Icarus was the son of the famous craftsman Daedalus in Greek mythology. His father was the creator of the Labyrinth, a huge maze located under the court of King Minos of Crete, where the Minotaur, a creature half man and half bull, lived.
To keep the secret of the labyrinth, Minos had imprisoned Daedalus and Icarus in a tower above his palace. Daedalus managed to create two sets of wings for himself and his son, which were made of feathers stuck together with wax. He taught his son how to fly and warned him not to fly too high, which would cause the wax to melt, or too low, which would cause the feathers to get wet with sea water.
Who was Icarus?
He is a famous, albeit minor, figure in Greek mythology, and the story of the boy who flew too close to the sun is one that is still told and retold today. The story of Icarus is often used as a warning that people should be aware of the dangers of overconfidence and recklessness.
Icarus, son of Daedalus
This story of Icarus in Greek mythology appears in several ancient sources. It begins on the island of Crete, as he is the son of Daedalus, the legendary craftsman and inventor. Daedalus had arrived in Crete many years earlier, having been exiled from Athens, and had subsequently found a generous benefactor in the form of King Minos.
Daedalus had worked hard for King Minos and had achieved a relatively high position as a servant within the royal court. As a reward for his work, Daedalus had been allowed to marry one of Minos’ beautiful slave girls, a woman named Naucrate. From this relationship, a son was born, a boy named Icarus.
The Myth of Icarus
Daedalus and Icarus imprisoned
The fall from grace of Daedalus and the downfall of King Minos would come several years later, for the Athenian hero Theseus was destined to arrive in Crete.
Theseus was to be one of the young Athenians who were to be sacrificed to the Minotaur as part of the tribute that Athens paid to King Minos. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, however, had seen Theseus upon his arrival on the island and had fallen in love with the Greek hero.
To help Theseus, Ariadne had enlisted the help of Daedalus, the man who had designed the labyrinth beneath the palace of Knossos, and so Theseus entered the Minotaur’s domain with a ball of thread and a sword. Theseus was thus able to kill the Minotaur, and soon the Greek hero and Ariadne fled Crete.
At first, however, King Minos was more angry about Daedalus’ help than about the intrigue of his own daughter Ariadne. Minos, however, did not want to lose the services of the master craftsman, so instead of being executed, Daedalus and Icarus were locked in a high tower (or in other sources, father and son were locked inside the labyrinth).
Daedalus plans an escape
No prison could hold an inventor like Daedalus, but Daedalus realized that he and his son not only had to escape from prison, but also had to leave Crete. Sailing from Crete seems to be the most likely solution, but King Minos’ Cretan navy was the fastest of the time.
Daedalus decided that he and Icarus should fly
Of course, no manned flight had ever been attempted before, so Daedalus had to invent a method of flight. The plan was very simple: he had Icarus gather all the feathers from the ship that were in their prison, then, using wax, Daedalus stuck the feathers together to the wooden frames, and soon two sets of wings were made.
Daedalus and Icarus
Daedalus realized that the wings he had made had many weaknesses, so he warned his son about the dangers of flying too high or even too low. Too high and he would see the wax used as a glue, while too low and he would see the sea water soak the feathers and wood, making the wings too heavy to fly.
Icarus takes flight
The day came when Icarus and Daedalus escaped from Crete, and the pair leaped off a ledge together, flapping their wings as they did so; thus, the first flight of man was accomplished just as the birds did it.
The escape was successful and went undetected, and soon, through a mixture of flapping and gliding, they left Crete behind. Soon there were many miles between King Minos and the escaping pair, but as Icarus and his father approached the island of Samos, disaster struck.
Icarus had become overconfident, and ignoring the warnings previously given by Daedalus, he began to fly higher and higher. Daedalus’ worst fears were soon realized, for as Icarus approached the sun, the wax began to melt, and the feathers soon detached from the wooden frame. In no time at all, all Icarus had to hold on to were the wooden frames, and so Icarus plunged into the sea, dying as he hit the water.
The area of water where Icarus struck became known as the Sea of Icarus, while the previously unnamed island where Icarus’ body was washed ashore was later named Icarus.
Daedalus, of course, had to watch his son fall to his death without any way to intervene, and the grieving Daedalus would have to fly alone to safety. Some sources, however, claim that the Greek hero Heracles had witnessed Icarus’ death, and recognizing the boy as Daedalus’ son, Heracles is said to have performed the necessary funeral rites that Icarus’ father had been unable to perform.
Back in Crete, the escape of Icarus and Daedalus was discovered, and Minos set sail with his fleet to recover Daedalus, as the king of Crete did not want the craftsman to work for anyone else. However, Daedalus and Icarus’ flight had left no clues as to the direction they had taken, so King Minos had to undertake a long search.
Death of Icarus
Although he was warned, Icarus was too young and enthusiastic about flying. He was thrilled to fly and got carried away by the incredible feeling of freedom and began to fly high to greet the sun, diving under the sea and then up again.
His father Daedalus tried in vain to make the young man understand that his behavior was dangerous, and soon he saw his wings melt away. He fell into the sea and drowned. The Icarian Sea, where he fell, was named after him, as was a small island nearby called Icaria.
We can say that…
Icarus’ flight could be seen in the light of balance, equilibrium, and moderation. A compromise between the risk of flying too high, thus melting the wax with the sun, or too low, weighing down the wings with the dew of the water.
The moral of the myth warns against the unnecessary pursuit of instant gratification, in a way that underlies the idea of sophrosyne (Greek: σωφροσύνη), a term representing mental health, implying self-control guided by knowledge and balance.
