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{{Short description|Greek mythological figure}}
{{About|the mythological character}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image = Gaziantep Zeugma Museum Daedalus mosaic 1873.jpg
| caption = A [[Roman mosaic]] from [[Zeugma, Commagene]] (now in the [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]]) depicting Daedalus and his son [[Icarus]]
| name = Daedalus
| offspring = [[Icarus]]<br />[[Iapyx]]
| abode = [[Crete]]
| deity_of = [[Athenian]] craftsman and inventor
| parents = [[Metion]] and [[Alcippe (mythology)|Alcippe]]
| siblings=[[Perdix (mythology)|Perdix]]<br />[[Metiadusa]]
}}
{{Greek mythology sidebar}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Daedalus''' ({{IPAc-en|uk|'|d|iː|d|ə|l|ə|s}}, {{IPAc-en|us|'|d|ɛ|d|ə|l|ə|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Daedalus.wav}};<ref>{{cite book |title=Longman pronunciation dictionary |first=John C. |last= Wells |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow, England |year=1990 |isbn=0-582-05383-8
|page=185}}</ref> [[Greek language|Greek]]: Δαίδαλος; [[Latin language|Latin]]: ''Daedalus''; [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]]: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of [[Icarus]], the uncle of [[Perdix (mythology)|Perdix]], and possibly also the father of [[Iapyx]]. Among his most famous creations are the wooden cow for [[Pasiphaë]], the [[Labyrinth]] for King [[Minos]] of [[Crete]] which imprisoned the [[Minotaur]], and wings that he and his son Icarus used to attempt to escape Crete. It was during this escape that Icarus did not heed his father's warnings and flew too close to the sun; the wax holding his wings together melted and Icarus fell to his death.

==Epigraphic evidence==
The name ''Daidalos'' seems to be attested in [[Linear B]], a writing system used to record [[Mycenaean Greek]]. The name appears in the form ''da-da-re-jo-de'', possibly referring to a sanctuary.<ref>Wachter, Rudolf. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=COR8DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22e-re-u-te-ro-se%22&pg=PA243 Homeric – Mycenaean Word Index (MYC)". In: ''Prolegomena''. Edited by Joachim Latacz, Anton Bierl and Stuart Douglas Olson [English Edition]. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. p. 241. {{doi|10.1515/9781501501746-015}}</ref><ref>Morris, Sarah P. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Zqtx2tpGAk4C&dq=%22da-da-re-jo-de%22&pg=PA76 Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art]''. Princeton University Press, 1995. p. 76. {{ISBN|978-0-691-00160-9}}.</ref><ref>[[Carl Kerényi|Kerényi, Carl]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=u2XcDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22da-da-re-jo-de%22&pg=PA100 Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life]''. Volume 130 de Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology. Princeton University Press, 2020 [1976]. pp. 100-101. {{ISBN|978-0-691-21410-8}}.</ref>

==Family==
Daedalus's parentage was supplied as a later addition, with various authors attributing different parents to him. His father is claimed to be either [[Eupalamus]],<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 39, 244 & 274; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 6.14; [[Suda|Suida]], s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/240#pi.1042 Πέρδικος ἱερόν];'' Scholiast on Plato, ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' 7.529d</ref> [[Metion]],<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], 4.76.1; [[Plato]], ''[[Ion (dialogue)|Ion]]'' 533a; Scholia on [[Sophocles]], ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' 472</ref> or [[Palamaon]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 9.3.2</ref> Similarly, his mother was either [[Alcippe (Greek mythology)|Alcippe]],<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.15.9; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' 1.490; Scholiast on Plato, ''Ion'' 121a</ref> [[Iphinoe (mythology)|Iphinoe]],<ref>Scholia on Sophocles, ''Oedipus at Colonus'' 468 & 472</ref> [[Phrasmede]]<ref>Scholia on [[Plato]], ''[[Republic (dialogue)|The Republic]]'' p. 529</ref> or [[Merope (Greek myth)|Merope]], daughter of King [[Erechtheus]].<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Theseus'' 19.5</ref> Daedalus had two sons: [[Icarus]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+8.183-235&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> and [[Iapyx]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Strabo, Geography, Book 6, chapter 3, section 2|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.3.2&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0198|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> along with a nephew named either [[Talos (inventor)|Talos]], Calos, or [[Perdix (mythology)|Perdix]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.15.8&lang=original|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

The [[Athens|Athenians]] rewrote the [[Crete|Cretan]]-born Daedalus as an Athenian himself, the grandson of the ancient king [[Erechtheus]]<ref>The son of Eupalamus, according to [[Fabulae|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 39 "ATHENA MYTHS 5 FAVOUR - Greek Mythology". ''www.theoi.com''. Retrieved 2021-06-07.</ref> who only fled to Crete after killing his nephew.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.15.8&lang=original|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

== Inventor, architect, artist ==
A mythical craftsman named Daedalus is first mentioned in roughly 1400 BC on the Knossian Linear B tablets. He is later mentioned by Homer as the creator of a dancing floor for [[Ariadne]], similar to that which [[Hephaestus]] placed on the Shield of Achilles.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=2:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> It is clear that this Daedalus was not an original character of Homer's. Rather, Homer was referencing mythology that his audience was already familiar with.<ref>Robin Lane Fox, ''Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer'', 2009:187, 178.</ref>

[[File:Daedalic torso of kore, Eleutherna, 7th century BC, AMH, 145400.jpg|left|thumb|Upper body of a Daedalic statue of a Kore, [[poros stone]]. Eleutherna, archaic period, 7th century BC.]]

Daedalus is not mentioned again in literature until the fifth century BC, but he is widely praised as an inventor, artist, and architect, though classical sources disagree on which inventions exactly are attributable to him. In [[Pliny's Natural History]] (7.198) he is credited with inventing carpentry, including tools like the axe, saw, glue, and more.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=2:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Supposedly, he first invented masts and sails for ships for the navy of King Minos. He is also said to have carved statues so spirited they appeared to be living and moving.<ref>William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 40.</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], in traveling around Greece, attributed to Daedalus numerous archaic wooden [[Cult image|cult figures]] (see ''[[Xoanon|xoana]]'') that impressed him. In fact, so many other statues and artworks are attributed to Daedalus by Pausanias and various other sources that likely many of them were never made by him.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=2:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

In his [[Socratic dialogue]] with [[Meno (general)|Meno]], [[Plato]] cites Daedalus's handiwork as a metaphor for genuine understanding of [[truth]], as opposed to [[belief]] that coincidentally happens to be true. [[Socrates]] argues that while truth, like one of Daedalus's "moving" statues, is inherently valuable, their animacy would mean they are worthless if the owner cannot shackle them in place to stop them from wandering off.<ref name=Meno>[[Plato]], ''[[Meno]]'' 97a–98b, translated by Adam Beresford (in Beresford, 2005)</ref>

Daedalus gave his name, [[eponym]]ously, to many Greek craftsmen and many Greek contraptions and inventions that represented dextrous skill. A specific sort of early Greek sculptures are named Daedalic sculpture in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Daedalic sculpture|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Daedalic-sculpture|access-date=2021-06-07|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> In [[Boeotia]] there was a festival, the [[Daedala]], in which a temporary wooden altar was fashioned and an effigy was made from an oak-tree and dressed in bridal attire. It was carried in a cart with a woman who acted as bridesmaid. The image was called daedala''.''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 3|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=9:chapter=3&highlight=daedala|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Some sources claim that the daedala did not receive their name from Daedalus, but the opposite. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] claims that Daedalus was not the name given to the inventor at birth, but that he was named so later after the daedala.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 3|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=9:chapter=3&highlight=daedala|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Some of the functions of Daedalus overlapped with those of [[Aristaeus]] (Aristaeos), another famous Greek inventor god. But Aristaeos mostly concerned himself with the rural and agricultural arts.

== Mythology ==

=== Nephew ===
[[File:Minerva verandert Perdix in een vogel Metamorfosen van Ovidius (serietitel), RP-P-OB-15.948.jpg|thumb|Perdix (Talus) changed into a partridge when thrown from the Acropolis by an envious Daedalus (1602–1607)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Minerva verandert Perdix in een vogel, Crispijn van de Passe (I), 1602 - 1607|url=https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-OB-15.948|access-date=2021-06-07|website=Rijksmuseum|language=nl}}</ref>]]
Daedalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts as an apprentice. His nephew is named variously as [[Perdix (mythology)|Perdix]], Talos, or Calos, although some sources say that Perdix was the name of Daedalus's sister.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.15.8&lang=original|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> The nephew showed striking evidence of ingenuity. Finding the spine of a fish on the seashore, he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge, and thus invented the saw. He put two pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a rivet, and sharpening the other ends, and made a pair of compasses.<ref>Both inventions are in Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 8.236</ref> Daedalus was so envious of his nephew's accomplishments that he attempted to murder him by throwing him down from the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis in Athens]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Circĭnus|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=circinus-harpers&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> [[Athena]] saved his nephew and turned him into a [[Perdix|partridge]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.%20Met.%208.251&lang=original|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Tried and convicted for this murder attempt, Daedalus left Athens and fled to [[Crete]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 15, section 8|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.15.8&lang=original|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 21|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=1:chapter=21&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

===The Labyrinth===
Daedalus created the [[Labyrinth]] on [[Crete]], in which the [[Minotaur]] was kept. 
[[File:Pompeii - Casa dei Vettii - Pasiphae.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Daedalus and [[Pasiphaë]]. Roman fresco in the [[House of the Vettii]], [[Pompeii]], first century AD]]
[[Poseidon]] had given a white bull to [[Minos|King Minos]] to use it as a sacrifice. Instead, the king kept the bull for himself and sacrificed another. As revenge, Poseidon, with the help of [[Aphrodite]], made King Minos's wife, [[Pasiphaë]], lust for the bull. Pasiphaë asked Daedalus to help her. Daedalus built a hollow, wooden cow, covered in real cow hide for Pasiphaë, so she could mate with the bull. As a result, Pasiphaë gave birth to the [[Minotaur]], a creature with the body of a man, but the head and tail of a bull. King Minos ordered the Minotaur to be imprisoned and guarded in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus for that purpose.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 1|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=3:chapter=1&highlight=minotaur|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>
[[File:Daedalus escapes (iuvat evasisse).jpg|thumb|231x231px|''Daedalus escapes (iuvat evasisse)'' by Johann Christoph Sysang (1703–1757)]]
In the story of the Labyrinth as told by the [[Greeks#Hellenes|Hellenes]], the Athenian hero [[Theseus]] is challenged to kill the Minotaur, finding his way back out with the help of [[Ariadne|Ariadne's thread]]. It is Daedalus himself who gives Ariadne the clue as to how to escape the labyrinth.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 1|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Epitome:book=E:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Ignoring Homer, later writers envisaged the Labyrinth as an edifice rather than a single dancing path to the center and out again, and gave it numerous winding passages and turns that opened into one another, seeming to have neither beginning nor end. [[Ovid]], in his ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'', suggests that Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: From Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', 1992:36, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}}.</ref>

===Icarus===

[[File:Charles Le Brun - Daedalus and Icarus - WGA12535.jpg|thumb|upright|''Daedalus and Icarus'', c. 1645, by [[Charles Le Brun]] (1619–1690)]]

The most familiar literary telling explaining Daedalus's wings is a late one by Ovid in his ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+8.183-235&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> After Theseus and Ariadne eloped together,<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 152|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+8.182&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Daedalus and his son [[Icarus]] were imprisoned by King Minos in the labyrinth that he had built.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 1|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Epitome:book=E:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> He could not leave Crete by sea, as King Minos kept a strict watch on all vessels, permitting none to sail without being carefully searched. Since Minos controlled the land routes as well, Daedalus set to work to make wings for himself and his son Icarus. Using bird feathers of various sizes, thread, and beeswax, he shaped them to resemble a bird's wings. When both were prepared for flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, because the heat of the sun would melt the beeswax that held his feathers together, nor too low, because the sea foam would soak the feathers and make them heavy and he would fall.<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+8.183-235&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> After Daedalus and Icarus had passed [[Samos]], [[Delos]], and [[Lebynthos]], Icarus disobeyed his father and began to soar upward toward the sun. Without any warning, the sun melted the beeswax (which held the feathers together). Icarus was flapping his "wings". But he realized he had no feathers left and was flapping his featherless arms. And he plunged into the sea and drowned. Seeing Icarus's wings floating, Daedalus wept, cursed his art, and after finding Icarus's body on an island shore buried him there. Then he named the island [[Icaria]] in the memory of his child.<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+8.183-235&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> The southeast end of the Aegean Sea where Icarus fell into the water was also called "Mare Icarium" or the Icarian Sea.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AEGAEUM MARE|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=aegaeum-mare-geo&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> In a twist of fate, a partridge, presumably the nephew Daedalus murdered, mocked Daedalus as he buried his son. The fall and death of Icarus is seemingly portrayed as punishment for Daedalus's murder of his nephew.<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 183|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+8.183-235&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights=200px>
File:De val van Icarus.jpg|Print of Icarus falling after his wings were broken.<ref>{{Cite web|title=De val van Icarus|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:D1CDDE7A-78F2-11EA-9B8B-089BA936FAF6#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-2235,296,8825,4736|access-date=2020-10-02|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>
File:Herbert Draper - The Lament for Icarus - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[The Lament for Icarus]]'' by [[Herbert James Draper|H. J. Draper]] (1898)
</gallery>

=== The shell riddle ===
Daedalus wept and called the island [[Icaria]] in the memory of his child. Afterwards, he (Daedalus) traveled to Camicus in [[Sicily]], where he stayed as a guest under the protection of King Cocalus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 8, line 260|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=8:card=260|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> And he built a temple to [[Apollo (god)|Apollo]]. Then he hung up his wings (as an offering to the god) and promised to never fly again. In an invention of [[Virgil]] ([[Aeneid]] VI), Daedalus flies to [[Cumae]] and founds his temple there, rather than in Sicily.<ref>author, Virgil. ''The Aeneid''. {{ISBN|978-0-300-25875-2}}. {{OCLC|1231607822}}.</ref>

[[Minos]], meanwhile, searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city asking a riddle. He presented a spiral seashell and asked for a string to be run through it. When he reached Camicus, King Cocalus, knowing Daedalus would be able to solve the riddle, accepted the shell and gave it to Daedalus. Daedalus tied the string to an ant which, lured by a drop of honey at one end, walked through the seashell stringing it all the way through. With the riddle solved, Minos realized that Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and insisted he be handed over. Cocalus agreed to do so, but convinced Minos to take a bath first. In the bath, Cocalus's daughters killed Minos, possibly by pouring boiling water over his body.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 1|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Epitome:book=E:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> In some versions, it is Cocalus that kills Minos in the bath.<ref>{{Cite web|title=W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, BOOK VII, chapter 170|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0028:book=7:chapter=170&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Other variants say that Daedalus himself poured the boiling water, or that he had built the pipes that could supply hot water to the bath and this was used to instead pour boiling water on him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=King Minos - Experience Creta |url=http://www.experiencecreta.com/en/king-minos.php |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=www.experiencecreta.com |archive-date=2022-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816032409/http://experiencecreta.com/en/king-minos.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Dubious|date=May 2022}}

=== Death ===
At least two locations are associated with the death of Daedalus. One version of the story says he retired to the Cretan colony of [[Telmessos]], ruled by Minos's estranged brother Sarpedon, and while wandering outside the city, he was bitten by a snake and died. A town on this site, Daidala, is said to be named after him, and is mentioned in Roman sources.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The mythical genius of Daidalos, the first polymath |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-greece/daidalos-daedalus-who-first-polymath-minotaur-labyrinth-icarus/ |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=History Extra |language=en}}</ref> Another version of the story places his death on a small island in the [[Nile|Nile river]], where he was later worshipped.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Daedalus in Sicily, King Minos' death |url=https://www.explorecrete.com/mythology/daedalus-sicily.html |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=www.explorecrete.com|date=13 November 2014 }}</ref> Yet another version has him dying after being bitten by a water snake in [[Lycia]] (western [[Asia Minor]]).<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/241#D216.8 Daidala]</ref><ref>[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]] 1873, s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DD%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Ddaedalus-bio-1 "Daedalus"]</ref>

The anecdotes are literary and late. However, in the founding tales of the Greek colony of [[Gela]], founded in the 680s BC on the southwest coast of Sicily, a tradition was preserved that the Greeks had seized [[cult image]]s wrought by Daedalus from their local predecessors, the [[Sicani]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 8.46.2 & 9.40.3-4; T.J. Dunbabin, ''The Western Greeks'', 1948; S.P. Morris, ''Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art'' (1992:199), all noted by Fox 2009:189 note 9.</ref>

== Later depictions in art and literature ==
Daedalus and the myths associated with him are often depicted in paintings, sculptures, and more by later artists. The myth about his flight and the fall of Icarus is especially popular in depictions. A few noteworthy pieces are included below.<gallery mode="packed" heights="140" caption="Depictions in classical art">
File:DEDAL ZA JASNA (Small).JPG|Small bronze sculpture of Daedalus, 3rd century BC; found on [[Plaoshnik]], [[North Macedonia]]
File:Pompeya Villa Imperiale 08.jpg|Daedalus and Icarus, fresco in [[Pompeii]], 1st century AD
File:Dedalo e Pasifae.JPG|Daedalus and [[Pasiphaë]], fresco in Pompeii, 1st century AD
File:PBrueghelElderIcarus.jpg|''[[Landscape with the Fall of Icarus]]'' (detail) by [[Peter Brueghel the Elder]], ca. 1558.
File:Fall of Icarus Blondel decoration Louvre INV2624.jpg|The Fall of Icarus by Merry-Josoph Blondel (1819) (Louvre)
File:Lord Frederick Leighton FLL006.jpg|''Daedalus and Icarus'', by [[Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton|Frederick Leighton]], c. 1869
File:Daedalus and Icarus MKL Bd. 4 1890 (132198258).jpg|Daedalus constructs wings for his son, Icarus, after a Roman relief in the [[Villa Albani]], Rome (''[[Meyers Konversationslexikon]]'', 1890)
File:Dædalus and Icarus.gif|''Dædalus and Icarus'' by H.A.Guerber (1896)
</gallery>

There are also a number of adaptations of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus in modern literature and film, including a poem by [[Edward Field (poet)|Edward Field]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edward Field: "Icarus" –|url=https://www.culturalweekly.com/icarus/|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.culturalweekly.com|date=27 October 2016 }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==

* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''The Library of History'' translated by [[Charles Henry Oldfather]]. Twelve volumes. [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]] from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii;'' recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Suda|Suida]], ''Suda Encyclopedia'' translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. [https://topostext.org/work/240 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes, John]], ''Book of Histories'', Book I translated by Ana Untila from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html Online version at theio.com]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Daedalus}}
* [[Thomas Bulfinch|Thomas Bulfinch's]] ''[[Bulfinch's Mythology|Mythology]]''
* [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028509/Daedalus "Daedalus"] at the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0008&query=chapter%3D%233&layout=&loc=2.0.0 Andrew Stewart, ''One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works'']. Begins with Daedalus.
* Peter Hunt, "[https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710115527/http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2005/11/ekphrasis_ovid_in_pieter_breug.html Ekphrasis or Not? Ovid (Met. 8.183-235 ) in Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus]". Archived from [http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2005/11/ekphrasis_ovid_in_pieter_breug.html the original]{{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710115527/http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2005/11/ekphrasis_ovid_in_pieter_breug.html |date=2009-07-10 }} 10 July 2009.
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000352 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Daedalus and Icarus)]
* [[J. B. S. Haldane]] (1924). ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70955 Daedalus; or, Science and the future]'', [[E. P. Dutton]]

{{Greek religion}}
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[[Category:Ancient Greek architects]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Mythological Athenians]]
[[Category:Cretan mythology]]
[[Category:Legendary flying machines]]
[[Category:Artificial wings]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek inventors]]