InGreek mythology, theTelchines (Ancient Greek:Τελχῖνες,romanized: Telkhines) were the original inhabitants of the island ofRhodes and were known inCrete andCyprus.

Their parents were eitherPontus andGaia orTartarus andNemesis or else they were born from the blood of castratedUranus, along with theErinyes.^[1] According toDiodorus Siculus, the Telchines were the offspring ofThalassa.^[2] They had flippers instead of hands and the heads of dogs and were known as fish children.^[3] In some accounts,Poseidon was described as the Telchines' father.^[4]

The following individual names are attested in various sources: Damon (Demonax);Mylas;^[5] Atabyrius;^[6] Antaeus (Actaeus),Megalesius, Ormenos (Hormenus),Lycus,Nicon andMimon^[7];^[8]Chryson,Argyron andChalcon.^[9] Known female Telchines wereMakelo,Dexithea (one of Damon's daughters),^[10]Halia^[11] and probablyLysagora (the attesting text is severely damaged).^[12]

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^[13] or they proceeded from Rhodes to Crete andBoeotia.^[14] Rhodes, and in it the three towns ofCameirus,Ialysos, andLindos (whence the Telchines are calledIalysii^[15]), which was their principal seat and was named after them Telchinis^[13] (Sicyon also was calledTelchinia^[16]) 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 toLycia, where he built the temple of theLycian Apollo. This god had been worshiped by them at Lindos (Apollôn Telchinios) andHera at Ialysos and Cameiros (Hêra telchinia);^[17] andAthena atTeumessus in Boeotia bore the surname of Telchinia.^[14]Nymphs also are called after them Telchiniae.

The Telchines were also regarded as wizards and envious daemons.^[18][19] Their very eyes and aspect were said to have been destructive.^[20] They had it in their power to bring on hail, rain, and snow, and to assume any form they pleased;^[21] they further produced a substance poisonous to living things.^[22][23] Thus, they were calledAlastores for supervising the ceaseless wanderings of people andPalamnaioi for pouring the water of Styx with their palms and hands in order to make the fields infertile.^[24] The Telchines were described to have stings and being rough as the echinoid and thus, their namesteliochinous that is “having a poisonoustelos like an echinoid”.^[25]

The Telchines were said to have invented useful arts and institutions which were useful to mankind and to have made images of the gods.^[17] Telchines were regarded as excellent metallurgists; various accounts^[26] state that they were skilled metal workers in brass and iron and made atrident for Poseidon and a sickle forCronus, both ceremonial weapons.^[27] Together with their help and theCyclopes, the smith god Hephaestus forged the cursednecklace of Harmonia.^[28] Because of their excellent workmanship, the Telchines were maligned by rival workmen and thus received their bad reputation.^[13]

This last feature in the character of the Telchines seems to have been the reason of their being put together with theIdaean Dactyls andStrabo even states that those of the nine Rhodian Telchines who accompanied Rhea to Crete brought up the infant Zeus and were calledCuretes.^[29][30] The Telchines were associated and sometimes confused with the Cyclopes, Dactyls, and Curetes.^[31]

The Telchines were entrusted byRhea with the upbringing of Poseidon, which they accomplished with the aid ofCapheira, one ofOceanus' daughters.^[2] Another version says that Rhea accompanied them to Crete from Rhodes, where nine of the Telchines, known as theCuretes, were selected to bring upZeus.^[32]

However, in other versions of the tale, Rhea, Apollo, and Zeus were described as hostile to the Telchines.^[33] The gods (Zeus,Poseidon orApollo) eventually killed them because they began to use magic for malignant purposes;^[34] particularly, they produced a mixture ofStygian water and sulfur, which killed animals and plants^[13] (according toNonnus, they did so as revenge for being driven out of Rhodes by theHeliadae).^[4] Accounts vary on how exactly they were destroyed: by flood^[34] or Zeus's thunderbolt^[35] or Poseidon's trident^[36] or else Apollo assumed the shape of a wolf to kill them.^[3][37] They apparently lost theTitanomachy, the battle between the gods and theTitans.

Ovid in hisIbis mentions that Makelo, like the other Telchines, was killed with a thunderbolt;^[38] according toCallimachus^[39] andNonnus,^[36] however, Makelo was the only one to be spared. According toBacchylides, the survivor is Dexithea.^[12][35] Bacchylides also mentions that Dexithea later had a sonEuxanthios byMinos.^[40] This Euxanthios is also known fromPindar's works.^[35]

In rare accounts, the Telchines were originally the dogs ofActaeon, who were changed into men.^[3]

• Cabeiri

• Diodorus Siculus,The Library of History translated byCharles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes.Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8.Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus,Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• John Tzetzes,Book of Histories, Book VII-VIII translated by Vasiliki Dogani from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826.Online version at theio.com
• John Tzetzes,Book of Histories, Book XII-XIII translated by Nikolaos Giallousis from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826.Online version at theio.com
• Maurus Servius Honoratus,In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Nonnus of Panopolis,Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Nonnus of Panopolis,Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pseudo-Apollodorus,The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
• Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892.Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Papinius Statius, The Thebaid translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Publius Papinius Statius,The Thebaid. Vol I-II. John Henry Mozley. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928.Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Stephanus of Byzantium,Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Strabo,The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Strabo,Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Ancient tribes in Rhodes
• Children of Gaia
• Children of Poseidon
• Greek mythological witches
• Legendary tribes in classical historiography
• Mythological Rhodians
• Autochthons of classical mythology

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text