The Fall of Icarus

The story of Daedalus and Icarus is a common symbol of the consequences one must face as a result of their arrogance. In this story, a father and son use wings to escape from the island of Crete. However, Icarus, in his arrogance, flies too close to the sun and the wax joining his wings melts, causing him to plunge to his death. The fall of Icarus actually began with his father, Dedalus, who used to work as an artisan in Athens with an apprentice named Talus. As a result of his rage and jealousy, Dedalus pushed Talus off the rock of Acropolis, almost killing him. Athena turned the apprentice into a bird and sent Dedalus to Crete. On the island, Dedalus married a slave woman named Naucrate with whom he had a son (Icarus). Obviously not learning from his experience, Dedalus ignored King Minos’ orders of building a prison cell to contain the Minotaur and instead built a complex labyrinth to showcase his intellect. King Minos’ locked up Dedalus and his family in the labyrinth to contain the secret of the Minotaur so Dedalus came up with a plan. He collected feathers until he had enough to form wings for himself and his son, Icarus. Although Dedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, he did so anyway and died as a result. The moral of this tale is to stay away from needless searches of instant satisfaction. This is often defined as sophrosyne, a term referring to healthy-mindedness, implying self-control guided by knowledge and balance.