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Greek Mythology
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Deadalus in Crete
16-02-2013 17:11Deadalus sailed to Crete from his native Athens to escape death sentence for the murder of his nephew that he had hurled down from the Acropolis out of jealousy of his talent. Daidalos, despite having convicted such a crime, was welcomed by Minos, king of Crete as a famous artisan.
The most known construction of Deadalus was the Labyrinth he built for Minotaur. Minotaur was son of king’s wife, Pasiphae that she has conceived with a bull, sent to Minos by Poseidon as a gift for sacrifice. But, Minos, kept the bull in his herd and sacrificed another one. Poseidon was so raged that he made Pasiphae fell madly in love with the bull. Pasiphae confided her secret to Deadalus and he made for her a hollow wooden cow where inside it she could make love with the bull. As the product of her intercourse with the bull, she gave birth to a monster with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man, known ever since as the Minotaur.
At the request of Minos, Daidalos constructed the Labyrinth, a huge complicated maze, to serve as Minotaur’s home and prison. It is said that nobody could find his way inside the maze, only Daidalos himself that has designed it.
Since Androgeus, son of Minos, was killed in Athens, Athenians were forced to send seven girls and seven boys every year to be fed in Minotaurs as a payback for the death of king’s son. Theseus, king of Athens, decided to join them in order to kill the beast and stop this sacrificial annual trip once and for all. When Theseus arrived in Crete received invaluable assistance from one of the king’s daughters, Ariadne, who fell in love with him and consulted Daidalos to find a way to help him out of the maze. He suggested attaching on him the end of a ball of thread as he entered the maze, so he then could to trace his way back to the entrance.
Deadalus made it to found his way of escape from there too by making wings for himself and his son Icarus, resulting in his freedom and his son’s unfortunate end.
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