daedalus and icarus

• In mythological ancient Greece, Icarus, the son of Daedalus, defied the laws of both man and nature by soaring above Crete on wings made from wax and feathers.
• Ignoring the warnings of his father, Icarus rose higher and higher, appearing to onlookers like a god and feeling like one, too.
• The line that separated god from man in ancient Greece was absolute and the punishment for mortals who attempted to cross it was severe.
• Daedalus, the father of Icarus, was a highly regarded genius inventor, craftsman, and sculptor in his homeland of Athens.
• Daedalus invented carpentry and all the tools used for it, designed the first bathhouse and the first dance floor, and made sculptures so lifelike that Hercules mistook them for actual men.
• Daedalus was egotistical and jealous, worried that his nephew was a more skillful craftsman, and murdered him.
• As punishment for his crime, Daedalus was banished from Athens and made his way to Crete.
• Daedalus was welcomed with open arms by Crete's King Minos and continued to push the boundaries for the king's children, making mechanically animated toys that seemed alive and inventing the ship's sail and mast, which gave humans control over the wind.
• Daedalus challenged human limitations that had so far kept mortals separate from gods, until finally, he broke right through.
• King Minos's wife, Pasiphaë, had been cursed by the god Poseidon to fall in love with the king's prized bull and asked Daedalus to help her seduce it.
• Daedalus constructed a hollow wooden cow so realistic that it fooled the bull, leading to the birth of the minotaur.
• Daedalus was forced to construct an inescapable labyrinth beneath the palace for the minotaur.
• Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned within the top of the tallest tower on the island where they were to remain for the rest of their lives.
• Daedalus and Icarus escaped from their prison as only birds or gods could do, using feathers from the flocks that perched on the tower and the wax from candles to construct two pairs of giant wings.
• Daedalus warned Icarus that flying too near the ocean would dampen the wings and make them too heavy to use, and flying too near the sun would melt the wax and the wings would disintegrate.
• Icarus ignored his father's warnings and ascended higher and higher, powerless to change his son's dire fate when the heat from the sun melted the wax on his wings, causing him to fall from the sky.
• Daedalus, too, paid for his departure from the path of moderation dearly, Icarus with his life and Daedalus with his regret.