Golem

A golem (sometimes pronounced Goilem), in medieval folklore and from Hebrew mythology is an animated being crafted from clay or stone. The name appears to derive from the word gelem, which means 'raw material'.

The Golem is inscribed with magic or religious words that keep it animated. Writing the name of God on its forehead, (or on a clay tablet under its tongue) or writing the word Emet ('truth' in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter in 'Emet' to form 'Met' ('death' in Hebrew) the golem can be destroyed.

The existence of a golem is a mixed blessing. Although not overly intelligent, a golem can be made to perform simple tasks over and over. The problem is one of control or getting it to stop.

Golems are used primarily in metaphor either as brainless lunks or as entities serving man under controlled conditions but enemies in others. Similarly, it is a Yiddish slang insult for someone who is clumsy or slow.

The most famous tale involves the golem created by the 16th century rabbi Judah Low ben Bezalel of Prague, and was the basis for Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel Der Golem, as well as classic set of expressionistic silent movies, Paul Wegener's Golem series, of which especially Golem: How He Came Into the World (also released as The Golem, 1920, USA 1921) is famous.

The word golem is used in the Bible (Psalms 139:16) and in Talmudic literature to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance.

The Golem is considered by some to be the an early android.

Table of contents

1 Some modern uses of The Golem 1.1 A common miss-association 2 External Links

Some modern uses of The Golem

• Feet of Clay, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett features golems. One specific golem named Dorfl is adopted into regular chronology and appears in later works.
• The play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Capek features a modern version of the old legend.
• Golems have been heavily referenced by role-playing games, and have expanded the definition from clay and stone, to iron, wood, rope, straw, and flesh amongst other substances.
• Golem has been chosen as the name of an ambitious project on robot evolution.
• A famous story about a type of golem is Avram Davidson's "The Golem".
• Trevor Pinch and Harry Collins published a critical science book called "The Golem: what you should know about science" and later one called "The Golem at large: what you should know about technology".

Gollum is additionally the name of a deformed, wretched creature in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth; the name however is derived not from Golem, but rather from the throaty sound the character makes.

External Links