Daedalus&Icarus-the most likely story behind the myth.

[SageRose]

As I've mentioned in another post about mythology, the greek mythology is comprised of real life events and characters, but told in an exagerrated way with many elements of fantasy 'toppings' with the sole purpose of idealizing some things and some people and pass down specific life messages and teachings to people. Most greek myths have a real story behind them. Not all, but most of them do. So does the one of Daedalus and Icarus. There are a few things that are historical facts about them and those are the most likely reason why the myth about the 'wings' occured. I'll start with some facts.

Daedalus lived during the 'Minoan empire' era. The glorious years of the Minoan culture and the rise of Athens as the upcoming antagonistic military force in Greece.

Daedalus however didn't always live in Crete which was the center of the Minoan empire. He first used to live in Athens. That's where he became known as the country's biggest inventor and artist. According to all saved documents we have from then, he was indeed the first and biggest inventor of that time and the greatest artist in the country. Some of his most popular and greatest inventions were the famous labyrinth in Crete, that era's ships figureheads, (in Greek the figureheads of the ships were also called 'Daedalia' from Daedalus) Ariadne's thread, etc..Daedalus was also the first artist and sculptor that created the illusion of 'flow' in the statue body's hands, that made people think the statue was 'alive'. He also seperated the legs on the body and gave the faces more expression by including more detailed parts such as the eye balls, the iris,etc..

How Daedalus ended up in Crete:
Daedalus had a laboratory in Athens where he worked and created. Daedalus had a sister, Polycaste and she had a son whose name was Talos or Kalos. He used to work in Daedalus laboratory as an art and invention student to him. Apparently he was exceedinly talented and soon rumors started spreading around Athens that the nephew would soon 'defeat' the uncle and teacher. Daedalus became envious and enraged and murdered Talos by throwing him off the hill of Acropolis. Once the crime was discovered, his sister killed herself for losing her child and the Athenians exiled Daedalus for his vile crime. Daedalus fled in Crete where his fame soon made him very popular among the people and especially to the king, Minoa. Daedalus soon became the king's favorite and it is said that Minoa would assign every technological or art related project to him hence why most of the projects and artworks in Crete back then were from Daedalus. Daedalus met and fell for a girl in the king's service, Naucrate with whom he got a son, Icarus. Now I'll skip some parts of his biography and go straight to the Minotaur, the labyrinth and how he and his son got imprisoned and escaped.

Minoas, in order to prove that he's better than his brothers and to win the title of the king of Knossos (the first royal palace in the Minoan empire), asked the 'god' Poseidon to send him a sign. Poseidon (which was most likely a powerful and rich man-), sent him a gorgeous and very strong bull for a sacrifice (bulls were considered a sacred animal in the Minoan culture). However Minoas did not want to sacrifice such a glorious animal so instead he sacrificed a more 'plain' bull from the ones he had in posession. Now the myth says that Poseidon was enraged by that and punished him by making his wife Pasifae, fall in love with the bull and mate with him. (The most likely explanation is that his wife had beastiality tendencies-the myth would never expose such a thing-hence the need for 'magical' intervenations and events to explain all sorts of perverse or weird things). Pasifae was desperate to mate with the bull so she asked Daedalus to help her. Daedalus then created the famous 'wooden cow' which was adorned with real skin on the outside but was empty inside. Pasifae hid inside the cow and the bull was tricked to mate with her..by that union, a very strange creature was born..Minotaur.

(The Minotaur was obviously not from Pacifae's mating with the bull..historians believe that the Minotaur was nothing more than a very strong man wearing a 'bull head' aka a mask positioned in the labyrinth and used as a 'killer' for the young people Athens would send as a sacrifice to atone for their crime. That man could be a loyal subject of the king or simply the child of Pacifae before her marriage or the product of infidelity-irrelevant to her beastiality. Those who came up with the myth obviously combined the events in order to 'tie' the story up in a lovely 'ribbon'). The king was ashamed and horrified by that punishment and therefore asked Daedalus to find a way to keep that creature 'hidden'. Daedalus then created the famous labyrinth. The remnants of that labyrinth have been destroyed through time or hidden away by 'layers' of destroyed parts of the Knossos palace (which is still in place in Crete today,for the most part of it).

Every 9 years the Athenians would send 7 sons and 7 daughters in Crete to 'fight' for their survival in the labyrinth of the palace as punishment for a crime they had commited against Minoa's son Androgeo. One year, the Athenian king's son Theseus was one of those sons who went to fight. Minoa's daughter Ariathne/Ariadne fell in love with him and assigned Daedalus to find a way to protect her loved one from the Minotaur. Daedalus gave Ariathne the 'thread' which Theseus would use to find his way in and out of the labyrinth safely. Doing that Theseus managed to locate and kill the Minotaur. Minoas was enraged by Daedalus traitorous act and that's how he imprisoned him and his son in the very labyrinth that he had created.

Now..according to some ancient documents, the most likely explanation behind the myth of the 'wings' and the flying father and son is this:

In his efforts to liberate himself and his son from the prison and flee the island of Crete without Minoa noticing, Daedalus created a ship that was designed in such a way that it looked like it was a 'bird' and its sides looked like they had 'wings'. In that ship Icarus was the captain while they fled. The ship however sunk and Icarus died. Daedalus, devastated by his son's loss exiled himself in the island that today is called Icaria (real island in Greece), and was named after his son.

That is the most likely explanation behind the myth.

There are many more things in his story about where else he went, how Minoas chased after him, how he ended up habitating Cisily,etc.. but I mostly wanted to speak about the myth, not his entire biography, don't want to make this tiring

 

[Shamar]

Ariathne/Ariadne

There goes that pesky th/d from Þ again. I was familiar with the general story, but you have added some new details. Thank you.
A possibility. I don't know what your sources are, but I suspect that the term "ship" might mean anything from a small boat to a large vessel. King Minoas would prevent Daedalus from getting resources such as cloth to make a sail. Could he have gotten hold of a boat and made a sail out of a fishing net and feathers? He was smart enough to come up with that. Icarus could have fallen in and drowned while making repairs aloft. This is speculation, but comes from my interest in nautical archaeology.

 

[SageRose]

I imagine that even though Minoas would indeed prevent Daedalus from having such resources, there were people in the palace that were friends of him such as his daughter or some other loyal friend of his. Any of them could have helped him get some materials to make what he wanted.
The ships the sources refer to were mostly the well known trading ships back then or the travel and war ships. Although the ship he'd make for the escape would of course not be the usual ship he was known for, I agree with you it would most likely be some small kind of ship/boat like. It was probably kinda long or longish and it was designed with an odd way, making it look like a bird from afar. Icarus most likely drowned either from the ship sinking or some other problem he faced while on it yes. These are all posibilities but quite rational ones and if we are to talk about the 'likely' that occured, then it must be one of those theories. Everything has an explanation but the myths are doing a good job 'masking' the true events.

 

[SL JediKnight]

I imagine that even though Minoas would indeed prevent Daedalus from having such resources, there were people in the palace that were friends of him such as his daughter or some other loyal friend of his. Any of them could have helped him get some materials to make what he wanted.
The ships the sources refer to were mostly the well known trading ships back then or the travel and war ships. Although the ship he'd make for the escape would of course not be the usual ship he was known for, I agree with you it would most likely be some small kind of ship/boat like. It was probably kinda long or longish and it was designed with an odd way, making it look like a bird from afar. Icarus most likely drowned either from the ship sinking or some other problem he faced while on it yes. These are all posibilities but quite rational ones and if we are to talk about the 'likely' that occured, then it must be one of those theories. Everything has an explanation but the myths are doing a good job 'masking' the true events.

Very interesting you seem to know a lot about Greek mythology fascinating you are very smart!

 

[SageRose]

Very interesting you seem to know a lot about Greek mythology fascinating you are very smart!

Haha not really, I know about it cause I'm from Greece and I would tend to read a lot of stuff that are outside of the school's curriculum (sorry if I wrote it wrong). Cultural history and anything that has to do with it, mythology included, is in my interests

 

[SL JediKnight]

Haha not really, I know about it cause I'm from Greece and I would tend to read a lot of stuff that are outside of the school's curriculum (sorry if I wrote it wrong). Cultural history and anything that has to do with it, mythology included, is in my interests

Cool I I used to love mythology I used to read about Greek and Norse mythology all the time

 

[SageRose]

Cool I I used to love mythology I used to read about Greek and Norse mythology all the time

Nice I've noticed that the mythologies of most countries and cultures back then were a bit too similar. For example the 12 olympian 'gods' in the greek mythology were actually borrowed by the egyptian pantheon, which they then molded into the known 12 Olympian deities. Ancient Greek historians have recorded the origins of the Olympians. Also have you noticed how the myths are usually repeated in several cultures, with just some mild changes mostly on the names and the details of the myths? I dunno if it's the same with the Norse mythology but the Middle East mythologies were quite similar to those of Greece and Egypt and later with some of the Inkas ones.

 

[SL JediKnight]

Nice I've noticed that the mythologies of most countries and cultures back then were a bit too similar. For example the 12 olympian 'gods' in the greek mythology were actually borrowed by the egyptian pantheon, which they then molded into the known 12 Olympian deities. Ancient Greek historians have recorded the origins of the Olympians. Also have you noticed how the myths are usually repeated in several cultures, with just some mild changes mostly on the names and the details of the myths? I dunno if it's the same with the Norse mythology but the Middle East mythologies were quite similar to those of Greece and Egypt and later with some of the Inkas ones.

O yes each Pantheon as a deity that represent something like Odin Thor and Zeus are sky gods Poseidon is a sea God I can't think of any more Sea Gods Hades underworld can't think of any more than either Loki Seth the coyote from Native American culture gods of trickery and chaos to me they are devil figures they relate to Lucifer the gods of chaos and many more I didn't name like you said they all kind of have very similar stories like there kind of connected in a way

 

[china autie]

Biblical stories too, some of them have been borrowed from other cultures.
And other cultures have borrowed from biblical stories.

Job: The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi - Not Merely a Babylonian Job
https www dot ancient dot eu slash article slash 226 slash the-ludlul-bel-nimeqi---not-merely-a-babylonian-jo slash .

And one from jstor as well: A Babylonian Parallel to the Story of Job on JSTOR

I find the connections between cultures to be fascinating.
@SageRose your scholarly nature and knowledge are both something to be admired.

 

[SageRose]

Biblical stories too, some of them have been borrowed from other cultures.
And other cultures have borrowed from biblical stories.

Job: The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi - Not Merely a Babylonian Job
https www dot ancient dot eu slash article slash 226 slash the-ludlul-bel-nimeqi---not-merely-a-babylonian-jo slash .

And one from jstor as well: A Babylonian Parallel to the Story of Job on JSTOR

I find the connections between cultures to be fascinating.
@SageRose your scholarly nature and knowledge are both something to be admired.

Thank you! Glad you enjoy the threads autie

 

[tducey]

Interesting. I've always found the Icarus myth to be fascinating.