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Daedalus

February 16, 2023

This article is about the mythological character. For other uses, see Daedalus (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, Daedalus (UK: /ˈdiːdələs/, US: /ˈdɛdələs/;[1] Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: Daedalus; Etruscan: Taitale) was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, and possibly also the father of Iapyx. Among his most famous creations are the wooden cow for Pasiphaë, the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete which imprisoned the Minotaur, and wings that he and his son Icarus used to escape Crete. It was during this escape that Icarus did not heed his father's warnings and flew too close to the sun; the wax holding his wings together melted and Icarus fell to his death.

Daedalus
Athenian craftsmen and inventor
A Roman mosaic from Zeugma, Commagene (now in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum) depicting Daedalus and his son Icarus
AbodeCrete
Personal information
ParentsMetion and Alcippe
SiblingsPerdix
Metiadusa
OffspringIcarus
Iapyx

Epigraphic evidence

The name Daidalos appears to be attested in Linear B, a writing system used to record Mycenaean Greek. The name appears in the form da-da-re-jo-de, possibly referring to a sanctuary.[2][3][4]

Family

Daedalus's parentage was supplied as a later addition, with various authors attributing different parents to him. His father is claimed to be either Eupalamus,[5] Metion,[6] or Palamaon.[7] Similarly, his mother was either Alcippe,[8] Iphinoe,[9] Phrasmede[10] or Merope, daughter of King Erechtheus.[11] Daedalus had two sons: Icarus[12] and Iapyx,[13] along with a nephew named either Talos, Calos, or Perdix.[14]

The Athenians made Cretan-born Daedalus Athenian-born, the grandson of the ancient king Erechtheus,[15] claiming that Daedalus fled to Crete after killing his nephew.[16]

Inventor, architect, artist

Daedalus is first mentioned in roughly 1400 BC on the Knossian Linear B tablets. He is later mentioned by Homer as the creator of a dancing floor for Ariadne, similar to that which Hephaestus placed on the Shield of Achilles.[17] It is clear that Daedalus was not an original character of Homer's. Rather, Homer was referencing mythology that his audience was already familiar with.[18]

 
Upper body of a Daedalic statue of a Kore, poros stone. Eleftherna, archaic period, 7th century BC.

Daedalus is not mentioned again in literature until the fifth century BC, but he is widely praised as an inventor, artist, and architect, though classical sources disagree on which inventions exactly are attributable to him. In Pliny's Natural History (7.198) he is credited with inventing carpentry, including tools like the axe, saw, glue, and more.[19] Supposedly, he first invented masts and sails for ships for the navy of King Minos. He is also said to have carved statues so spirited they appeared to be living and moving.[20] Pausanias, in traveling around Greece, attributed to Daedalus numerous archaic wooden cult figures (see xoana) that impressed him. In fact, so many other statues and artworks are attributed to Daedalus by Pausanias and various other sources that likely many of them were never made by him.[21]

Daedalus gave his name, eponymously, to many Greek craftsmen and many Greek contraptions and inventions that represented dextrous skill. A specific sort of early Greek sculptures are named Daedalic sculpture in his honor.[22] In Boeotia there was a festival, the Daedala, in which a temporary wooden altar was fashioned and an effigy was made from an oak-tree and dressed in bridal attire. It was carried in a cart with a woman who acted as bridesmaid. The image was called daedala.[23] Some sources claim that the daedala did not receive their name from Daedalus, but the opposite. Pausanias claims that Daedalus was not the name given to the inventor at birth, but that he was named so later after the daedala.[24]

Mythology

Nephew

 
Perdix (Talus) changed into a partridge when thrown from the Acropolis by an envious Daedalus (1602-1607)[25]

Daedalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts as an apprentice. His nephew is named variously as Perdix, Talos, or Calos, although some sources say that Perdix was the name of Daedalus' sister.[26] The nephew showed striking evidence of ingenuity. Finding the spine of a fish on the seashore, he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge, and thus invented the saw. He put two pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a rivet, and sharpening the other ends, and made a pair of compasses.[27] Daedalus was so envious of his nephew's accomplishments that he attempted to murder him by throwing him down from the Acropolis in Athens.[28] Athena saved his nephew and turned him into a partridge.[29] Tried and convicted for this murder attempt, Daedalus left Athens and fled to Crete.[30][31]

The Labyrinth

Daedalus created the Labyrinth on Crete, in which the Minotaur was kept.

 
Daedalus and Pasiphaë. Roman fresco in the House of the Vettii, Pompeii, first century AD

Poseidon had given a white bull to King Minos to use it as a sacrifice. Instead, the king kept the bull for himself and sacrificed another. As revenge, Poseidon, with the help of Aphrodite, made King Minos's wife, Pasiphaë, lust for the bull. Pasiphaë asked Daedalus to help her. Daedalus built a hollow, wooden cow, covered in real cow hide for Pasiphaë, so she could mate with the bull. As a result, Pasiphaë gave birth to the Minotaur, a creature with the body of a man, but the head an tail of a bull. King Minos ordered the Minotaur to be imprisoned and guarded in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus for that purpose.[32]

 
Daedalus escapes (iuvat evasisse) by Johann Christoph Sysang (1703-1757)

In the story of the Labyrinth as told by the Hellenes, the Athenian hero Theseus is challenged to kill the Minotaur, finding his way back out with the help of Ariadne's thread. It is Daedalus himself who gives Ariadne the clue as to how to escape the labyrinth.[33]

Ignoring Homer, later writers envisaged the Labyrinth as an edifice rather than a single dancing path to the center and out again, and gave it numerous winding passages and turns that opened into one another, seeming to have neither beginning nor end. Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, suggests that Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.[34]

Icarus

 
Print of Icarus falling after his wings were broken.[35]

The most familiar literary telling explaining Daedalus' wings is a late one by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.[36]

 
Daedalus and Icarus, c. 1645, by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690)

After Theseus and Ariadne eloped together,[37] Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned by King Minos in the labyrinth that he had built.[38] He could not leave Crete by sea, as King Minos kept a strict watch on all vessels, permitting none to sail without being carefully searched. Since Minos controlled the land routes as well, Daedalus set to work to make wings for himself and his son Icarus. Using bird feathers of various sizes, thread, and beeswax, he shaped them to resemble a bird's wings. When both were prepared for flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, because the heat of the sun would melt the beeswax (holding his feathers together) and the wings would break, nor too low, because the sea foam would soak the feathers and make them heavy and he would fall.[39] After Daedalus and Icarus had passed Samos, Delos, and Lebynthos, Icarus disobeyed his father and began to soar upward toward the sun. He flew too close to the sun. Without any warning, the sun melted the wax that held the feathers together and they fell off. Icarus kept flapping his "wings". But he realized he had no feathers left and he was only flapping his featherless arms. The feathers (one by one) fell like snowflakes, and down, down, and down he went into the sea (where he sank to the bottom and drowned). Seeing Icarus' wings floating in the sea, Daedalus wept, cursed his art, and (finding Icarus's dead body on an island shore) buried Icarus's body there. Then he named the island Icaria in the memory of his child.[40] The southeast end of the Aegean Sea where Icarus fell into the water was also called "Mare Icarium" or the Icarian Sea.[41]

In a twist of fate, a partridge, presumably the nephew Daedalus murdered, mocked Daedalus as he buried his son. The fall and death of Icarus is seemingly portrayed as punishment for Daedalus's murder of his nephew.[42]

The shell riddle

After burying Icarus, Daedalus traveled to Camicus in Sicily, where he stayed as a guest under the protection of King Cocalus.[43] There Daedalus built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings as an offering to the god. In an invention of Virgil (Aeneid VI), Daedalus flies to Cumae and founds his temple there, rather than in Sicily.[44]

Minos, meanwhile, searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city asking a riddle. He presented a spiral seashell and asked for a string to be run through it. When he reached Camicus, King Cocalus, knowing Daedalus would be able to solve the riddle, accepted the shell and gave it to Daedalus. Daedalus tied the string to an ant which, lured by a drop of honey at one end, walked through the seashell stringing it all the way through. With the riddle solved, Minos realized that Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and insisted he be handed over. Cocalus agreed to do so, but convinced Minos to take a bath first. In the bath, Cocalus' daughters killed Minos, possibly by pouring boiling water over his body.[45] In some versions, it's Cocalus that kills Minos in the bath.[46] Other variants say that Daedalus himself poured the boiling water, or that he had built the pipes that could supply hot water to the bath and this was used to instead pour boiling water on him.[47][dubious – discuss]

Death

At least two locations are associated with the death of Daedalus. One version of the story says he retired to the Cretan colony of Telmessos, ruled by Minos's estranged brother Sarpedon, and while wandering outside the city, he was bitten by a snake and died. A town on this site, Daidala, is said to be named after him, and is mentioned in Roman sources.[48] Another version of the story places his death on a small island in the Nile river, where he was later worshipped.[49]

The anecdotes are literary and late. However, in the founding tales of the Greek colony of Gela, founded in the 680s BC on the southwest coast of Sicily, a tradition was preserved that the Greeks had seized cult images wrought by Daedalus from their local predecessors, the Sicani.[50]

Later depictions in art and literature

Daedalus and the myths associated with him are often depicted in paintings, sculptures, and more by later artists. The myth about his flight and the fall of Icarus is especially popular in depictions. A few noteworthy pieces are included below.

There are also a number of adaptations of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus in modern literature and film, including a poem by Edward Field,[51] several books, and band or musician names. See Daedalus (disambiguation) for more modern references.

Notes

  1. ^ Wells, John C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 185. ISBN 0-582-05383-8.
  2. ^ Wachter, Rudolf. "Homeric – Mycenaean Word Index (MYC)". In: Prolegomena. Edited by Joachim Latacz, Anton Bierl and Stuart Douglas Olson [English Edition. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. p. 241. doi:10.1515/9781501501746-015
  3. ^ Morris, Sarah P. Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art. Princeton University Press, 1995. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-691-00160-9.
  4. ^ Kerényi, Carl. Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life. Volume 130 de Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology. Princeton University Press, 2020 [1976]. pp. 100-101. ISBN 978-0-691-21410-8.
  5. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 39, 244 & 274; Servius on Virgil, Aeneid 6.14; Suida, s.v. Πέρδικος ἱερόν; Scholiast on Plato, Republic 7.529d
  6. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.76.1; Plato, Ion 533a; Scholia on Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 472
  7. ^ Pausanias, 9.3.2
  8. ^ Apollodorus, 3.15.9; Tzetzes, Chiliades 1.490; Scholiast on Plato, Ion 121a
  9. ^ Scholia on Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 468 & 472
  10. ^ Scholia on Plato, The Republic p. 529
  11. ^ Plutarch, Theseus 19.5
  12. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  13. ^ "Strabo, Geography, Book 6, chapter 3, section 2". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  14. ^ "Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  15. ^ The son of Eupalamus, according to Hyginus, Fabulae 39 "ATHENA MYTHS 5 FAVOUR - Greek Mythology". www.theoi.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  16. ^ "Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  17. ^ "Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  18. ^ Robin Lane Fox, Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer, 2009:187, 178.
  19. ^ "Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  20. ^ William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 40.
  21. ^ "Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  22. ^ "Daedalic sculpture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  23. ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 3". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  24. ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 3". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  25. ^ "Minerva verandert Perdix in een vogel, Crispijn van de Passe (I), 1602 - 1607". Rijksmuseum (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  26. ^ "Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  27. ^ Both inventions are in Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.236
  28. ^ "Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Circĭnus". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  29. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  30. ^ "Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  31. ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 21". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  32. ^ "Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  33. ^ "Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  34. ^ Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: From Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, 1992:36, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0.
  35. ^ "De val van Icarus". lib.ugent.be. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  36. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  37. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 152". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  38. ^ "Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  39. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  40. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  41. ^ "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AEGAEUM MARE". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  42. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  43. ^ "P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 260". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  44. ^ author, Virgil. The Aeneid. ISBN 978-0-300-25875-2. OCLC 1231607822.
  45. ^ "Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  46. ^ "W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, BOOK VII, chapter 170". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  47. ^ "King Minos - Experience Creta". www.experiencecreta.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  48. ^ "The mythical genius of Daidalos, the first polymath". History Extra. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  49. ^ "Daedalus in Sicily, King Minos' death". www.explorecrete.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  50. ^ Pausanias, 8.46.2 & 9.40.3-4; T.J. Dunbabin, The Western Greeks, 1948; S.P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art (1992:199), all noted by Fox 2009:189 note 9.
  51. ^ "Edward Field: "Icarus" –". www.culturalweekly.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.

References

  • Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
  • Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
  • Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
  • Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Suida, Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
  • Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book I translated by Ana Untila from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. Online version at theio.com

External links

 
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February 16, 2023
daedalus, this, article, about, mythological, character, other, uses, disambiguation, greek, mythology, greek, Δαίδαλος, latin, etruscan, taitale, skillful, architect, craftsman, seen, symbol, wisdom, knowledge, power, father, icarus, uncle, perdix, possibly, . This article is about the mythological character For other uses see Daedalus disambiguation In Greek mythology Daedalus UK ˈ d iː d e l e s US ˈ d ɛ d e l e s 1 Greek Daidalos Latin Daedalus Etruscan Taitale was a skillful architect and craftsman seen as a symbol of wisdom knowledge and power He is the father of Icarus the uncle of Perdix and possibly also the father of Iapyx Among his most famous creations are the wooden cow for Pasiphae the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete which imprisoned the Minotaur and wings that he and his son Icarus used to escape Crete It was during this escape that Icarus did not heed his father s warnings and flew too close to the sun the wax holding his wings together melted and Icarus fell to his death DaedalusAthenian craftsmen and inventorA Roman mosaic from Zeugma Commagene now in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum depicting Daedalus and his son IcarusAbodeCretePersonal informationParentsMetion and AlcippeSiblingsPerdixMetiadusaOffspringIcarusIapyx Contents 1 Epigraphic evidence 2 Family 3 Inventor architect artist 4 Mythology 4 1 Nephew 4 2 The Labyrinth 4 3 Icarus 4 4 The shell riddle 4 5 Death 5 Later depictions in art and literature 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksEpigraphic evidence EditThe name Daidalos appears to be attested in Linear B a writing system used to record Mycenaean Greek The name appears in the form da da re jo de possibly referring to a sanctuary 2 3 4 Family EditDaedalus s parentage was supplied as a later addition with various authors attributing different parents to him His father is claimed to be either Eupalamus 5 Metion 6 or Palamaon 7 Similarly his mother was either Alcippe 8 Iphinoe 9 Phrasmede 10 or Merope daughter of King Erechtheus 11 Daedalus had two sons Icarus 12 and Iapyx 13 along with a nephew named either Talos Calos or Perdix 14 The Athenians made Cretan born Daedalus Athenian born the grandson of the ancient king Erechtheus 15 claiming that Daedalus fled to Crete after killing his nephew 16 Inventor architect artist EditDaedalus is first mentioned in roughly 1400 BC on the Knossian Linear B tablets He is later mentioned by Homer as the creator of a dancing floor for Ariadne similar to that which Hephaestus placed on the Shield of Achilles 17 It is clear that Daedalus was not an original character of Homer s Rather Homer was referencing mythology that his audience was already familiar with 18 Upper body of a Daedalic statue of a Kore poros stone Eleftherna archaic period 7th century BC Daedalus is not mentioned again in literature until the fifth century BC but he is widely praised as an inventor artist and architect though classical sources disagree on which inventions exactly are attributable to him In Pliny s Natural History 7 198 he is credited with inventing carpentry including tools like the axe saw glue and more 19 Supposedly he first invented masts and sails for ships for the navy of King Minos He is also said to have carved statues so spirited they appeared to be living and moving 20 Pausanias in traveling around Greece attributed to Daedalus numerous archaic wooden cult figures see xoana that impressed him In fact so many other statues and artworks are attributed to Daedalus by Pausanias and various other sources that likely many of them were never made by him 21 Daedalus gave his name eponymously to many Greek craftsmen and many Greek contraptions and inventions that represented dextrous skill A specific sort of early Greek sculptures are named Daedalic sculpture in his honor 22 In Boeotia there was a festival the Daedala in which a temporary wooden altar was fashioned and an effigy was made from an oak tree and dressed in bridal attire It was carried in a cart with a woman who acted as bridesmaid The image was called daedala 23 Some sources claim that the daedala did not receive their name from Daedalus but the opposite Pausanias claims that Daedalus was not the name given to the inventor at birth but that he was named so later after the daedala 24 Mythology EditNephew Edit Perdix Talus changed into a partridge when thrown from the Acropolis by an envious Daedalus 1602 1607 25 Daedalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival His sister had placed her son under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts as an apprentice His nephew is named variously as Perdix Talos or Calos although some sources say that Perdix was the name of Daedalus sister 26 The nephew showed striking evidence of ingenuity Finding the spine of a fish on the seashore he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge and thus invented the saw He put two pieces of iron together connecting them at one end with a rivet and sharpening the other ends and made a pair of compasses 27 Daedalus was so envious of his nephew s accomplishments that he attempted to murder him by throwing him down from the Acropolis in Athens 28 Athena saved his nephew and turned him into a partridge 29 Tried and convicted for this murder attempt Daedalus left Athens and fled to Crete 30 31 The Labyrinth Edit Daedalus created the Labyrinth on Crete in which the Minotaur was kept Daedalus and Pasiphae Roman fresco in the House of the Vettii Pompeii first century AD Poseidon had given a white bull to King Minos to use it as a sacrifice Instead the king kept the bull for himself and sacrificed another As revenge Poseidon with the help of Aphrodite made King Minos s wife Pasiphae lust for the bull Pasiphae asked Daedalus to help her Daedalus built a hollow wooden cow covered in real cow hide for Pasiphae so she could mate with the bull As a result Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur a creature with the body of a man but the head an tail of a bull King Minos ordered the Minotaur to be imprisoned and guarded in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus for that purpose 32 Daedalus escapes iuvat evasisse by Johann Christoph Sysang 1703 1757 In the story of the Labyrinth as told by the Hellenes the Athenian hero Theseus is challenged to kill the Minotaur finding his way back out with the help of Ariadne s thread It is Daedalus himself who gives Ariadne the clue as to how to escape the labyrinth 33 Ignoring Homer later writers envisaged the Labyrinth as an edifice rather than a single dancing path to the center and out again and gave it numerous winding passages and turns that opened into one another seeming to have neither beginning nor end Ovid in his Metamorphoses suggests that Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it 34 Icarus Edit Print of Icarus falling after his wings were broken 35 The most familiar literary telling explaining Daedalus wings is a late one by Ovid in his Metamorphoses 36 Daedalus and Icarus c 1645 by Charles Le Brun 1619 1690 After Theseus and Ariadne eloped together 37 Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned by King Minos in the labyrinth that he had built 38 He could not leave Crete by sea as King Minos kept a strict watch on all vessels permitting none to sail without being carefully searched Since Minos controlled the land routes as well Daedalus set to work to make wings for himself and his son Icarus Using bird feathers of various sizes thread and beeswax he shaped them to resemble a bird s wings When both were prepared for flight Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high because the heat of the sun would melt the beeswax holding his feathers together and the wings would break nor too low because the sea foam would soak the feathers and make them heavy and he would fall 39 After Daedalus and Icarus had passed Samos Delos and Lebynthos Icarus disobeyed his father and began to soar upward toward the sun He flew too close to the sun Without any warning the sun melted the wax that held the feathers together and they fell off Icarus kept flapping his wings But he realized he had no feathers left and he was only flapping his featherless arms The feathers one by one fell like snowflakes and down down and down he went into the sea where he sank to the bottom and drowned Seeing Icarus wings floating in the sea Daedalus wept cursed his art and finding Icarus s dead body on an island shore buried Icarus s body there Then he named the island Icaria in the memory of his child 40 The southeast end of the Aegean Sea where Icarus fell into the water was also called Mare Icarium or the Icarian Sea 41 The Lament for Icarus by H J Draper 1898 In a twist of fate a partridge presumably the nephew Daedalus murdered mocked Daedalus as he buried his son The fall and death of Icarus is seemingly portrayed as punishment for Daedalus s murder of his nephew 42 The shell riddle Edit After burying Icarus Daedalus traveled to Camicus in Sicily where he stayed as a guest under the protection of King Cocalus 43 There Daedalus built a temple to Apollo and hung up his wings as an offering to the god In an invention of Virgil Aeneid VI Daedalus flies to Cumae and founds his temple there rather than in Sicily 44 Minos meanwhile searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city asking a riddle He presented a spiral seashell and asked for a string to be run through it When he reached Camicus King Cocalus knowing Daedalus would be able to solve the riddle accepted the shell and gave it to Daedalus Daedalus tied the string to an ant which lured by a drop of honey at one end walked through the seashell stringing it all the way through With the riddle solved Minos realized that Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and insisted he be handed over Cocalus agreed to do so but convinced Minos to take a bath first In the bath Cocalus daughters killed Minos possibly by pouring boiling water over his body 45 In some versions it s Cocalus that kills Minos in the bath 46 Other variants say that Daedalus himself poured the boiling water or that he had built the pipes that could supply hot water to the bath and this was used to instead pour boiling water on him 47 dubious discuss Death Edit At least two locations are associated with the death of Daedalus One version of the story says he retired to the Cretan colony of Telmessos ruled by Minos s estranged brother Sarpedon and while wandering outside the city he was bitten by a snake and died A town on this site Daidala is said to be named after him and is mentioned in Roman sources 48 Another version of the story places his death on a small island in the Nile river where he was later worshipped 49 The anecdotes are literary and late However in the founding tales of the Greek colony of Gela founded in the 680s BC on the southwest coast of Sicily a tradition was preserved that the Greeks had seized cult images wrought by Daedalus from their local predecessors the Sicani 50 Later depictions in art and literature EditDaedalus and the myths associated with him are often depicted in paintings sculptures and more by later artists The myth about his flight and the fall of Icarus is especially popular in depictions A few noteworthy pieces are included below Depictions in classical art Small bronze sculpture of Daedalus 3rd century BC found on Plaoshnik North Macedonia Daedalus and Icarus fresco in Pompeii 1st century AD Daedalus and Pasiphae fresco in Pompeii 1st century AD Landscape with the Fall of Icarus detail by Peter Brueghel the Elder ca 1558 The Fall of Icarus by Merry Josoph Blondel 1819 Louvre Daedalus and Icarus by Frederick Leighton c 1869 Daedalus constructs wings for his son Icarus after a Roman relief in the Villa Albani Rome Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888 Daedalus and Icarus by H A Guerber 1896 There are also a number of adaptations of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus in modern literature and film including a poem by Edward Field 51 several books and band or musician names See Daedalus disambiguation for more modern references Notes Edit Wells John C 1990 Longman pronunciation dictionary Harlow England Longman p 185 ISBN 0 582 05383 8 Wachter Rudolf Homeric Mycenaean Word Index MYC In Prolegomena Edited by Joachim Latacz Anton Bierl and Stuart Douglas Olson English Edition Berlin Munchen Boston De Gruyter 2015 p 241 doi 10 1515 9781501501746 015 Morris Sarah P Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art Princeton University Press 1995 p 76 ISBN 978 0 691 00160 9 Kerenyi Carl Dionysos Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life Volume 130 de Mythos The Princeton Bollingen Series in World Mythology Princeton University Press 2020 1976 pp 100 101 ISBN 978 0 691 21410 8 Hyginus Fabulae 39 244 amp 274 Servius on Virgil Aeneid 6 14 Suida s v Perdikos ἱeron Scholiast on Plato Republic 7 529d Diodorus Siculus 4 76 1 Plato Ion 533a Scholia on Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 472 Pausanias 9 3 2 Apollodorus 3 15 9 Tzetzes Chiliades 1 490 Scholiast on Plato Ion 121a Scholia on Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 468 amp 472 Scholia on Plato The Republic p 529 Plutarch Theseus 19 5 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 183 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Strabo Geography Book 6 chapter 3 section 2 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Library book 3 chapter 15 section 8 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 The son of Eupalamus according to Hyginus Fabulae 39 ATHENA MYTHS 5 FAVOUR Greek Mythology www theoi com Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Library book 3 chapter 15 section 8 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Andrew Stewart One Hundred Greek Sculptors Their Careers and Extant Works The Sculptors The Archaic Period www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Robin Lane Fox Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer 2009 187 178 Andrew Stewart One Hundred Greek Sculptors Their Careers and Extant Works The Sculptors The Archaic Period www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 William Godwin 1876 Lives of the Necromancers p 40 Andrew Stewart One Hundred Greek Sculptors Their Careers and Extant Works The Sculptors The Archaic Period www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Daedalic sculpture Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 2021 06 07 Pausanias Description of Greece Boeotia chapter 3 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Pausanias Description of Greece Boeotia chapter 3 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Minerva verandert Perdix in een vogel Crispijn van de Passe I 1602 1607 Rijksmuseum in Dutch Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Library book 3 chapter 15 section 8 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Both inventions are in Ovid Metamorphoses 8 236 Harry Thurston Peck Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities 1898 Circĭnus www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 183 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Library book 3 chapter 15 section 8 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Pausanias Description of Greece Attica chapter 21 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Library book 3 chapter 1 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Epitome book E chapter 1 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Penelope Reed Doob The Idea of the Labyrinth From Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages 1992 36 ISBN 0 8014 8000 0 De val van Icarus lib ugent be Retrieved 2020 10 02 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 183 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 152 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Apollodorus Epitome book E chapter 1 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 183 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 183 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography 1854 AEGAEUM MARE www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 183 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 P Ovidius Naso Metamorphoses Book 8 line 260 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 author Virgil The Aeneid ISBN 978 0 300 25875 2 OCLC 1231607822 Apollodorus Epitome book E chapter 1 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 W W How J Wells A Commentary on Herodotus BOOK VII chapter 170 www perseus tufts edu Retrieved 2021 06 07 King Minos Experience Creta www experiencecreta com Retrieved 2022 05 13 The mythical genius of Daidalos the first polymath History Extra Retrieved 2022 05 13 Daedalus in Sicily King Minos death www explorecrete com Retrieved 2022 05 13 Pausanias 8 46 2 amp 9 40 3 4 T J Dunbabin The Western Greeks 1948 S P Morris Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art 1992 199 all noted by Fox 2009 189 note 9 Edward Field Icarus www culturalweekly com Retrieved 2021 06 07 References EditApollodorus The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer F B A F R S in 2 Volumes Cambridge MA Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1921 ISBN 0 674 99135 4 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Greek text available from the same website Diodorus Siculus The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather Twelve volumes Loeb Classical Library Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1989 Vol 3 Books 4 59 8 Online version at Bill Thayer s Web Site Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historica Vol 1 2 Immanel Bekker Ludwig Dindorf Friedrich Vogel in aedibus B G Teubneri Leipzig 1888 1890 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library Gaius Julius Hyginus Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies Online version at the Topos Text Project Maurus Servius Honoratus In Vergilii carmina comentarii Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen Georgius Thilo Leipzig B G Teubner 1881 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W H S Jones Litt D and H A Ormerod M A in 4 Volumes Cambridge MA Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1918 ISBN 0 674 99328 4 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias Graeciae Descriptio 3 vols Leipzig Teubner 1903 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library Ovid Metamorphoses Brookes More Boston Cornhill Publishing Co 1922 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Suida Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife David Whitehead William Hutton Catharine Roth Jennifer Benedict Gregory Hays Malcolm Heath Sean M Redmond Nicholas Fincher Patrick Rourke Elizabeth Vandiver Raphael Finkel Frederick Williams Carl Widstrand Robert Dyer Joseph L Rife Oliver Phillips and many others Online version at the Topos Text Project Tzetzes John Book of Histories Book I translated by Ana Untila from the original Greek of T Kiessling s edition of 1826 Online version at theio comExternal links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daedalus Thomas Bulfinch s Mythology Daedalus at the Encyclopaedia Britannica Andrew Stewart One Hundred Greek Sculptors Their Careers and Extant Works Begins with Daedalus Peter Hunt Ekphrasis or Not Ovid Met 8 183 235 in Pieter Bruegel the Elder s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus Archived from the original 10 July 2009 Smith William Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology London 1873 Daedalus Warburg Institute Iconographic Database Archived 2013 12 03 at the Wayback Machine c 100 photos of Daedalus and Icarus Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Daedalus amp oldid 1139347781, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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