The Story of Daedalus and Icarus

Hellen, Deucalion's second son, found Thessaly too small to provide homes for all his people. So he traveled south with a band of hardy followers and settled in another part of the country we now call Greece. In his honor, the land was named Hellas, and his people were called Hellenes, or subjects of Hellen.

When Hellen died, he left his kingdom to his three sons: Dorus, Aeolus, and Xuthus. Instead of dividing their father's lands fairly, the two eldest sons quarreled with the youngest and finally drove him away. Homeless and poor, Xuthus went to Athens, where the king welcomed him warmly. The king not only treated him kindly but also gave him his daughter in marriage and promised that Xuthus would inherit the throne. This promise was kept, and Xuthus the exile ruled over Athens. When he died, he left the crown to his sons, Ion and Achaeus.

As the Athenians gradually increased in number, their territory became too small to support everyone. So Ion and Achaeus, even during their father's lifetime, led some of their followers along the Isthmus of Corinth and down into the peninsula. There they founded two flourishing states called Achaea and Ionia after themselves. Thus northern Greece was divided between the Dorians and Aeolians, descendants of Dorus and Aeolus, while the peninsula was mainly in the hands of the Ionians and Achaeans. These people built towns, cultivated the soil, and became bold navigators. They ventured farther out to sea until they knew all the neighboring bays and islands.

Sailing from place to place, the Hellenes eventually reached Crete, a large island south of Greece. Crete was ruled by a very wise king named Minos. His laws were so just that all the Greeks admired them greatly. When he died, they even declared that the gods had called him to judge the dead in Hades and decide what punishments and rewards the spirits deserved.

Although Minos was very wise, he had a subject named Daedalus who was even wiser. Daedalus not only invented the saw and the potter's wheel but also taught people how to rig sails for their ships. Until then, ships were moved only by oars and paddles, so this invention seemed marvelous. To compliment Daedalus, the people declared that he had given their vessels wings and enabled them to fly over the seas. Many years later, when sails were common and no longer caused wonder, people forgot that these were the wings Daedalus had made. Instead, they invented a wonderful story.

Minos, King of Crete, once sent for Daedalus and ordered him to build a maze, or labyrinth, with so many rooms and winding halls that no one could ever find the way out. Daedalus set to work and built a maze so intricate that neither he nor his son Icarus, who was with him, could escape. Unwilling to remain a prisoner, Daedalus soon devised a means of escape. He and Icarus first gathered a large quantity of feathers. Daedalus cleverly made two pairs of wings and fastened them to their shoulders with wax. Then father and son rose like birds and flew away. Despite his father's warnings, Icarus flew higher and higher, until the heat of the sun melted the wax. His wings fell off, and he plunged into the sea and drowned. His father, more cautious, flew low and reached Greece safely. There he continued inventing useful things, often gazing sadly over the waters where Icarus had perished.

In honor of the drowned youth, that sea was long known as the Icarian Sea.