DAEDALUS
Form: i.e. "cunning artificer".
The mythical Greek representative of all handi-work, especially of Attic and Cretan art. As such he was worshipped by the artists' guilds, especially in Attica. He was said to be the son of the Athenian Metion, son of Eupalamus (the ready-handed) and grandson of Erechtheus. He was supposed to have been the first artist who represented the human figure with open eyes, and feet and arms in motion. Besides being an excellent architect, he was said to have invented many implements, the axe for instance, the awl, and the bevel. His nephew and pupil (son of his sister Perdix) appeared likely to surpass him in readiness and originality. The invention of the saw, which he copied from the chinbone of a snake, of the potter's wheel, of the turning lathe, and of other things of the kind, was attributed to him. Daedalus was so jealous of him that he threw him from the Acropolis; and being detected in the act of burying the body, was condemned by the Areopagus, and fled to Crete to king Minos. Here, among other things, he made the labyrinth at Gnosus for the Minotaur. He and his son Icarus were themselves confined in it, because he had given Ariadne the clue with which she guided Theseus through the maze. But the father and son succeeded in escaping, and fled over the sea upon wings of wax feathers made by Daedalus. Icarus, however, approached too near to the sun, so that the wax melted, and he fell into the sea and was drowned. The sea was called after him the Icarian, and the island on which his body was thrown up and buried by Heracles, was called Icaria. Daedalus came to Camicus in Sicily, to king Cocalus, whose daughter loved him for his art, and slew Minos who came in pursuit of him. He was supposed to have died in Sicily, where buildings attributed to him were shown in many places, as also in Sardinia, Egypt and Italy, particularly at Cumae. In Greece a number of ancient woodtn images were supposed to be his work, in particular a statue of Heracles at Thebes, which Daedalus was said to have made in gratitude for the burial of Icarus.
Pictures and Media
DAeDALUS AND ICARUS (Rome, Villa Albani.)