Talos (inventor)


Talos was a mythological Greek inventor. He is probably Perdix and nephew of Daedalus. On some accounts, Talos was also called Attalus.

Mythology

Talos invented the saw after seeing a fish's spine. Daedalus was so jealous of the invention that he tried to murder him, but Athena intervened and turned Talos/ Perdix into a partridge to save his life. According to Ovid, that partridge later watched the death and burial of Icarus with glee.
According to a version of Apollodorus, Daedalus was successful in killing Talos/ Perdix and, as punishment, was exiled to the court of Minos: "After the corpse was discovered, Daedalus was tried...and went into exile at the court of Minos."
According to Ovid, Talos/ Perdix used a fish spine as the prototype of the saw.
In some sources, Talos and Perdix appear to name the same person.

In arts

's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus includes a partridge on a tree, presumably representing the transformed Talos. However, like the rest of the charactets, it is yet to react to the fall.