Daedalus was a highly respected and talented Athenianartisan descendent from the royal family of Cecrops, the mythicalfirst king of Athens. He was known for his skill as an architect,sculpture, and inventor, and he produced many famous works. Despitehis self-confidence, Daedalus once committed a crime of envy againstTalus, his nephew and apprentice. Talus, who seemed destined to becomeas great an artisan as his uncle Daedalus, was inspired one day toinvent the saw after having seen the way a snake used itsjaws. Daedalus, momentarily stricken with jealousy, threw Talus off ofthe Acropolis. For this crime, Daedalus was exiled to Crete and placedin the service of King Minos, where he eventually had a son, Icarus,with the beautiful Naucrate, a mistress-slave of the King.
Minos called on Daedalus to build the famousLabyrinth in order to imprison the dreaded Minotaur. The Minotaur wasa monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. He was theson of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a bull that Poseidon had sentto Minos as a gift. Minos was shamed by the birth of this horriblecreature and resolved to imprison the Minotaur in the Labyrinth whereit fed on humans, which were taken as "tribute" by Minos andsacrificed to the Minotaur in memory of his fallen son Androgenos.Theseus, the heroic King of Athens, volunteered himself to be sent tothe Minotaur in the hopes of killing the beast and ending the "humantribute" that his city was forced to pay Minos. When Theseus arrivedto Crete, Ariadne, Minos's daughter, fell in love with him and wishedto help him survive the Minotaur. Daedalus revealed the mystery ofthe Labyrinth to Ariadne who in turn advised Theseus, thus enablinghim to slay the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. When Minosfound out what Daedalus had done he was so enraged that he imprisonedDaedalus & Icarus in the Labyrinth themselves.
Daedalus conceived to escape from the Labyrinth with Icarus from Creteby constructing wings and then flying to safety. He built the wingsfrom feathers and wax, and before the two set off he warned Icarus notto fly too low lest his wings touch the waves and get wet, and not toohigh lest the sun melt the wax. But the young Icarus, overwhelmed bythe thrill of flying, did not heed his father's warning, and flew tooclose to the sun whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fellinto the sea. Daedalus escaped to Sicily and Icarus' body was carriedashore by the current to an island then without a name. Heracles cameacross the body and recognized it, giving it burial where today therestill stands a small rock promontory jutting out into the Aegean Sea,and naming the island and the sea around it after the fallenIcarus. Credits: From:"http://www.island-ikaria.com/culture/myth.asp".
