Daedalus & Icarus Revisited

[Joan Marie]

We all remember the story of Daedalus and Icarus.

But do we?

We all know the part where Icarus is warned to not fly too high or the sun would melt the wax that holds his wings together causing him to crash into the sea. Which of course he did. And the lesson was "Don't fly too high" and to a lesser extent, "and listen to your dad."

But the part that is often left out is that Icarus was also warned not to fly too low.

The danger there being that the sea spray would dampen his wings and weigh them down, also causing him to crash into the sea. Presumably. that fall may have been survivable, however he would have perished anyway by drowning.

There is an important lesson there as well about the dangers of aiming too low.

I find that to be a significant omission to the story considering pretty much everyone learns it in school. it seems like whenever it's referenced it's in regard to the lesson of "don't fly too high!!"

It may just be my faulty memory and that part was not actually omitted, but I do think the "don't fly too high" message was definitely the one that tends to be emphasised and the other essentially lost.

......
On another note, here is some more to that story that is rarely told, although some of it is def not appropriate for children, which is when most of us learn Greek mythology and then leave it behind figuring we'd been taught all there was to know about it.

- The reason Daedalus made the wings was so he and his son Icarus could escape from the Labyrinth that Daedalus had built for King Minos on the island of Crete. It was so good that even it's creator could not make his way out. he was imprisoned so as not to reveal the secrets of it.

-Here's the "not safe for children's books" part: The King needed a labyrinth to imprison his wife's son, the Minotaur. The Minotaur, half man half bull, was the progeny of his wife and and a bull that had been gifted to Minos by the god Poseidon. The bull was meant to be sacrificed but Minos decided to keep it for himself so as punishment, and with the help of Aphrodite (naturally) they caused Minos' wife to "lust" after the bull. Apparently she followed through with those inclinations and, well the rest is...mythology, at least let's hope for her sake.

- After his son crashed into the sea, Daedalus continued on to Sicily where he hung up his wings as an offering to the Gods. Sometime later the goddess Athena gave him real wings and told him to soar like a god.

[Pen]

I'm sure you're right - I've never come across the warning against flying too high either.

Her name was Pasiphae - there's a novel but I've forgotten the title. It may come to me later. She had a wooden cow constructed and covered with hide in order to achieve her desire.

[Joan Marie]

Her name was Pasiphae - there's a novel but I've forgotten the title. It may come to me later. She had a wooden cow constructed and covered with hide in order to achieve her desire.

Yeah, not the stuff of children's books, is it!

If I am not mistaken, Daedalus constructed that wooden cow.

It was also said about him that his wooden statues were so lifelike, that they were chained to the walls for fear they might otherwise walk away.

Wood figures was another of his great talents in addition to inventing many tools (most notably the plumb line) which is why he is linked to the the origins of the Freemasons.

Oh how the plot thickens!

[Nemia]

Well, I tell this story reguarly (when introducing Bruegel's Icarus) and I never forget to mention both parts of the warning - neither too high nor too low. From above, Fire threatens, from below, Water.

There are three poems about the painting and the Ovidian story. One of these poems found its way into a David Bowie film, The Man who Fell to Earth.

(I was lucky enough to study with a man who had studied Bruegel's painting very thoroughly and knew absolutely everything about them but I won't get into that here....probably, it's not by Bruegel himself, the much-too-deep sun was added later, and there was supposed to be a Daedalus - the shepherd is actually looking at Daedalus)

Daedalus has become the archetype of the artist whose life is turned to tragedy because of his outstanding talent, and Icarus is another tragic hero of hybris - like Phaeton. Maybe people who leave out the Water warning mix up Icarus and Phaeton in their minds? Or maybe it's simply that it was indeed Fire that killed Icarus because he chose to fly too high, not too low...

[Pen]

Nemia wrote:

Or maybe it's simply that it was indeed Fire that killed Icarus because he chose to fly too high, not too low...

I think that's probably the most likely answer. I always took the moral of the story as a warning to listen and take heed of advice from parents (which is not to say that I took that much notice...).