This research discusses the metallurgy and the mythic craftsmen. Myths of metallurgical demons, while they were holding a secondary position in ancient Greek’s cosmology resident of Greece survived for hundreds of years with numerous variations. The attributes assigned to them over the centuries seem mismatched at first glance, but in a deeper analysis they converge. I concentrate on the Telchines, metallurgical demons, polymorhic and diverse, trying to analyse the meanings of their specificities through the citations of various analyses. The demons signified with their inbetween existence: the position of the craftsman in ancient Greece, the change of eras both mythical and social, as well as the magic and technology correlation in primitive society.
In the beginning there is an illustrative introduction to the myth, as it was reflecteded in the various versions of it. Faced with the lack of ritual practices, I analyze the work of the demons and their importance in the cosmology of the ancient world. The envious nature of the demons is discussed in the next segment, in the context of baskania and Envy and the interrelations between the two. The presence of Envy is discussed in the cosmology of the ancient citizen and its relationship with the mythical change of basic socio-economic conditions of rural work to the mines and the transformation of metals. The next topic is zoomorphism, the relationship of metis and some marine creatures, Hephaestus and the crabs and Telchines and the seals. In the end metallurgical practices of the recent Africa are presented. The ceremonies, that survived the colonial and postcolonial landscape of Africa, offer insight in ritualized metallurgy.