The idea of an artifact made conscious is an ancient theme of mythology, appearing for example in the Greek myth of Pygmalion, who carved a statue that was magically brought to life, and in medieval Jewish stories of the Golem, a magically animated homunculus built of clay.

" Golem " passed into Yiddish as goylem to mean someone who is clumsy or slow.

In some tales, ( for example those of the Golem of Chelm and the Golem of Prague ) a golem is inscribed with Hebrew words that keep it animated.

Moshe Idel comments, " This tradition in one form or another is the blueprint of the later legend of the creation of the Golem by Eliayahu's famous contemporary R. Yehudah Leow of Prague.

A Polish Kabbalist, writing in about 1630 – 1650, reported the creation of a golem by Rabbi Eliyahu thus: " And I have heard, in a certain and explicit way, from several respectable persons that one man close to our time, whose name is R. Eliyahu, the master of the name, who made a creature out of matter Golem and form tzurah and it performed hard work for him, for a long period, and the name of emet was hanging upon his neck, until he finally removed it for a certain reason, the name from his neck and it turned to dust.

The general view of historians and critics is that the story of the Golem of Prague was a German literary invention of the early 19th century.

Cathy Gelbin finds an earlier source in Philippson's The Golem and the Adulteress, published in the Jewish magazine Shulamit in 1834, which describes how the Maharal sent a golem to find the reason for an epidemic among the Jews of Prague, although doubts have been expressed as to whether this date is correct.

The Vilna Gaon wrote an extensive commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, Kol HaTor, in which it is said that he had tried to create a Golem to fight the power of evil at the Gates of Jerusalem.

As far as we know, the Vilna Gaon is the only Rabbi who has actually claimed that he tried to create a Golem ; all such stories about other rabbis were told after their time.

Golem is also a rock / ground type creature ( Pokémon # 76 ) in the animated TV show, video game series, and card game Pokémon.

Golem is the evolved form of Graveler, who is in turn the evolved form of Geodude, and they all first appeared in the 1996 game Pokémon Red and Blue.

Expressionist influence is also in evidence in Frankenstein, drawn in part from the work of Paul Wegener and his films The Golem ( 1915 ) and The Golem: How He Came into the World ( 1920 ) along with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ( 1920 ) from Robert Wiene, which Whale reportedly screened repeatedly while preparing to shoot Frankenstein.

Rudolf is also the ruler in many of the legends of the Golem of Prague, either because of or simply adding to his occult reputation.

Dune also inspired the 1999 album The 2nd Moon by the German death metal band Golem, which is a concept album about the series.

The Maharal is the subject of a nineteenth-century legend that he created The Golem of Prague, an animate being fashioned from clay.

* In the 1951 movie The Emperor and the Golem, Edward Kelly is fake occultist and conspirator.

To a contemporary reader, there is also a similarity to the hubristic nature of the Golem legend, or to Frankenstein, in that even the most skilled of mortals cannot rival divine perfection when creating life.

God & Golem, Inc .: A Comment on Certain Points Where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion is a book written by MIT cybernetician Norbert Wiener and published by MIT Press in 1964.

Mount Korab (;, Golem Korab ) is the highest mountain of Albania and the Republic of Macedonia, its peak forming a frontier between the two countries.

" Aemeth " or " Emeth " is Hebrew for " truth "; the same word was written on the forehead of a Golem in Jewish folklore by magicians who legendarily animated these beings.

According to folklore, these scraps were used to hide the famed Golem of Prague, whose body is claimed to lie in the genizah of the Altneushul in Prague

Strongman René Richter goes by the nickname " Golem ", and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the " Golem Team ".

* TM1-MH ( since 1977 Castor, since 2007 Golem ) in Prague, Czech Republic ; in operation in Kurchatov Institute since early 1960s ; 1977 renamed to Castor and moved to IPP CAS, Prague ; 2007 moved to FNSPE, Czech Technical University in Prague, and renamed to Golem

In Jewish lore, blood libels were the impetus for the creation of the Golem of Prague by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel in the 16th century.

Rabbi Yaakov Emden ( d. 1776 ) elaborated on the story in a book published in 1748: " As an aside, I ’ ll mention here what I heard from my father ’ s holy mouth regarding the Golem created by his ancestor, the Gaon R. Eliyahu Ba ’ al Shem of blessed memory.

When the Gaon saw that the Golem was growing larger and larger, he feared that the Golem would destroy the universe.

Nonetheless, while he was engaged in extracting the Holy Name from him, the Golem injured him, scarring him on the face.

To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations.

The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy the Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews.

To deactivate the Golem, the rabbi rubbed out the first letter of the word " emet " ( truth or reality ) from the creature's forehead leaving the Hebrew word " met ", meaning dead.

According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic.

Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands.

A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic during World War II and trying to stab the Golem, but he died instead.

When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson ( the last Rebbe of Lubavitch ) wrote that his father-in-law, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, told him that he saw the remains of the Golem in the attic of Alt-Neu Shul.

Rabbi Chaim Noach Levin also wrote in his notes on Megillas Yuchsin that he heard directly from Rabbi Yosef Shaul Halevi, the head of the Rabbinical court of Lemberg, that when he wanted to go see the remains of the Golem, the sexton of the Alt-Neu Shul said that Rabbi Yechezkel Landau had advised against going up to the attic after he himself had gone up.

That is particularly true of sovereignty when it is applied to democratic societies, in which `` popular '' sovereignty is said to exist, and in federal nations, in which the jobs of government are split.

Not all recent science fiction, however, is dystopian, for the optimistic strain is still very much alive in Mission Of Gravity and Childhood's End, as we have seen, as well as in many other recent popular novels and stories like Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud ( 1957 ) ; ;

No other popular idol is accorded even that much grace.

But by comparison with the railroad, the motor car is a relatively new object of popular worship, so it is too much to hope that it may be brought within the bounds of civilized usage quickly and easily.

Taking account of the fact that such a move on our part would be unpopular in world opinion, he argued that the responsibility of the United States is `` to do, confidently and firmly, not what is popular, but what is right ''.

But as the popular response suggests, the potentiality of the Peace Corps is very great.

A salad with greens and tomato is a popular and wonderfully healthful addition to a meal, but add an avocado and you have something really special.

For decades it was the most popular dish served in the Ladies' Grill at breakfast, and it is one of the few old Palace dishes that still survive.

In California is located one of the most popular of the national parks -- Yosemite.

Easy to get to, and becoming more popular every year, it is only fourteen hours from New York by Pan American World Airways jet, four hours from Rome.

For those who need or want and can afford another car, buying one and driving it on the grand tour, then shipping it home, is one popular plan for a do-it-yourself pilgrimage.

Leasing a car is not as common or as popular as renting a car in Europe, but for long periods it will be unquestionably more economical and satisfactory.

The data is now interpreted in conjunction with a price chart, usually of a popular stock average.

Again, contrary to popular belief, there is nothing crazy or frantic about Parker either musically or emotionally.

Continuity exits, but like the neo-swing music developed from Lester Young, it is a continuity sustained by popular demand.

A political scientist writes of the growth of `` alienated voters '', who `` believe that voting is useless because politicians or those who influence politicians are corrupt, selfish and beyond popular control.

About that same time John Crosby's TV series on the popular arts proved again that giving jazz ample breathing space is one of the most sensible things a producer can do.

No reference is made to the possibility of recording other than popular music in this manner, and it would not seem to lend itself well to serious music.

But for all the manifest intention to `` show off '', this was a circus with a difference, for instead of descending in quality to what is known as a popular level, it added further to the evidence that this is a very great dancing company.