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This is the second part of an overview of artificial men and the history of robots in literature and myth. Find the first part here.
Ancient China
Image by Jerry Wang on Unsplash
The Far East has its own legends of artificial men. The Chinese book Liezi (列子), a Daoist text from the 5th century BC, contains the following passage:
“Who is that man accompanying you?” asked the king.
“That, Sir,” replied Yen Shih, “is my own handiwork. He can sing and he can act.”
The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time. It went through any number of movements that fancy might happen to dictate. The king, looking on with his favourite concubine and other beauties, could hardly persuade himself that it was not real. (…)
[They] instantly took the robot to pieces to let the king see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs complete liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines. (…)
Drawing a deep breath, he exclaimed, “Can it be that human skill is on a par with that of the great Author of Nature?”
The European Middle Ages
Image by Bistrian Iosip on Unsplash
The Middle Ages brought a new dimension to the history of robots and the dream of the artificial man. Instead of art, now it was magic that provided the life force. Sometimes this magical power originated in God, sometimes it was a darker force that the magician himself controlled.
Albertus Magnus (1206-1280) was a bishop, scientist and philosopher. He had a reputation as an alchemist and magician. He is said to have created a “talking head” to guard the door to his rooms.
Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC), a Roman poet, was in the Middle Ages believed to have been a magician. He was supposed to have created a “talking head which predicted the future” and a prostitute made of stone.
Let’s think for a moment about these two. How do they compare? And how is Vergil’s prostitute different from Pygmalion’s Galatea?
Obviously, Vergil’s head of …
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