Daedalus Profile

Daedalus was a Greek architect known for the creating of the Labyrinth, the Palace, artificial wings for his son and himself, and a wooden cow for the goddess, Pasiphae. In some cases, it is said that he created images. He is also known for helping Thiseas and Ariadne kill the Minotaur. 

The Labyrinth was built to withhold the Minotaur. The Minotaur is a Greek monster that was born with a bull’s head. He was imprisoned in this creation. The Labyrinth consisted of many rooms and hallways that were so complex that it was believed that only Daedalus could go into the Labyrinth and escape. There was a ritual performed by the Athenians to honor the Greek god, Minos. They had to sacrifice seven young men and seven young women every year to feed the Minotaur. When Daedalus helped to kill the Minotaur, they used Ariadne’s ball of yarn to get through the Labyrinth.

Minos, the Greek god, eventually jailed Daedalus with his son, Incarus. Daedalus soon created artificial wings to escape with. He told his son not to fly too close to the sun or the sea. If Incarus did the wings would be destroyed and he would be killed. When they were fleeing the jail Incarus was reckless and soared too close to the sun. This melted the wax that was holding the wings together, killing Incarus.  He drowned in the sea that was below him. The sea where he was killed was named the Incarian Sea.

After his son’s death, Daedalus continued on into the city of Sicily. Minos continued to search for him. He offered a reward to anyone who could solve a puzzle that consisted of threading a spiral seashell. When Minos reached the city of Sicily Daedalus stepped forward and solved the puzzle. Minos was persuaded to bathe while people tried to solve the puzzle. The king ended up being killed by  Cocalus’s daughters.