchinios/Telchinia, assigned to several deities (e.g. Apollo, Hera, the Nymphes). The paper aims at investigating the relationship between these monstrous entities and the arts and in particular their ability in the field of metallurgy, but also at exploring the profile of those deities whose names include a reference to these creatures or their attributes.