26 Chapter 1
core of the now- formless mass was pierced by a hollow bronze rod, from
head to feet. This tube allowed the melting wax to pour out of the feet
when the form was placed in a fiery furnace. Molten bronze, with lead
added for plasticity and to increase flow, was next poured between the
inner and outer molds where the wax had once been, to create the hollow
statue. Notably, Talos heated his body by leaping into a fire, according to
the poet Simonides, and his ichor flowed out at his feet. 34
Magic and mysterious biomechanics obviously overlap in the myths
about artificial life expressed in folklore terms. But in the various narra-
tives about Talos, it is striking that the physiology of the bronze automa-
ton was described in mytho- technical language, alluding to medical and
scientific concepts current in antiquity. 35
In the realm of myth, for example, the word ichor was used in a spe-
cial sense for the “blood” of the gods. But in ancient medical and natural
Fig. 1.10. Foundry scene, workers finishing a statue of a warrior. Attic red- figure kylix, from Vulci,
about 490– 480 BC, by the Foundry Painter. Bpk Bildagentur / Photo by Johannes Laurentius /
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin / Art Resource, NY.