Daedalus and Icarus

The story of Daedalus and Icarus is a famous story known by many. It is a topic in many books and studied by many students. It would be difficult to put down all the points of the story, but here I have tried to retell the famous story to detail and to the best way possible:

In the times of Ancient Greece, there lived a famous carpenter and creative artist called Daedalus. He had a son born to him, and he was called Icarus. Daedalus was exiled from Athens and sent to Crete after murdering his nephew in envy and anger. His nephew Talos was pushed off a cliff and fell to his death. What caused this jealousy was the creative thinking of Talos when he designed the first saw ever invented by using a model of a scale of a fish, and crafting a saw. King Minos of Crete became a friend of Daedalus when he reached the largest Greek isle. He worked as a helper in all constructions and giving advice to the king.

Before he was a king, Minos had to convince people he was the best heir to the throne, for there were many participants involved. He told he could win the approval of all the gods. Minos prayed to the god Poseidon to send him a bull from the seas to sacrifice. But when the bull came, with its white hide and grace, it was not worth killing and offered another bull instead. Poseidon was furious with him, so he made his wife, Queen of Crete fall in love with the creature. Later, the Minotaur was born, a hideous creature. The king imprisoned it in a labyrinth created and designed by Daedalus. Then he wasn’t mentioned much for a long time.

But things start happening. In an overseas games tournament, much like the Olympics, Minos’ son is killed, and Minos blames Aegeus, king of Athens for this. Aegeus goes to a prophet to see what he should do, and he was told to do anything Minos asks him to do. Aegeus was asked to deliver 7 maidens and 7 youths to feed the Minotaur every month. He had no choice but to do this, so he reluctantly, every month, sent them to Crete with a ship with the black sails of death. One day, Aegeus’ son volunteered to kill the Minotaur overseas. King Aegeus strongly didn’t recommend this to him, but he could not do anything to stop him. His only wish to him was, when he returned, to put up white sails of victory. Aegeus’ son Theseus took a guardian prayer with him, and was helped by having Minos’ daughter Ariadne to fall in love with him and help him get to the Minotaur. She asked Daedalus to tell her the secrets of the maze. She took a thread and made her way through the maze, finding the centre and killing the Minotaur.