Greek Mythology : Icarus and Daedalus

Daedalus was a skilled craftsman, he designed the famous Minotaur maze, and he also engineered wings that could make humans fly. His son, Icarus, was made a pair, and they went flying together.

The king at the time was King Minos. He receives a gift from Poseidon, the God, in the form of a bull. The bull is given so Minos can sacrifice it. Instead he decides to keep it as a pet.

The Gods get pissed off at this and with the help of Aphrodite make Minos’ queen fall in love with the bull. In order to get the bull to mate with her, she goes to Daedalus. Daedalus builds a wooden cow which the Queen can fit inside of, hoping the cow attracts the bull and he does his thing. This works out and the Queen becomes pregnant.

The offspring from this beastiallity is the infamous Minotaur, with the head of a bull, and the body of a man. King Minos finds out, and is obviously is pissed off. He demands that Daedalus builds the maze/labyrinth in order to throw the minotaur inside of it and keep it imprisoned forever. Daedalus does this, building one of the grandest mazes the world has ever seen.

The king then throws Daedalus and his son, Icarus, inside the tower that is inside the labyrinth, keeping them prisoners for life as well.

Daedalus knew the maze like the back of his hand, but knew it’d be guarded even if he reached the entrance, so he built wings from collected feathers which lofted down from various birds. His window overlooked the sea, and that is where he and Icarus jumped to catch the wind and fly towards the mainland.

On the island of Crete:

Icarus, the young lad, inexperienced and headstrong, flies too close to the Sun and falls into the sea, drowning to death. His father warned him if he flew too high, the wax would melt, causing the wings to fall apart, but his advice was not heeded.

Daedalus is left lamenting his folly for the rest of his life, blaming the Gods for taking his son’s life, when it was really his own damn fault to put his son in such a dangerous position.

And yet, what is the point of life, if not to push things to their limit, mentally or physically, just to feel that transcendent glory? To metaphorically “touch the Sun”. Such is the curse of humankind.

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One of my favorite bands ever, Thrice, wrote a pair of songs about this myth from each person’s perspective — I get shivers how these stories get retold over and over in different mediums throughout history.

From Icarus’ view:

Parody of an angel
Miles above the sea
I hear the voice of reason
Screaming after me
"You've flown far too high boy, now you're too close to the sun,
Soon your makeshift wings will come undone"

But how will I know limits of life, if I never try?

…………

I will touch the sun or I will die trying

From Daedalus’ view:

I stand on the cliffs with my son next to me
This island our prison, our home
And everyday we look out at the sea
This place is all he's ever known

…………….

O, Gods!
Why is this happening to me?
All I wanted was a new life, for my son to grow up free
And now you took the only thing that meant anything to me
I will never fly again, I will hang up my wings