Fleeing from death, Daedalus fled to Crete to the mighty king Minos, the son of Zeus and Europe. Minos willingly took him under his protection. Many marvelous works of art were made by Daedalus for the king of Crete. He also built for him the famous palace of the Labyrinth with such intricate passages that, once entering it, it was impossible to find a way out. In this palace, Minos imprisoned the son of his wife Pasiphae, the terrible Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Daedalus lived with Minos for many years. The king from Crete did not want to let him go, only he wanted to use the art of the great artist. As if a prisoner was held by Minos Daedalus in Crete. Daedalus thought for a long time how to escape him, and finally found a way to free himself from Cretan bondage. “If I cannot,” exclaimed Daedalus, “be saved from the power of Minos either by land or by sea, then the sky is open for flight! Here is my way! Minos owns everything, only he does not own the air!
Daedalus set to work. He collected feathers, fastened them with linen thread and wax, and began to make four large wings from them. While Daedalus worked, his son Icarus played near his father: either he caught fluff, which flew up from the breath of the breeze, or crumpled wax in his hands. Finally Daedalus finished his work: the wings were ready. Daedalus tied the wings to his back, put his hands through the loops attached to the wings, waved them and smoothly rose into the air. Icarus looked in amazement at his father, who soared in the air like a huge bird. Daedalus descended to earth and said to his son:
Listen, Icarus, now we will fly away from Crete. Be careful while flying. Do not go too low to the sea, so that the salt spray of the waves does not wet your wings. Do not rise even close to the sun: the heat can melt the wax, and the feathers will scatter. Follow me, keep up with me.
The father and son put wings on their hands and easily rose into the air. Those who saw them flying high above the earth thought that these were two gods rushing through the azure sky. Daedalus often turned around to see how his son was flying. They have already passed the islands of Delos, Paros, and are flying farther and farther.
A quick flight amuses Icarus, he flaps his wings more and more boldly. Icarus has forgotten his father's instructions, he does not fly after him. Strongly flapping his wings, Icarus flew high into the sky, closer to the radiant sun. The scorching rays melted the wax that held the feathers together, they fell out and scattered far through the air, driven by the wind. Icarus waved his hands, but there are no more wings on them. Headlong he fell from a terrible height into the sea and died in its waves. Daedalus turned around, looking around. No Icarus. Loudly he began to call his son:
— Icarus! Icarus! Where are you? Respond!
No answer. Daedalus saw feathers from the wings of Icarus on the sea waves and understood what had happened. How Daedalus hated his art, how he hated the day when he planned to escape from Crete by air!
And the body of Icarus for a long time rushed along the waves of the sea, which became known by the name of the deceased Ikarian. Finally, the waves nailed the body of Icarus to the shore of the island, where Hercules found him and buried him. Daedalus continued his flight and finally flew to Sicily. There he settled with King Kokal. Minos found out where the artist had hidden, went with a large army to Sicily and demanded that Kokal give him Daedalus.
The daughters of Kokal did not want to lose such an artist as Daedalus. They persuaded their father to agree to the demands of Minos and accept him as a guest in the palace. When Minos was taking a bath, the daughters of Kokal poured a cauldron of boiling water over his head; Minos died in terrible agony. Daedalus lived for a long time in Sicily. He spent the last years of his life at home, in Athens; there he became the ancestor of the Daedalides, a glorious family of Athenian artists.
Vladimir Kartashov
Galina Shilina "Icarus"
Galina Shilina "I want to fly"
Leighton Frederick, (1830-1896) Daedalus and Icarus
"Fall of Icarus" Jacob Peter Gouy, c. 1636-1637 Madrid, Prado Museum
Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Fall of Icarus
Tamara Kolesnichenko "Icarus. Flights in a dream and in reality" (from the series "Icarus")
Nikolai Moskvin "Icarus"
Karen Sarkisov
Sergey Belov
Kuznetsov V.I.
Viktor Mitroshin
From early childhood, we loved to listen to mystical stories about the exploits of the heroes of antiquity, especially myths and legends. After all, they told us about the strength, dexterity, wisdom of man, about love and hatred; we plunged into a fantasy world that is inaccessible to us.
A myth is an ancient legend that conveys the understanding of the world around us by our ancestors, and therefore humanity will never cease to be interested in them. Different peoples have their own legends, but the myths of Ancient Greece are the most famous. The ancient population of Greece became famous for its tireless activity, energy, the ancient Hellenes tried to find an explanation for the appearance of all life on Earth, natural phenomena and determine the true position of man in this world. A myth was born about in those distant times, this city was a center of trade, crafts, it was engaged in sciences, and all kinds of arts.
Daedalus was an honorary resident of Athens, and the inhabitants of the city respected him for his unsurpassed skill as a builder, sculptor and stone carver. But not only the Athenians knew and respected Daedalus, in others he was famous for his sculptural and building works: everyone said that his statues stand as if alive.
Daedalus had a nephew as a student, and he began to surpass his mentor: even in his youth, he invented a new machine for working with clay, a saw made of snake teeth, and many other necessary devices. Thanks to his inventions, even in his youth, he became famous, from this he became proud and arrogant. The uncle began to envy the young master, he was afraid that the student would surpass his mentor, and he decided on a crime: late in the evening he threw his nephew from the city wall. After the crime, he was overcome with fear: after all, he would be considered the murderer of his nephew.
After all these experiences, as the myths of ancient Greece tell, Daedalus found shelter and patronage from the Cretan, who made the architect his own painter. Minos ordered Daedalus to create a special shelter for the Minotaur, a mythical animal with the body of a man and the head of a bull, so that people would not see him.
The famous builder built the Labyrinth (as the myth of Daedalus and Icarus tells), where there were many moves and intricate transitions, it was easy to get lost in it. They went forward, then back, and it was simply impossible to get out of there. It was in such a confusing place that the Minotaur was supposed to live.
To feed the Minotaur, the Athenians sent seven girls and boys each, this was their tribute to the Cretan king.
But Daedalus was a witty man, and when the captives were brought, he gave the royal daughter Ariadne a ball of thread with which they could return back if Theseus won the battle with the Minotaur. The Cretan king found out about this and put Daedalus in prison.
As the myth of Daedalus and Icarus tells further, the famous master did not like imprisonment, and he began to think about how to quietly leave his prison. He realized that the Cretan king would not let him go voluntarily, and decided to fly through the air. To fulfill his dream, he collected different bird feathers, tied them in a special order, like a bird's, and from afar his creation could be mistaken for real bird wings. To fasten the feathers, he used linen laces and wax, and slightly bent them.
Little Icarus, the son of Daedalus, loved to look at his father's work, but over time, he began to help him make wings. At the end of the work, Daedalus attached wings to his body, and began to soar above everyone, like a bird. After his father landed, Icarus ran up to him and began to tearfully beg to make exactly the same wings for him in order to travel through the air together. At first, the father was very angry with his son for asking, but soon his heart softened and he made wings for the boy.
Daedalus warned his son that the wings were held together with wax, and one must fly carefully, not rising high into the sky, where the sun was very close. But the disobedient Icarus did his own thing - he rose too high, the wax began to melt from the hot rays of the sun, his wings collapsed, and he fell into the sea. Later, people named the sea in his honor - it is still called Ikarian. The body was washed ashore, and the mighty Hercules betrayed him to the ground on a small island, which also bears the name of a proud young man - Icarium.
After reading this legend, a person will want to engage in lofty deeds himself, moving away from everyday routine. After mankind learned to move on land and water, it began to think about moving through the air.
The image of Icarus personifies the idea that any, the most sublime dream can be realized, to achieve the goal with your hard work, diligence and skill. And the wings created by Daedalus can be a symbol of superior skill.
Icarus' disdain for his father's advice led him to his death, but he, forgetting everything in a breathtaking flight, strove to fly to the sun. The Olympian gods did not like this, and they severely punished him.
Daedalus and Icarus, judging by the legends of the Hellenes, were real people, and kept their names in history, thanks to their decisions, unusual for that time. The myth of the father-inventor and the daredevil-son, centuries later, has become a kind of warning for those who do not know how to realistically assess their strengths. But along with this - and the image of a dream.
As ancient legends of the Greeks tell, Daedalus and Icarus lived in the heyday of the country of the Hellenes, when people tried to design unusual inventions for mankind. The son of Mecius, the Athenian Daedalus, was considered one of the best inventors and builders. He was the first in history to risk creating wings to take to the sky, and the master succeeded. But for his courage he paid with the life of his only son. Daedalus and Icarus are symbols:
Daedalus entered the history of Greece as a talented artist and designer, the creator of many tools, the author of sculptures, which were said to be able to move:
His name was born from the Greek word "dedalo" - to make art. What did Daedalus invent? The most famous masterpieces:
Who is Icarus in Ancient Greece? This boy became famous as the first and, at that time, the only person who dared to rise to the sun. The teenager was the son of the inventor Daedalus, who helped his father design wings from feathers and wax. Rising into the sky, Icarus did not obey his father and decided to fly much higher, to the sun. It melted the wax, and the boy crashed, falling into the water. It happened not far from the island of Samos, where the sea began to be called Ikarian. The daredevil was buried by the hero Hercules on the island of Doliha, called Ikaria.
The myth about Daedalus and Icarus tells: the daredevils decided to take off on wax wings not for fun, but for escape. The talented designer decided to flee from the island of Crete, where he was in the service of King Minos. Daedalus could not use the ship, and chose to escape through the air, creating wings from feathers and wax. The little son asked to take him with him, promising to obey in everything. But when they took to the skies, the boy wanted to fly closer to the sun, ignoring his father's warnings. The wax melted under the rays, the wings broke apart, and the teenager crashed into the waves.
There is a version that in the story about these daredevils, the Greeks tried to preserve information about the invented oblique sails. Allegedly, Daedalus and Icarus fled from Crete on a ship with such sails, which were used not only with a fair wind, like all sailors, but also with a side wind, and even a headwind. Such a decision was considered the ultimate dream of sea travelers of that time. And Icarus died not in the air, but in the water, falling overboard while sailing.
The legend of Daedalus and Icarus has been analyzed by researchers and even psychologists. There is even a special interpretation of the symbols mentioned in this legend:
There is another interpretation that unites father and son, which suggests that Daedalus and Icarus are a collapsed dream that was almost realized. After all, the master, who was careful, nevertheless reached the shore. This myth gave rise to the idiom "flight of Icarus", which is considered both positive and nominal, having received several meanings:
The myth of Icarus and Daedalus is characteristic of the period of late classical mythology, when heroes become popular who show themselves not by strength and weapons, but by resourcefulness and skill.
Icarus and Daedalus. The main character of this ancient Greek legend is the father of Icarus - Daedalus, who made his wings. And meanwhile he was the most skillful person of his time, the greatest craftsman, the inventor of carpentry tools, the most skillful architect and sculptor, his fantastic sculptures were as if alive.
However, the legendary Greek craftsman had to flee from Athens, where, in a fit of envy and anger, he committed a crime: he threw his nephew Talos, who surpassed him in talent and skill, from the roof of the acropolis.
A 12-year-old boy, despite such a young age, invented a carpenter's saw in the model and likeness of the backbone of a fish, designed a potter's wheel, invented a lathe and compasses. Daedalus was so frightened by the superiority of the young genius that he once pushed him off the roof of the Athenian Acropolis.
Having killed his nephew, Delal tried to hide the traces of the crime, but was caught in the act and condemned to death. But he managed to escape to the island of Crete, where he asked for protection from King Minos. And already living at the court of the ruler, Delal had to maneuver between two fires.
Antique vase painting. Pasiphae with her son the Minotaur. As the ancient Greek legend says: at first he helped Queen Pasiphae to instruct her husband's horns, who cheated on him with a bull, in the most literal sense of the word; then he helped Minos to hide the Minotaur born by Pasiphae - a monster with a bull's head and a human body from prying eyes, having built the famous labyrinth. And a few years later he helped the enemy of the Cretan king Theseus kill the bull-headed Minotaur. It was Daedalus who came up with how not to get lost in the labyrinth with the help of a thread and told Ariadne about this, who gave this thread to Theseus.
Antique vase painting. Theseus kills the Minotaur. But this is a story from another myth, when the Greek hero Theseus went to the island of Crete in order to destroy the Minotaur, to whom the Athenians were obliged to send seven young men and seven beautiful girls to be torn to pieces every nine years.
The enraged King Minos, having heard about complicity, imprisoned both Daedalus himself and his son Icarus, who was already born on the island from the slave Navkarta, into the labyrinth. By the way, the master's son was a mirror image of his murdered cousin Talos and they were also the same age at that time. But in fairness, it should be noted that, unlike Talos, Icarus had absolutely no talents and hobbies.
Daedalus and Icarus. Relief. She secretly freed Pasiphae from the labyrinth of prisoners. And in order to escape from the island, the ingenious craftsman made four huge wings for himself and his son from feathers. With tireless diligence, Daedalus bound all kinds of bird feathers, starting with the shortest and gradually ending with longer ones, fastening them with wax. And when the wings were ready, he, tying them with straps on his son's shoulders, gave instructions that he would fly without rising too high, so that the wax would not melt from the sun's rays.
"Rise of Icarus". The careless youth did not obey his father and approached too close to the Sun, the rays of which melted the fasteners. Icarus fell and drowned not far from the island of Samos in the sea, which in this part received the name of the Icarian Sea.
"The Fall of Icarus". Author: Carlo Saraceni. Delal, flying in front, looked back and saw no son behind him, but only scattered feathers on the crests of the sea waves. And then the old man understood everything... Having landed, he waited until his son's corpse washed ashore and buried him on the island of Doliha, named after him - Ikaria...
However, the mythical story did not end there. After mourning his son, Daedalus reached the Sicilian city and asked the local ruler Kokal for shelter from the persecution of the Cretan king. For he, when he learned that his master had fled to Sicily, decided to go after him with a whole army and bring him back.
For some time the ruler of Sicily shied away, but Minos tricked him into giving up the master, and Kokal had no choice but to agree to give up the fugitive. But before that, inviting the guest to take a bath from the road, he boiled him in boiling water. And Daedalus spent the rest of his life in Sicily.
From generation to generation, legends were passed down about the brilliant master Daedalus, who was able to arrange a wonderful lake with a flowing river in Sicily. And on a high cliff of a rock, where not a single tree could hold, he built an amazing castle. The ruler Kokal settled in it, and kept his treasures there. The third miracle created by Daedalus was a deep cave in which he arranged underground heating.
In addition, he erected an open temple of Aphrodite over the tomb of the Cretan king Minos.
Daedalus was truly a great master. But since the death of his son, he was never happy again, despite all his achievements. He lived a lonely old age in sorrow and was buried in Sicily.
The essence of this myth is in the idea of punishing Daedalus, mediocrity and death of Icarus - also retribution to the father for the crime committed. The goddesses of vengeance needed to arrange everything so that the young man died in exactly the same way that his father killed Talos: that is why he falls from a height. And it is not at all necessary to look for heroism and courage here, this is just the cruel revenge of the gods for the sin of the father.
Daedalus and Icarus. Author: Frederic Leighton. That is why the son, contrary to the advice of his father, began to rise to the sun, it was also a childish game, a prank, and not gaining freedom in a disastrous flight. This whole beautiful story, which is very familiar to a wide circle of the public, was invented by writers. It was they who idealized the image of Icarus as a hero, symbolizing the dream of a person to soar into the sky like a bird and soar without feeling heavy.
Renaissance moralists used this theme of ancient Greek myth in order to teach how dangerous extremes are and how good the virtue of moderation is, as well as to warn against human arrogance.
But Daedalus also exaggerated pride and vanity. He liked to realize himself as the most intelligent of all the inhabitants of Athens. Daedalus had a nephew - Talos, who was also an inventor and studied with Daedalus.
One day, standing on a steep peak, Talos fell off him and died. According to one version, he was pushed by Daedalus, who did not want another inventor to exist in Athens. Then Athena, knowing the course of the future, saved Talas by turning him into a bird. According to another version, Talas broke himself. But anyway Daedalus ordered to leave Athens.
Then Daedalus sails to the neighboring island - Crete. There he meets a powerful but rumored cruel king. Minos. The king grants Daedalus glory, wealth and honor, and in return demands the creation of sophisticated weapons for him and promises that he will use these weapons only for protection. Daedalus is peacefully working on his projects when Minos' wife approaches him with an unusual request - Pasiphae. She asks to create for her a structure similar to a bull.
Poseidon provided Minos with a divine white bull as a sacrifice to him. But Minos was so struck by the beauty of the bull that he hid it and instead sacrificed the usual one. For this misconduct, Poseidon cursed his wife, Pasiphae, inspiring her with a passion for this bull.
Daedalus creates a wooden structure lined with skin and places this structure in a meadow so that Pasiphae can secretly satisfy her passion for a bull. So Pasiphae gives birth to a half-man, half-bull, who will be called Minotaur.
Soon, Daedalus from the slave Navkrata has a son - Icarus. Gradually, Minos ceases to be so hospitable and begins to use the invented weapon to attack Athens, and then asks to create a "monster" for the newborn - a minotaur, a prison from which it is impossible to escape.
Daedalus is forced to agree, and creates a minotaur labyrinth from which it is almost impossible to escape. Upon completion of construction, Minos informs him that the labyrinth was needed not only in order to hide this "monster" in it, but also in order to avenge the Athenians for the death of his son Androgyne who died in the war against the Athenians.
Now every year, Aegeus, the king of Athens, must provide him with 7 young girls and 7 young men, who should be placed in a labyrinth to be eaten by a minotaur.
Daedalus could no longer endure this, but he could not escape either. By land - he and his son will be caught, by sea - too. Then he remembers the advice of Athena and looks closely at the clues of nature. Looking at the birds in the sky, he comes up with a plan. He decides to build wings and fly to neighboring countries by air.
Soon he builds two pairs of wings for himself and his son, Icarus. And now, standing in front of a steep cliff, Daedalus warns his son: "Do not fly too close to the sea, otherwise the water will wet the wings, and they will become heavy, but also do not fly too close to the sun, otherwise the wax will melt and the wings will fall apart"
For a long time, the heart-rending cries of the father who had lost his child - IKAR - could be heard from the sky!
Daedalus was forced to go west alone. According to one version, he arrived in the city of Kimy, where he was received by the king Kokal.
King Minos did not want to give away Daedalus just like that and came up with a trick. He sent messengers all over the world with the news that whoever threads a thread through the shell and all its convolutions will be richly rewarded.
King Kokal asks Daedalus to help him with this riddle. Then Daedalus ties the thread to the ant and launches it into the shell, soon the thread is threaded through the shell and all its convolutions.
Kokal reports his clue to Minos and is waiting for a reward, but Minos demands that Daedalus be returned to him, otherwise the war with Crete cannot be avoided!
Kokal doesn't want to give Daedalus away and comes up with a plan. He invites Minos to his place. Upon arrival, his daughters seduce Minos and invite him to rest in the baths. There he is doused with boiling water, and he dies from burns.
A story like this deserves a picture:
Nearby you can see a partridge, which is watching the death of Icarus. So the artist depicted Talos, whom Athena turned into a bird. Irony, the son of Daedalus could not fly, and the one whom Daedalus wanted to kill became a bird.
Neither the plowman, nor the shepherd, nor the fisherman, nor the people on the ship pay attention to Icarus, so the artist wanted to show what is in front of us stupid and absurd death. The death of a man who thinks too much of himself.
The main idea of the Daedalus and Icarus myth is that that vanity and pride do not lead to anything good. If Daedalus had not pushed Talos, then he would not have had to flee the city and work for the villain. If Icarus had not strived to surpass his father at all costs and rise above, then he would not have died a stupid death.
