In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix (also called Talos or Calos), and in some accounts father of Iapyx. Among his most famous creations are the wooden cow for Pasiphaë, the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete that imprisoned the Minotaur, and the wings with which he and Icarus tried to escape Crete.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Daedalus" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Parentage was supplied late and inconsistently: fathers named include Eupalamus, Metion, or Palamaon; mothers Alcippe, Iphinoe, Phrasmede, or Merope daughter of Erechtheus. Athenians rewrote the craftsman as an Athenian of the Erechtheid line who fled to Crete after killing his nephew. Sons include Icarus and, in some accounts, Iapyx; the gifted nephew is variously Perdix, Talos, or Calos.
II.Inventor and artist
Homer already knows Daedalus as maker of a dancing floor for Ariadne at Knossos. Classical and Roman authors credit him with inventions ranging from carpentry tools (Pliny) to masts and sails for Minos's navy, and with statues so lifelike they seemed to move. He stands in myth as the archetype of the mortal craftsman whose skill rivals divine artifice.
III.Mythology
Jealous of his apprentice-nephew's ingenuity (the invention of the saw from a fish spine, and other devices), Daedalus murdered him; Athena turned the falling youth into a partridge (Perdix), and Daedalus was tried and exiled to Crete.
There he built a hollow wooden cow so that Pasiphaë could mate with Poseidon's bull, and afterward designed the Labyrinth to confine the resulting Minotaur. He also advised Ariadne on the clew that let Theseus escape. Minos imprisoned Daedalus and Icarus; Daedalus made wings of feathers and wax, escaped by air, and lost Icarus when the boy flew too near the sun.
Landing in Sicily under King Cocalus, Daedalus was pursued by Minos, who posed a shell-threading riddle that only Daedalus could solve; Cocalus's daughters killed Minos in the bath. Traditions place Daedalus's own death variously—at Telmessos by snakebite, on a Nile island, or elsewhere—and associate him with Sicilian works such as the wall at Eryx.
IV.Legacy
Daedalus and the fall of Icarus remain among the most painted and retold Greek craftsman myths. The name yields the English adjective daedal ("intricate, skillful") and stands for inventive ingenuity that can both liberate and entrap.