[f. Gr. θεός god + τέχνη art.] The introduction of divine or supernatural beings in the construction of a drama or epic; such beings collectively.
1858. Gladstone, Homer, II. iii. 268. It is not difficult to understand why … Dionysus does not appear in the theotechny of the Iliad. Ibid. (1869), Juv. Mundi, vii. 206. The personages of the Homeric Theotechny, under which name I include the whole of the supernatural beings, of whatever rank, introduced into the Poems. Ibid., xiv. § 1. 491. The Theotechny, or divine movement of the Poem [the Iliad].
So † Theotechnal a. Obs. rare–1, of the nature of divine art; Theotechnic a., pertaining to the invention or making of gods; also, belonging to theotechny; Theotechnist, one who invents gods.
1651. Biggs, New Disp., Pref. 9. Those Arts we speak of are Theotechnal, the Arts of God.
1874. Piazzi Smyth, Inher. Gt. Pyramid, v. (ed. 2), 64. At Thebes … those temples and tombs … speak lamentably to human theotechnic inventions. Ibid., xxii. 425. The original inventor and theotechnist of animal and other gods for his countrymen.
1878. Gladstone, Prim. Homer, vi. (1889), 67. Behind the complex and ever-active theotechnic machinery of the poem, there is still the presence and operation of an august personage.
