Daedălus
（
Δαίδαλος, “cunning artificer”). The
mythical Greek representative of all handiwork, especially of Attic and Cretan art. As such he
was worshipped by the artists' guilds, especially in Attica. He is said to have been the son
of the Athenian Metion, son of Eupalamus (the ready-handed), and grandson of Erechtheus. He
was supposed to
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Daedalus and Icarus. (Rome, Villa Albani.)
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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 own nephew Talus (son
of his sister Perdix) appeared likely to surpass him in readiness and originality. The
invention of the saw, which he copied from the jawbone of a snake, of the potter's wheel, of
the turning-lathe, of the axe, of the plumbline, of glue, of the gimlet, and of other things
of this 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. (See
Labyrinthus.) He and his son
Icarus were themselves confined in it, because he had given
Ariadné (q.v.) 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 went 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 wooden 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. Besides Icarus, Daedalus had a second son, Iapyx,
said to be the founder of the Iapyges. See
Daedala.
