Daedalus

Daedalus (dĕd`ələs), in Greek mythology, craftsman and inventor. After killing his apprentice Talos in envy, he fled from Greece to Crete. There, he arranged the liaison between Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull that resulted in the Minotaur. At the order of King Minos, he built the Minotaur's labyrinth. When Minos refused to let him leave Crete, Daedalus built wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus. Together they flew away, but Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the wax melted. Daedalus escaped to Sicily.

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Daedalus

In Greek mythology, a brilliant architect, sculptor, and inventor. He was credited with building for King Minos of Crete the Labyrinth in which the Minotaur was kept. When the king turned against Daedalus and imprisoned him, Daedalus secretly made wings for himself and his son Icarus, intending to escape to Sicily. Despite his father's warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun; the wax holding the feathers to his wings melted, and he fell into the sea and drowned.

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Daedalus

mythical Greek architect said to have built the labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. [Gk. Myth.: EB, III: 342]

See : Architects

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Daedalus

great craftsman; built Labyrinth and Pasiphae’s cow. [Gk. Myth.: Leach, 273]

See : Craftsmanship

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Daedalus

escaped from Crete by flying on wings made of wax and feathers. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 244]

See : Escape

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Daedalus

flew with wings of wax and feathers. [Gk. Myth.: Bulfinch]

See : Flying

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Daedalus

in Greek mythology, a famous Athenian architect and sculptor. According to the myth, Daedalus, banished from Athens for the murder of his nephew and pupil who had surpassed his teacher in creating various instruments, fled to Crete where he served King Minos. On orders from Minos he constructed a labyrinth in which the monster Minotaur was placed. Daedalus showed Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, how to help Theseus escape from the labyrinth after he had killed the Minotaur. Persecuted by Minos for this, Daedalus devised wings of feathers secured with wax for his son, Icarus, and himself, and with their help reached the coast of Asia Minor by air, from where he later went to Sicily. But Icarus, not heeding his father’s warning, rose too close to the sun (from whose rays the wax melted) and fell into the water near the island of Samos, in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea, which in ancient times was called the Icarian Sea (allegedly so named after Icarus but actually after the nearby island of Icarius). The myth has been told in the greatest detail in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (see Book 8, lines 157-162; Russian translation, Moscow, 1937).