DACTYL (smithing dactyl of Olympus)

Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her newborn son Zeus to the Dactyls of Ida.^6,3 They served as attendants upon the mother of the gods.⁵ During the celebration of orgies in honor of the mother of the gods, they acted as ministers.⁷ Their religious rites involved armed dances, cymbals, drums, and shouting.⁷ They were wizards who practised charms, initiatory rites, and mysteries.¹

Celmis and Damnameneus, the first of the group, discovered iron in Cyprus.^8,5 The group discovered the use of fire in the territory of Aptera.¹ They discovered copper and iron and the means of working them.¹ Delas, another member of the group, discovered bronze smelting.⁹ Hesiod refers to the bronze discoverer by the name Scythes instead of Delas.⁹ Sophocles claims the first five Dactyli were males who discovered and forged iron.⁵ Sophocles states these five males had five sisters, and their number gave them the name Dactyli.⁵

One of them was named Heracles, and this individual possessed magical abilities and some understanding of military strategy.^1,10 This Heracles established the Olympic Games.¹ Later men mistakenly thought the son of Alcmene founded the Olympic Games.¹ Heracles, as a Dactyl, shut and opened the sanctuary of Mycalessian Demeter nightly.¹¹ Boeotians claimed the sanctuary of Demeter of Mycalessus was entrusted to Idaean Heracles.¹² People of Erythrae in Ionia and people of Tyre possessed sanctuaries dedicated to this Heracles.¹²

The Dactyls passed over to Europe together with Mygdon.¹ They sojourned in Samothrace and amazed the natives with their skill.¹ Orpheus became a pupil of these beings.¹ Some traditions identify the Idaean Dactyli as the same beings as the Curetes, while other traditions view them as related to but distinct from the Curetes.⁷ The Curetes taught mankind how to live together in a common life.⁶ The Curetes used the war-dance to deceive Cronus.⁶