Man of Brass (The)

Talos, the work of Hephæstos (Vulcan). He traversed Crete to prevent strangers from setting foot on the island, and threw rocks at the Argonauts to prevent their landing. Talos used to make himself red-hot, and hug intruders to death.

“That portentous Man of Brass

Hephæstos made in days of yore,

Who stalked about the Cretan shore …

And threw stones at the Argonauts.”

Longfellow: The Wayside Inn.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.