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Greek Mythology
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The story of Deadalus
16-02-2013 17:15Deadalus was an ingenious craftsman from Athens, usually said to be a descendants of Erechtheus, king of Athens and father of Icarus. Daidalos’ ingenuity in creating innovations was only surpassed by his vanity, an aspect of his character that led him to murder and exile to Crete from his homeland.
Daedalus was also known as a fine architect and a sculptor as he was credited to be the first to introduce the art of sculpture in its higher development. Deadalos, had taken his nephew Talos (or Kalos, or Perdix) as his apprentice, soon to discover that his pupil’s great talent could well threaten to over shadow his master. Talos invented a series of wonderful devices including the potter’s wheel, the compass and the saw. The last of his inventions was inspired by a snake’s jawbone (or else the backbone of a fish) that he happened to see and then created the first saw out of metal.
Daidalos, filled with jealousy against his nephew, secretly killed him by throwing him down from the Acropolis, the citadel of Athens. When the murder was been discovered, Daidalos was summoned before the court of the Areios Pagos and was condemned to death. Deadalus managed to escape his death sentence by leaving Athens and heading to Crete.
During his stay in Crete, Daedalus built for Minos, king of Crete, a complicated maze, where the Minotaur, a monster with a human body and the head of a bull, was kept in prison. As a derivative of this structure of Daedalus Labyrinth, comes the adjective "daedalean" meaning "complicated" or "convoluted".
Daidalos and his son Icarus managed to escape from Crete by flying with the wings Deadalus has invented. Although, Icarus failed to use them properly and got drowned, his father managed to reach the Island of Sicilly. King Minos set out to track him down and wherever he went, he would promise a reward to anyone who could draw a thread through a spiral seashell. This was a contest that Minos was convinced that no one other than Daidalos could be smart enough to find a way to do so.
When eventually Minos arrived at Sicilly and made his usual challenge, the king of the island Kokalos took the shell secretly gave it to Daidalos, who achieved the deed. Minos realized this way that Daidalos was there and demanded that he should be surrendered to him. Kokalos assured him that he would and invited him to enjoy his hospitality. Daidalos killed Minos while he was taking his bath, by fitting a special pipe into the ceiling above the bath that poured to him boiled water.
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