Daedalus is the mythological figure who created two pairs of
gigantic wings in which he and his son, Icarus, could use to fly. Before doing so, Daedalus
warned Icarus to fly neither too high nor too low: The sun would melt the wax holding the smaller
feathers together, and the ocean water would drench the wings. However, in his excitement at
flying, Icarus forgets these words of warning, and flies too close to the sun. The wax melts and
he plummets into the ocean, where he drowns.
Afterward, Daedalus
flew on to Sicily, where he built a temple to honor Apollo (as well as his son). He gave up his
wings and offered them as a gift to Apollo. Still being hunted by King Minos for the failure of
his complex but faulty creation of the labrynth to protect the Minotaur, Daedalus' location is
discovered. But before Minos can exact revenge against Daedalus, he is murdered in his bath. (In
some versions of the story, Daedalus kills Minos himself by pouring boiling water over the king.)
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