Icarus - the Boy Slave

We all know most of the legends, if not all of them, of Greek Mythology. We know about Medusa and her head of snakes and how if someone looked into her eyes, they would be turned to stone.

We know about Zeus being the leader of all of the gods and Venus being the goddess of love.

We know about Pandora, Achilles, and Poseidon. However, there are some lesser known mythological people that we may not know about or at least have forgotten about and this article is about one of those people. This article is about a slave named Icarus.

Icarus and his father Daedus, the inventor, were kept captive by King Minos. Daedus and his son were captured and are being punished for Daedus assisting the Greek hero Theseus in the killing of the Minotaur and thereby allowing Theseus to escape with the king's daughter, Ariadne.

There is no escape from the island of Crete that Minos won't have covered. There is only one chance for them to escape. King Minos wouldn't be able to have the sky covered. So, being a great inventor, Daedus went about the task to build him and his son a large pair of wings like those of a bird, and, fly off of the island.

Daedus gathered reeds of all lengths to tie the feathers to and used string and wax to hold them together and to keep fastened to their arms. Then it happened, the wings were done and the two men flew up into the sky. Daedus warned Icarus not to fly too high so the sun wouldn't melt the wax and burn the string, causing him to fall into the ocean. Daedus also warned Icarus not to fly toolow over the ocean because the wings could get wet and heavy and you will drown in the ocean.

Icarus soon forgot this warning though as he flew higher and higher into the sky, just enjoying being able to fly like a bird. Well, you guessed it, Icarus flew too high and the sun did in fact melt all of the wax and burned all of the string that were holding the wings together.

Icarus plunged to his death into the ocean. His father, Daedus, with a heavy heart and great sorrow, buried his son on the soon to be named island of Icaria and is located in the Icarian Sea. This is the sea that Icarus fell to his death in. It is named so, because of that.

Come into the forums and talk about Icarus or any Greek mythological person,place or event. Or about any legend, tale, person, place or event in any area of Folklore and Mythology.

Hope to see you there soon.