icarus sans wings (own work, 2011, 21 x 30 cm, click on the
image for an enlargement) Icarus's father, Daedalus, a talented
and remarkable Athenian craftsman, attempted to escape from his
exile in the palace of Knossos, Crete, where he and his son were
imprisoned at the hands of King Minos, the king for whom he had
built the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur (half man, half
bull). Daedalus, the superior craftsman, was exiled because he
gave Minos' daughter, Ariadne, a clew (or ball of string) in
order to help Theseus, the enemy of Minos, to survive the
Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur with a sword which was used to
stab the Minotaur in the neck. Daedalus fashioned two pairs of
wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Trying
his wings first, Daedalus before taking off from the
island,warns his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too
close to the sea, but to follow his path of flight. Overcome by
the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the
sky curiously, but in the process