Daedalus and Icarus: The Myth

Daedalus’ art was so lifelike that it ended up coming to life. It is no coincidence that many
ancient wooden cult images in multiple Greek temples were said to be his works. Pausanias,
the travel writer of the second CE century, saw quite a few of these images that were believed
to belong to the legendary sculptor and wrote that they captured a sense of the divine.

But Daedalus was more than a skillful artist. He was also an inventor. The ancients attributed
a series of inventions to him, the most important being carpentry.. However, there was a
darker side of Daedalus. The inventor was the greatest of his era, but there was a brief time
when he faced serious competition. According to Ovid (Metamorphoses  VIII.236-259),
Daedalus was born in Athens (other sources claim he was Cretan) and had quickly become a
respectable citizen due to his skill and intellect. His sister believed that her son, Talos (in
other sources he can be also found as Calos or Perdix), could greatly benefit by studying next
to his uncle in Athens. Little did she know.

 Daedalus took Talos and taught him everything he knew. The boy was young and quite witty.
He quickly took in all the knowledge and began applying it to the world around him.
Daedalus soon realized that the boy was not simply smart. It was smarter than him. If Talos
continued this way, Daedalus would be completely overshadowed by him. So, he threw Talos
off the cliff of the Acropolis. The goddess Athena saved Talos by transforming him into a bird
that received his mother’s name Perdix. Still, Daedalus was tried for this act and banished
from Athens.

After his expulsion from Athens, Daedalus found refuge in the court of King Minos, the
mythical king of Crete. Minos ruled the seas with a mighty fleet that had no equal. With
Daedalus in his court, he became an unstoppable force.

During his time in the court of Minos, Daedalus had the chance to start over. It was there that
he got a son of his own by a slave called Naukrate. The boy’s name was Icarus. There is
absolutely no information about Icarus’ early life nor his relationship with his father.

Daedalus could have lived peacefully in Crete. However, one day he was suddenly asked to
offer his assistance to Pasiphae, Minos’ wife. Pasiphae wanted to accomplish one of the most
despicable acts imaginable; mate with an animal, and more specifically, a bull. Everything
had began when Minos had asked Poseidon to send him a sign of divine favor in the form of a
beautiful bull. The king promised that he would return the animal in the form of a sacrifice.
The god granted Minos’ wish and a uniquely beautiful bull appeared from the sea.
Minos was glad to see that Poseidon favored him but was not keen on sacrificing the animal.
Instead, he decided to keep the bull and sacrifice another one in his place. Poseidon had
honored his side of the deal, but Minos had not. Punishment was imminent and arrived in the
form of a divine madness that took over Pasiphae. Minos’ wife became unable to control an
impulse to mate with the bull that Poseidon had sent. Unable to perform the act as the bull had
also turned disobedient, she asked for Daedalus’ help.

 To solve Pasiphae’s problem, Daedalus carved a wooden cow on wheels. He then “took it,
hollowed it out in the inside, sewed it up in the hide of a cow which he had skinned, and set it
in the meadow in which the bull used to graze.” Pasiphae got inside the wooden effigy, which
tricked the bull. The woman finally got what she wanted. From the union of human and
animal, the Minotaur was born, half man and half bull. 

When Minos saw the terrible creature, he asked Daedalus to construct the Labyrinth in order
to hide it there. Minos later used the Minotaur to maintain a reign of terror over Athens by
asking for seven young women and seven young men from the city to be fed to the beast as
tribute. Eventually, Theseus, an Athenian hero, came to Crete and slew the Minotaur with the
help of Ariadne, Minos’ daughter. Some ancient writers even claim that Daedalus played a
role and helped the couple in their quest for the Minotaur’s head.

According to Ovid, at some point, Daedalus grew to hate Crete and decided to return to his
home. However, Minos was determined to keep the inventor near him, even if that meant
imprisoning him. Other writers claim that Minos threw Daedalus in a cell after learning about
his role in Pasiphae’s sin, Theseus’ escape, or simply to keep the mysteries of the Labyrinth a
secret.

Life in prison was not easy, but at least Daedalus was not alone; his dear son Icarus was there
with him. Still, Daedalus was desperate to escape from Crete.

And so, Daedalus did what he knew best; he thought out of the box. The result of his creative
fever would be an invention that would haunt the imagination of the western world for
millennia until humanity conquered the sky. Daedalus studied the movements of birds and
built a device mimicking them. He then laid down multiple feathers in a row from shortest to
longest and tied them together using beeswax and thread. All this time, Icarus was playing
with the feathers, laughing without realizing that he was touching what would bring about his
tragic end.
When Daedalus finished, he wore the wings. Daedalus and Icarus stared at each other as the
father flew in front of his son. He looked at Icarus and explained to him how he should use
the wings and what he should avoid; and that he should not be close to the son Helios because
the wax might be damaged and not to close to the sea as well.

Daedalus’ warnings and instructions had a dramatic tone to them. He understood that this was
no game but a trip that could end badly. The fear for his son’s life was overtaking him. Tears
were leaving his eyes and his hands were shaking. Icarus’ reactions showed that he did not
recognize the dangers of the flight. Yet, there was no other choice. Daedalus approached
Icarus and gave him a kiss. Then he took to the sky again, leading the way, while teaching
Icarus how to use his wings properly.

Daedalus and Icarus flew and left Crete behind them. Now they were out of Minos’ reach, but
not safe. As they were approaching the island of Samos, Icarus turned arrogant. He felt an
unconquerable urge to fly towards heaven, as close to the sun as he could. Ignoring his
father’s warnings, he flew higher and higher, until the wax that held the wings together melted
and he began falling at speed. Icarus tried to fly but his hands were now naked. The only thing
left to him was to scream his father’s name 

“Father!”

“Icarus, Icarus where are you? Which way should I be looking, to see you?”, screamed
Daedalus, but Icarus had already drowned into the dark sea, which would become known as
the Icarian Sea.

“Icarus!”, he screamed again, but received no reply.

 Finally, Daedalus found the body of his son floating amidst feathers. Cursing his inventions,
he took the body to the nearest island and buried it there. The Icarian Sea, where he fell, was
named after him and there is also a nearby small island called Icaria.

Daedalus had just buried his son when a little bird flew next to his head. It was his nephew
Talos, now called Perdix, who had returned to enjoy the suffering of the man who had almost
killed him out of spite. This is how Daedalus and Icarus’ myth comes to an end.
Minos himself is said to have died at Camicus in Sicily, where he had gone in pursuit of Daedalus, who
had given Ariadne the clue by which she guided Theseus through the labyrinth. He was killed by the
daughter of Cocalus, king of Agrigentum, who poured boiling water over him while he was taking a
bath.