Heartbroken, Daedalus buried Icarus’s body on an island and then flew to Sicily, where he was befriended by the king. In Sicily Daedalus built a temple to Apollo and hung up his wings as an offering to the god of light.
Minos—angry, betrayed, and thirsting for revenge—did not know where Daedalus was, but he knew that he could trick the inventor into revealing his whereabouts by appealing to his vanity. He offered a great reward in a worldwide contest to anyone who could pass a thread through an intricate, spiraled seashell. Daedalus, in the name of the Sicilian king, solved the puzzle: He tied a thread to an ant and placed the creature in one end of the convoluted shell. When the ant eventually reemerged at the other end, it was clear that the thread ran through the shell’s labyrinthine twists and turns. Hearing of this feat, Minos knew that there was only one man who could have thought of and implemented such a smart solution, so he went straight to Sicily to seize Daedalus. The Sicilian king refused to surrender his friend, however, and in the battle for Daedalus, Minos was killed.
After the story of the death of Minos, Daedalus does not appear in any other Greek myths. Perhaps the loss of Icarus balanced the scales for Perdix’s murder, and Daedalus was of no further interest to the gods. His legacy is still with us, though. Labyrinths mirroring his invention are constructed
Modern Labyrinths
Archaeological evidence and ancient writings show that labyrinths date back many thousands of years. Their main practical use was as a defense to baffle invaders and trespassers. Today, labyrinths are designed and built for public exploration and pleasure. Modern constructions of this type are usually made of shrubbery and set in gardens, providing a place where the physical world is fashioned to evoke the spiritual world. Many people who walk labyrinths say the experience is soothing and meditative.
One modern labyrinth is found at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Antioch, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee. The maze is an imaginative re-creation of Daedalus's original home for the Minotaur. Nashville has long been associated with ancient Greece, and is often known as "the Athens of the South." Other famous modern labyrinths include those constructed on the grounds of Traquair House in Scotland and the maze at Hampton Court, the former royal palace on the western outskirts of London, England.
Above: Renowned throughout Britain for its intricate design, this giant maze i tourist attraction in Scotland.
Erected in 1980 on the grounds of Traquair House, a popular
Worldwide, and the tragedy of a father’s loss—the story of headstrong Icarus—and Daedalus’s personality, trials, and inventions continue to provide inspiration for authors and artists of all genres. In the early 20th century, Irish writer James Joyce (1882—1941) adapted the inventor’s name as Stephen Dedalus for the hero of his short novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and again as a major character in the novel Ulysses (1922).
Alys Caviness
Bibliography
Howatson, M. C. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Joyce, James, and Seamus Deane, ed. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.
Nyenhuis, Jacob E. Myth and the Creative Process: Michael Ayrton and the Myth of Daedalus. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2003.
See also: Ariadne; Icarus; Minos; Pasiphae;Theseus.
World History
