Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

PHOIBOS AND THE TELCHINES. 313
With the name of Rhea are connected the mystic beings CHAP.
known as the Kouretes, the Korybantes, the Idaian '
Daktyloi, and the Kabeiroi. Into the ethnological specn- The Emu-
lations of which these names have been made the subject
11
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it is unnecessary to enter. It is as possible that they may, Daktyls.
some or all of them, denote races displaced and overthrown
by the advancing Hellenic tribes, as that the Trolls may
represent aboriginal inhabitants driven to the mountains
by the Teutonic invaders. But in the absence of all his-
torical evidence it is as useless to affirm with Dr. Thirlwall,
as it is unnecessary to deny, that the name Telchines is
only another name for the historical Phenician people, or
that the legends related by them ' embody recollections of
arts introduced or refined by foreigners who attracted the
admiration of the rude tribes whom they visited.' 1
is enough to remark here that the art of the Telchines is
simply that of Hephaistos. Like him, they forge iron
weapons or instruments for the gods : and they resemble
the Kyklopes not only in this their work, but in their
parentage, which exhibits them as sons of Poseidon, or
Thalassa, the troubled sea. Thus also we see in them not
only the fellow-helpers of Hephaistos in the Iliad, but the
rude shepherds of the Odyssey. The clouds from which the
lightnings dart are the one : the mists clinging to the hills
are the other. Hence they are creatures without feet, as
the Phaiakian ships have neither rudders nor oars. They
can pour down rain or snow on the earth, and, like the
clouds, they can change their form at will ; and thus they
are destroyed by Phoibos in the guise of a wolf, as the sun's
rays scatter the mists at noon-day. In this capacity of
changing their form and bringing storms upon the earth
we have all that is needed as the groundwork of their
reputation as sorcerers, even if we refuse to indulge in any
conjectures as to the origin of the name. 2 Their office as
nurses of Poseidon 3 is even more significant, as showing
1
Hist. Greece, part i. ch. iii. Schlage, welehe das Bewusstsein ver-
2 ' Der Name TeAx