Extract

Idaean Dactyls (ΔάκτυλοιἸδαῖοι), the Fingers of Mt. Ida in *Phrygia or, according to some, *Crete (Ap. Rhod. Argon. 1. 1129; Pliny HN 7. 197). First mentioned in the Phoronis epic (fr. 2 Davies, EGF) as attendants of the Mother Goddess Adrasteia, they are small (Paus. 8. 31. 3) fabulous beings who discovered the working of iron. Their name is explained in various aitia through their size (cf. Ger. ‘Däumling’, Tom Thumb), or number: five or ten (five brothers and five sisters, Soph. fr. 364–6 Radt). According to *Apollonius(1) Rhodius (1. 1129 ff.), the *Nymph Anchiale bore them in the Dictaean cave clutching the earth with her fingers in her birth-pains (further versions in Lobeck, Aglaoph. 1156 ff.). In an Elean tradition (see elis) they are *Heracles (not Alcmene's son), Paeonaeus, Epimedes, *Iasius, and Idas (or Acesidas) (Paus. 5. 7. 6).