Golem

Today's creature is very famous, but also very special. It doesn't have a mind of it's own, you could say it is more of a tool than a living being. I am talking about the golem.

The golem is a being formed from an inanimate substance, often mud or clay, which is then brought to life by strong magic. The ritual either consists of carving a word into the golem's head or writing something on a sheet of paper, which is then rolled up and stuffed into the golem's mouth. Golems follow their creator's orders with absolute obedience, which is why they were perfect protectors or sometimes even household aides. Their incredible strength and inability to feel pain or have emotions make them perfect for any kind of work that would need physical power, or even killing someone, since they don't suffer from psychological problems after taking someone's life. This obviously places enormous responsibility in the golem's creator's hands, since they decide if this powerful tool will be used for good or evil.

A problem that comes with golems is that they follow their orders literally, so if the order is not precise enough or even vague, the consequences could be horrible. Like machines, golems don't think for themselves, they just try to follow their orders as quickly as possible. Should you for example tell a golem to get you 100€, chances are it would just walk up to the nearest person and forcefully take their wallet, even if the command itself was meant without any bad intentions.

Even though golems seem to be the perfect monsters, should their creator want to use them in a malicious way, there is one major flaw. Golems can, depending on the golems size and power more or less, easily be deactivated, by crossing out one of the letters of the word on their forehead or taking away the sheet of paper in their mouth. In that case, the golem returns to its natural state, which oftentimes includes falling over and shattering, crumbling, or turning into dust.

One of the earliest golem creators was Solomon ibn Gabirol, who created one for household tasks as early as the 11^th century. The probably most famous golem however is the Golem of Prague. It was created in the 16^th century by the rabbi of Prague, Judah Loew ben Bezalel. He used clay from a local river to form the golem, which he intended to protect the jewish population of Prague from prosecution by the invading romans. The golem was even said to be able to make itself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. There is no doubt that it was one of the strongest golems ever created. It was so powerful that the romans agreed to leave the jews of Prague in peace in return for the golem not attacking them. Rabbi Loew deactivated the golem every friday, to let the golem rest on the Sabbath, the jew's holy day. He once forgot it, which caused the golem to go into a violent rampage, attacking everything on sight. The rabbi was luckily able to deactivate the golem, which then turned into dust. Some people however say, that the golem's remains are merely stored in the local Synagogue, just waiting for the need of reactivation to arise.

So what do you think? Could the golem have its roots in greek mythology?