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Preface
In Greek mythology, the story of Icarus and his father Daedalus reminds us of our
own fragility.
Daedalus was a brilliant architect, sculptor, and inventor. After killing his
nephew Talo out of jealousy, fearing Talo might surpass him as an inventor,
Daedalus fled from Athens and took refuge with his son Icarus in Crete, at the
court of King Minos. There, the king asked him to build a labyrinth where he
could lock up the Minotaur, a monstrous creature that was half man and half beast,
son of the Bull of Crete and gift of the god Poseidon to Minos and Pasiphae, queen
of Crete.
Ariane, the daughter of Minos, asked Daedalus to help her beloved Theseus kill
the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth. Daedalus suggested that the young man
unroll a thread as soon as he entered the labyrinth so that he could find the exit by
rolling the thread up. Theseus succeeded and ran away with his beloved Ariane.
Furious, Minos locked Daedalus and Icarus into the labyrinth.
The two escaped in the only possible way left: by flight.
The Latin poet Ovid tells us the myth of Icarus in Book VIII of his
Metamorphoses:
Daedalus, bored of Crete and nostalgic of his birthplace, did not suffer the
imprisonment imposed on him for long. “They take the sea and the Earth
away from me,” he said, “but the sky is certainly free: we will go away that
way.” He then turned his mind to unknown boundaries, and renewed nature;
in fact, he arranged the feathers according to a specific order, then, with
thread, he tied the middle parts, then fixed the lower extremities with wax
and bent them slightly so as to imitate real birds. (...) After doing the final
adjustments to his work, the creator’s body soared on the two wings, and
remained suspended in the agitated air. Then he instructed his son, telling
him: “I recommend you keep the middle way, Icarus; if you fly low the wave
will weigh down the feathers, if you fly too high, the sun will burn them. Fly
between one point and the other: take the path that I will show you”. They
had already left the island of Samos on the left, and passed over Delos and
Preface
In Greek mythology, the story of Icarus and his father Daedalus reminds us of our
own fragility.
Daedalus was a brilliant architect, sculptor, and inventor. After killing his
nephew Talo out of jealousy, fearing Talo might surpass him as an inventor,
Daedalus fled from Athens and took refuge with his son Icarus in Crete, at the
court of King Minos. There, the king asked him to build a labyrinth where he
could lock up the Minotaur, a monstrous creature that was half man and half beast,
son of the Bull of Crete and gift of the god Poseidon to Minos and Pasiphae, queen
of Crete.
Ariane, the daughter of Minos, asked Daedalus to help her beloved Theseus kill
the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth. Daedalus suggested that the young man
unroll a thread as soon as he entered the labyrinth so that he could find the exit by
rolling the thread up. Theseus succeeded and ran away with his beloved Ariane.
Furious, Minos locked Daedalus and Icarus into the labyrinth.
The two escaped in the only possible way left: by flight.
The Latin poet Ovid tells us the myth of Icarus in Book VIII of his
Metamorphoses:
Daedalus, bored of Crete and nostalgic of his birthplace, did not suffer the
imprisonment imposed on him for long. “They take the sea and the Earth
away from me,” he said, “but the sky is certainly free: we will go away that
way.” He then turned his mind to unknown boundaries, and renewed nature;
in fact, he arranged the feathers according to a specific order, then, with
thread, he tied the middle parts, then fixed the lower extremities with wax
and bent them slightly so as to imitate real birds. (...) After doing the final
adjustments to his work, the creator’s body soared on the two wings, and
remained suspended in the agitated air. Then he instructed his son, telling
him: “I recommend you keep the middle way, Icarus; if you fly low the wave
will weigh down the feathers, if you fly too high, the sun will burn them. Fly
between one point and the other: take the path that I will show you”. They
had already left the island of Samos on the left, and passed over Delos and