Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 621 views

    Story 1 - Daedalus and Icarus

    Uploaded by

    Feed Back Par
    Daedalus is a famous Athenian inventor who builds wings to escape from King Minos' prison on Crete. He warns his son Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus ignores this and his wax wings melt, causing him to fall into the sea and drown. Overcome with grief, Daedalus continues his flight and names the sea where Icarus fell after his son before finding refuge in Sicily.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Story 1 - Daedalus and Icarus

    Uploaded by

    Feed Back Par
    621 views3 pages
    Daedalus is a famous Athenian inventor who builds wings to escape from King Minos' prison on Crete. He warns his son Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus ignores this and his wax wings melt, causing him to fall into the sea and drown. Overcome with grief, Daedalus continues his flight and names the sea where Icarus fell after his son before finding refuge in Sicily.

    Original Description:

    eme eme eme

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Daedalus is a famous Athenian inventor who builds wings to escape from King Minos' prison on Crete. He warns his son Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus ignores this and his wax wings melt, causing him to fall into the sea and drown. Overcome with grief, Daedalus continues his flight and names the sea where Icarus fell after his son before finding refuge in Sicily.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    621 views3 pages

    Story 1 - Daedalus and Icarus

    Uploaded by

    Feed Back Par
    Daedalus is a famous Athenian inventor who builds wings to escape from King Minos' prison on Crete. He warns his son Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus ignores this and his wax wings melt, causing him to fall into the sea and drown. Overcome with grief, Daedalus continues his flight and names the sea where Icarus fell after his son before finding refuge in Sicily.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    DAEDALUS AND ICARUS

    (Summary)

    • Daedalus is an Athenian craftsman, famous for his ability to invent and build things.
    Think Leonardo da Vinci, but with more powers.
    • Unfortunately, he also has a jealous streak. When his nephew (Talus) invents the saw,
    Daedalus realizes that the boy might be more talented than he is. Not good.
    • In a fit of jealousy, Daedalus throws Talos (or Perdix in other version) off the Acropolis,
    a tall monument in Athens. That'll teach him not to invent any more carpentry tools.
    • Some people say that Athena saw the boy falling, and transformed him into a partridge.
    But others argue that Talos died and that Daedalus tried to hide the murder by burying him. Well
    those are very different endings.
    • Daedalus was tried in Areopagus. Either because he was feeling guilty or because he was
    banished, Daedalus leaves Athens and heads to the island of Crete.
    • While he's hanging out there, Daedalus befriends King Minos, the island's ruler. (It pays
    to have friends in high places.)
    • Daedalus still has the touch in Crete and he continues his building streak. First, he builds
    a cow suit so that Crete's queen (Pasiphae) can get it on with a bull. (Yes, we said bull.)
    • Pasiphae's union with the bull results in a horrible half-man, half-beast called the
    Minotaur. (Heard of him?)
    • Next up, King Minos (the half-beast's step-dad) asks Daedalus to design a maze (the
    Labyrinth) in which to put the terrible Minotaur. The Minotaur demands human sacrifices,
    and every nine years, King Minos sends seven young men and women into the Labyrinth to meet
    their doom.
    • One of these victims sent to his death is the hero Theseus. This guy is tough and he
    decides to fight back and try to kill the Minotaur.
    • King Minos' daughter, Ariadne, falls madly in love with Theseus. And since Daedalus
    built the Labyrinth, she asks him to help Theseus safely navigate it.
    • Always the helpful one, Daedalus gives Theseus a ball of yarn, and tells the hero to trail
    it behind him, creating a roadmap for how to get back out. Genius, we say! And sure enough,
    after Theseus kills the Minotaur, he is able to escape. (He and Ariadne leave Crete together.)
    • King Minos is not happy with Daedalus for helping Theseus, so he locks Daedalus and
    his son, Icarus, in the Labyrinth. (This seems to be his punishment of choice.)
    • (Some versions of the story say that King Minos actually imprisoned them in a tower.
    Still others say that Minos just ordered every ship surrounding the island to be searched, making
    it impossible for Daedalus and Icarus to escape. Any way you look at it, Daedalus and Icarus are
    trapped on Crete.)
    • Clearly our genius inventor won't take this sitting down. Knowing that the land and water
    are guarded by King Minos' army, Daedalus decides to escape by air. Brilliant.
    • Daedalus uses twine, feathers, and wax to build large wings for himself and his son.
    • (According to Ovid, Icarus goofed around while Daddy Daedalus was making the wings.
    He played with the feathers and wax and just generally got in his dad's way. Ah, kids.)
    • Finally, the wings are finished. Daedalus tries his set on and—OMG—they totally work.
    He hangs in the air for a few seconds, flapping his fake wings. Nice!
    • Before putting wings on Icarus, Daedalus gives his son some warnings: he should follow
    him closely and fly at a middle height. If he flies too low, the seawater will dampen the wings,
    and if he flies too high, the sun will melt them. Got it? Good.
    • Daedalus is still a little scared about the journey: the big softy cries while tying the
    wings onto his son, and gives his little guy a hug.
    • And off they go! Daedalus looks back at his son, cheering him on.
    • A bunch of people on the ground, including a shepherd and a plowman, stop their work
    to gaze up at Daedalus and Icarus. They're completely blown away at the sight of two people
    flying in the air—they figure that Daedalus and Icarus might be gods, since no human has ever
    achieved flight before. What's up now, humans?
    • In all the excitement, Icarus forgets his father's warning and starts to fly higher.
    • Sure enough, he gets too close to the sun: the heat softens the wax, and his wings fall
    apart.
    • Icarus plummets into the sea, crying "Father, father!" on his way down.
    • Daedalus tries to save his son, but it's too late—he has drowned. The only thing Daedalus
    can find are feathers floating in the water.
    • For the first time ever, Daedalus curses his "art" (i.e., his crafting skills). That's what
    got him into this mess to begin with.
    • Daedalus names the part of the ocean where Icarus fell the "Icarian Sea." A nice honor
    for a not-so-well-behaved boy.
    • Still mourning, Daedalus flies onward to the Italian island of Sicily. When he gets there,
    he performs funeral rites for his son (these were super important back then). Oh, and according
    to Ovid, a partridge watches Daedalus as he does all this. This is no ordinary partridge, but
    Talos, the nephew that Daedalus once tried to murder.
    • Next, Daedalus constructs a temple to Apollo, where he hangs his wings.
    • While living in Sicily, Daedalus strikes up a friendship with King Cocalus, the ruler of
    the island. When King Minos comes searching for Daedalus, Cocalus takes pity and hides the
    inventor. Oh, and even better, King Cocalus' daughters kill King Minos with scalding water,
    freeing Daedalus from his hunt forever.

    You might also like