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Part II
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“If god wanted man to fly he would have given
him wings.”
Daedalus and Icarus were the first men of flight.
Daedalus was a great and talented architect and
sculptor who lived in Athens. He could design
anything and was well-known throughout
Athens. His sculptures were so real that people
though they could open their mouths and speak
at any time.
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Daedalus had a son named Icarus who was
very clumsy. He wanted , in the worst way,
for Icarus to be talented just as he was. He
also had a nephew named Talus. Talus was
extremely talented like Daedalus.
Talus’ mother sent him to be an apprentice
To Daedalus. Walking on the shore one day,
Talus picked up the backbone of a fish and
with it he made a saw to cut with.
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Talus invented the compass.
Instead of Daedalus being pleased,
he was very jealous and angry that
his boy was not like Talus.
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He was afraid that Talus would soon be better
than he, himself.
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One day they were all up on the roof top
watching the birds. Daedalus had always had
a fascination with how birds flew.
All of sudden Deadalus went into a fit of rage
and pushed Talus off the roof and he died.
After he did that he couldn’t believe what he
had done. He was very sad.
The worst sin in mythology is the killing of
your own kin.
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Daedalus had no choice but to flee to Athens.
He wandered around for awhile and ended up
in Crete where King Minos ruled. The king
knew of Daedalus’ work so he was pleased
that he was there.
King Minos possessed a fearful monster
called the Minotaur. He had the head and
shoulders of a bull and the legs and trunk of
a man.
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The Minotaur is a symbol of strength and
energy. He fed off the flesh of young men
and girls sent to him as a sacrifice.
The king wanted a suitable place to keep the
minotaur. It had to be a place that he
couldn’t escape from or any prisoner that he
put with the bull could not escape from. So,
Daedalus built a maze called a labyrinth.
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Daedalus was unhappy- he felt as though he
was a prisoner of King Minos, and he truly
was!
King Minos commanded that he tell no one
how to escape the labyrinth.
Daedalus was always fascinated with flight so
he began to study the flight patterns of birds
and how they flew. He began to think that he
knew the secret of flight.
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So, everyday he would gather feathers from
the birds. He finally collected enough
feathers to build one set of wings. He used
wax to put them together. When he finished
the wings he put them on and flew around.
Icarus was so excited that he also wanted a
pair. So, Daedalus made him a pair.
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Daedalus warned his son not to fly to close to
the sun or it will melt the wax.
He also said don’t fly to close to the sea or
the water will wet them and weigh them
down. He made him repeat the directions
since he was so clumsy.
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At first he kept his son close to him.
Icarus was so excited that he flew higher and
higher in the air. He went so high that the
sun melted the wax, and he went plummeting
into the water. He died.
Dedaelus felt as though the gods avenged
him for what he did to Talus. Daedalus buried
his son on the island that bears his name,
Icarus.
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Next, Daedalus went on to Siciliy where
Cocalus reigned. King Minos presented a
challenge to King Cocalus’ daughter. They
had to thread a string through a seashell.
They took it to Daedalus and he completed
the task.
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They took it back to King Minos. He knew
that the only person who could complete
such a task was Daedalus. So King Minos had
Daedalus sent back to Crete.
Daedalus had to work for King Minos. He
knew the layout of the bath house. He was
getting the bath ready for the king. He boiled
the water so hot that he boiled the king.
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No one knows whatever happened to
Daedalus after that.
Scholars even question as to whether or not
the man actually existed.
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Theseus was the grandson of King Pittheus
of Troezen.
Theseus was also the cousin of Hercules.
Theseus thought he was the son of Poseidon
but his mother never told him who his father
was.
He knew that he knew for sure who his father
was he would leave her just like his father
did.
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On his 16th birthday, he was given a
challenge.
If he could move a huge boulder, underneath
it would be revealed the name of this father.
He tried and tried and finally he toppled over
it. Underneath were two things, sandals and
a sword that once belonged to his father.
He found out that his father was King Aegus
of Athens
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He had to go to his father. So he left his
mother just as fate would have it. Remember
that the King also left Theseus’ mother.
On his journey he had many obstacles and
villains to defeat.
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The first villain was Peraphates ( crippler).
 He tried to fight Theseus with an iron club but he managed
to kill him.
 The second villain was Sineous (pine bender)
after robbing his victims, he would tie them
between two pine trees and bend one tree
back until the victim was cut in half.
 He slayed many others along the way and
came to his third villain.
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Procrustes (the stretcher)◦ Procrustes had some companions with him when
Theseus ran into him. Procrustes invited Theseus
to join him for dinner.
◦ Theseus refused so the companions grabbed
Theseus and he was forced against his will and
taken to Procrustes’ house.
◦ While he was in the other room, his slave went to
pour Theseus a drink.. The slave whispered in his
ear, “Get out while you can. My master is a terrible
person.”
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The terrible thing about Procrustes is that
when his victims fell asleep he would tie them
up and stretch them to fit the bed. If the
person was to long for the bed he cut off the
legs. If he was too short, he stretched him to
fit.
Theseus found a club and killed Procrustis
and continued across the river to Athens.
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King Aegus knew a young traveler was coming
but did not know who it was.
As of now, the king thought he was childless and
would not have an heir to throne as king.
Aegus’ wife was Medea-(the princess of
darkness) who was a sorcerer.
Medea could not let a previous son take over the
reign as king because then the king would not
want anything to do with her, and secondly, she
wanted to have a son so he could be the ruler.
Since Theseus would be the older of the two, he
would get the throne.
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She told the king that Theseus was not a
good person, he was trying to deceive the
king by saying that he was his son, and that
they should poison him.
At first the king went along with the plan.
But, right before Theseus was to take a drink
of the wine, he took out his father’s sword
and layed it on the table. Immediately the
king knew who the boy was and he knocked
the drink out of his hand.
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Medea knew that the king would no longer
want anything to do with her so she left on
her winged dragons. No one knows where
she flew to or ended up.
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Poseidon sent a snow white bull from the sea
to King Minos and Queen Pasiphe. He wanted
to be honored since Crete was completely
surrounded by the sea.
So, he told King Minos to sacrifice the bull.
Queen Pasiphe was so taken with the animal
that she told Daedalus to build a wooden cow
that would hold the bull inside so she could
look at it whenever she wanted to.
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Because the bull was not killed like Poseidon
asked, he punished the people of Crete by
making the bull very angry. He ravaged the
island causing much damage and fear.
The only one that could capture the bull was
Hercules.
As punishment to the king and queen,
Poseidon caused Pasiphae to give birth to a
monster- The Minotaur
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When a son of King Minos visited Athens at
the olympics and was accidentally killed, King
Minos used this as an excuse to attack and
destroy the city unless seven Athenian
maidens and seven Athenian youths were
sent to Crete to be sacrificed every nine
years.
To save his city, King Aegus of Athens had to
consent because King Minos was much
stronger than he.
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It was time for King Aegus (Theseus’ father ) to send a new
group of sacrifices.
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Theseus convinced his father to send him as a sacrifice
and he would slay and kill the Minotaur.
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His father agreed but he told him that he would be
watching for his return.
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When he was to return, if the King saw a white flag flying
from the ship he would know that his son Theseus was still
alive and that the trip was successful. If he saw a black
sail flying, he would know that the minotaur had defeated
him and he was no longer alive.
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They marched the fourteen sacrifices in front
of the palace and King Minos’ daughter
Ariadne was there to watch. She saw Theseus
and was quite taken with him.
The story says that Ariadne gave Theseus a
ball of thread that would roll ahead of him
through the maze and lead him to the
monster where he would overpower the
beast.
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Ariadne loved her brother but wanted to leave
the palace. She went to Theseus and said
that if he would promise to take her away
with him and marry her, she would help him.
Theseus gave his word.
Ariadne led him to the gate of the Labyrinth,
tied one end of the thread to the gate so he
would find his way back, and gave him the
ball.
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Theseus held onto the thread unwinding it as
he walked upstairs, downstairs, around
winding passageways until finally, he heard
the snoring of the Minotaur.
Theseus sprang at the Minotaur. He was
taken by surprise. Theseus was so strong
that he killed the Minotaur with his bare
hands.
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Theseus followed the thread back to Ariadne,
who stood watch at the gate. Together they freed
the Athenians and fled to their ship in the
harbor. Before they left they made holes in King
Minos’ ships they could not chase after them.
In the rush to get out they forgot to hoist the
white sail of victory and instead the black sail
was flying. From the shore when Theseus’ father
(the king) saw the black flag, he thought his son
had been killed. He was so distraught that he
threw himself in the sea and drowned.
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On the trip home, in the middle of the night,
Dionysius spoke to Theseus and said that he
forbid him to marry Ariadne. He said that he had
chosen her for his bride.
So when they stopped on the island of Naxos,
Theseus left her behind there while she was in a
deep sleep.
When she woke up she was devastated that
Theseus left her but soon after a handsome
stranger found her and comforted her(Dionysius).
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Theseus inherited his father’s throne. The
sea that he drowned was named for him, the
Aegan Sea.