The myth of Icarus and Deadalus has spanned the ages as a story told to teach children the value of obeying their parents. Under further examination though, it proves to have a set of underlying lessons, morals, and meanings that are common in Greek Mythology and pertain to modern day life. Deadalus was a highly respected and talented Athenian artist who was a descendent from the royal family of Cecrops. He was an architect, a sculpture, and an inventor who many said was the best in all of Greece. Deadalus had a nephew who was also skilled with his hands named Talus. One day Deadalus got jealous of an idea that Talus came up with for a sculpture and he pushed him off the Acropolis. In punishment for this he was exiled to Crete to be ruled over by King Minos. In Crete, King Minos had Deadalus build the labyrinth to hold the minotaur. While there, Deadalus had a son, Icarus with Naucrate a mistress of Minos’s. When Theseus came to Crete he fell in love with King Minos’s daughter, a friend of Deadalus’s. She asked Deadalus to show Theseus the secret of the Labrinth and he did. When Minos learned of this, he imprisoned Deadalus and his son Icarus in the labrinth. Icarus and Deadalus had an interesting relationship. Deadalus loved Icarus more than anything in the world. But Deadalus was frustrated because it seemed that the young Icarus was brash in his actions. Deadalus was worried because for Icarus to follow in his father’s foot-steps and become a great inventor and sculptor he would need patience. To escape Deadalus fashioned wings molded of wax, and laced with feathers, to fly away. Before they left, he said to Icarus, “Don’t fly to low as to get the feathers wet, and don’t fly to high as to melt the wax. The father and son were successful in their escape, but it was in the journey where young Icarus went wrong. Overcome by the exhilarating feeling of soaring through the air...
