![]() When he had enough feathers and wax, Daedalus set to work making two pairs of enormous wings, one pair for himself and the other for Icarus.ĭaedalus carefully instructed his son on how to use the wings to fly. Day after day, he collected the feathers of birds. The Winged Escape Daedalus put his talents to work. To punish Daedalus for his role in the escape, the king imprisoned him and his young son Icarus in the Labyrinth. When King Minos discovered what had happened, he was furious. He killed the beast and then used the string to find his way out of the Labyrinth. Theseus tied the string to the entrance of the Labyrinth and unwound it as he made his way toward the Minotaur. When Theseus went into the Labyrinth to slay the Minotaur, Ariadne gave him a ball of string that she had obtained from Daedalus. Ariadne (pronounced ar-ee-AD-nee), the king's daughter, fell in love with Theseus and asked Daedalus to help her find a way of saving him. He was determined to put an end to the human sacrifice. One year the Greek hero Theseus (pronounced THEE-see-uhs) came to Crete as one of the youths. These unfortunate Athenians were sent into the Labyrinth one by one as food for the Minotaur. After suffering defeat in battle with Crete, Athens had to send King Minos a yearly tribute of seven boys and seven girls. Some were provided by the city of Athens. King Minos kept the Minotaur imprisoned in the Labyrinth. Its layout was so complex that no one who entered it could ever find a way out. Daedalus designed the Labyrinth, a mazelike network of winding passages that had only one entrance. He ordered Daedalus to construct a prison from which the monster could never escape. The Labyrinth King Minos wanted to hide the Minotaur. As a result of these visits, Pasiphaë gave birth to the Minotaur, a monstrous creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. ![]() At the request of the queen, Daedalus built a lifelike model of a cow in which she could conceal herself and spend time with her beloved bull. The angry sea god punished the king by causing his wife, Pasiphaë (pronounced pa-SIF-ah-ee), to fall helplessly in love with the bull. The bull was so magnificent that Minos decided to keep it rather than sacrifice it to Poseidon. Minos had asked the sea god Poseidon (pronounced poh-SYE-dun) for a sacrificial bull, and a beautiful white bull had emerged from the sea. He went to Crete, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, and began working for King Minos, the Cretan ruler. Because of his crime, Daedalus was forced to leave Athens. ![]() In some versions, Athena (pronounced uh-THEE-nuh)-or her Roman equivalent Minerva (pronounced mi-NUR-vuh)-saved Talus by transforming him into a partridge. He killed Talus by pushing him off a cliff into the sea. This idea was more than Daedalus could bear. ![]() Before long, Daedalus grew jealous of Talus, believing that the boy might become as great a craftsman as he was. The boy soon showed remarkable talent, inventing the saw by copying either the jawbone of a snake or the spine of a fish. Indeed, it was said that the statues Daedalus made were so realistic that they had to be chained to keep them from running away.ĭaedalus's nephew Talus (also called Perdix) came to serve as an apprentice to his uncle. The name Daedalus means “ingenious” or “clever.” Daedalus lived in Athens, where he was known for his skills as an inventor, artist, and sculptor. ![]()
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