Daedalus

Daedalus is a character of Greek mythology.  His name (meaning 'cunning worker'), is synonymous with the image of a skillful artificer, or craftsman.  He is mentioned by Homer, Ovid (Metamorphosis VIII:183-235), and Virgil (Aeneid, book 6).  Daedalus is most famous for creating the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, and for being the father of Icarus.

Daedalus and the Labyrinth of the Minotaur

Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete, who used it to imprison his wife's son, the Minotaur. The story is a pretty strange one by any standard.   The story is told that Poseidon gave a white bull to Minos, so that he might use it as a sacrifice to the Gods.  Instead, Minos kept the bull for himself; and in revenge, Poseidon made his wife lust after the bull. Possessed by her lust, Minos' wife (Pasiphae) built a wooden cow to hide in, so that she could mate with the bull.  Pretty strange by todays standard, but the ancient Minoans worshipped the bull as the God of the Sun (he would later become the Greek Apollo (aka the Roman God Mercury).

Daedalus and Icarus

In Metamorphosis, Ovid tells of Daedalus and his son, Icarus being locked in a tower to prevent them from telling the public about the Labyrinth.  They could not escape by sea, as Minos was thorough about inspecting all incoming and outgoing vessels.  Inspired by a bird that visited the tower, Minos set out to fabricate wings for himself and his young son.  He tied feathers together, from smallest to largest in order to optimize the surface area.  The larger feathers he secured with thread, and the smaller ones with wax.  When the work was complete, the artist, waving his wings, found himself buoyed upward and hung suspended, poising himself on the beaten air.  He next equipped Icarus, and taught him how to fly.

When both were prepared for flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, because the heat of the sun would melt the wax, nor too low because the sea spray would wet the feathers and prevent his flight.  Thus the father and son escaped the tower by flight.

They passed three neighboring islands, and then Icarus began to soar toward the heavens, elated by the sensation of flight.  The blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they came off.  Icarus fell into the sea and died.  His father cried, bitterly lamenting his own artistry.  He eventually arrived in Sicily, under the care of King Cocalus, where he built the famed temple of Apollo.  Therein, he hung up his wings, an offering to the God of the Sun.

Minos, upset by the captive's escape, journeyed from city to city, asking a riddle.  He presented a spiral seashell, and asked for a string to be run through it.  When he reached Sicily, Cocalus knew that Daedalus could solve the riddle, and called for the old man to join him in the palace.  Daedalus tied a string to an ant, put a drop of honey at the exit end of the shell, and allowed the ant to walk through the spiral shell until it emerged on the other side.  Minos knew instantly that Daedalus was in Cocalus' palace, and demanded he be handed over. Cocalus convinced Minos to take a bath first, where his daughters bathed him, and then killed him.

Daedalus was said by Pliny to have invented the saw and the compass, carpentry, glue, the plumb line, and also allegedly developed a way to transfer the soul of a human being into a machine.  One of Daedalus' protege's became increasingly apt, and challenged Daedalus' ingenuity.  Daedalus tried to kill him by throwing him off a tower, but Athena changed him into a unique bird, to be known thereafter as the partridge.

Over time, Icarus became the archetype for the Romantic Artist- an undisputed prototype of the classic artist, whose impetuous, passionate, and rebellious nature, as well as his defiance of formal aesthetic and social conventions, ultimately proved to be self destructive.  Daedalus came to represent the classic artist, a skilled mature craftsman.

Ultimately, the genius of Daedalus brought about both his liberation and time-transcendent fame, as well as his greatest tragedy- the death of his son, Icarus.