Daedalus

Daedalus was the master craftsman of Athens who built the Cretan Labyrinth for King Minos to contain the Minotaur, then constructed wings of feathers and wax to escape the island after Minos imprisoned him and his son Icarus. Icarus died on the flight, ignoring his father's warning and flying too close to the sun, while Daedalus reached Sicily alone.

By Mythographia Editorial Team Reviewed by Mythographia Editorial Team Updated 2026-09-06

Core Myth

Ovid traces Daedalus's exile from Athens to an act of jealousy: his own nephew and apprentice, a gifted young inventor, showed early signs of surpassing his teacher's skill, and Daedalus threw him from the height of the Acropolis rather than let a pupil outshine him. Convicted and banished for the killing, Daedalus fled to Crete, where King Minos put his skill to work - first building a hollow wooden cow that let Queen Pasiphaë satisfy an unnatural passion for a bull, then, when that union produced the Minotaur, building the Labyrinth beneath Minos's own palace to hold the creature, a maze designed so that even its architect could barely find his way back out. Daedalus's usefulness to Minos turned against him once Ariadne, the king's own daughter, asked the craftsman how to help Theseus survive the maze. Daedalus told her to give Theseus a ball of thread to unwind on the way in and follow back out, and Theseus used it to kill the Minotaur and escape. When Minos learned who had given away the Labyrinth's secret, he imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus, some accounts say in a tower, others say inside the maze itself. With every ship and road off the island watched, Daedalus built two pairs of wings from feathers set in wax, and the two flew free - until Icarus, flying too high despite his father's warning, let the sun melt the wax and fell into the sea that took his name.

Why was Daedalus exiled from Athens?

Ovid says he killed his own nephew and apprentice, a young inventor whose early talent threatened to surpass his teacher's, by throwing him from the height of the Acropolis. Convicted of the killing, Daedalus fled Athens for Crete, which is how he ended up in King Minos's service at all.

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.236-259

What did Daedalus build for King Minos?

Two things, in sequence: a hollow wooden cow that let Queen Pasiphaë conceive the Minotaur, and afterward the Labyrinth itself, a maze built beneath the palace at Knossos specifically to contain the creature that union produced, designed so that no one inside could easily find the way back out.

Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.15.8

Why did Minos imprison Daedalus?

Because Daedalus had given away the one secret that made the Labyrinth inescapable. Ariadne, Minos's own daughter, asked him how to help Theseus survive the maze, and Daedalus told her to give Theseus a thread to unwind going in and follow back out - the trick Theseus used to kill the Minotaur and escape.

Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome 1.12-1.13

How did Daedalus escape Crete?

With every ship and road off the island watched by Minos, Daedalus built two pairs of wings from feathers held together with wax and flew off the island with his son Icarus rather than attempting escape by land or sea. Daedalus himself flew the route safely by keeping to the middle course he had prescribed.

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.183-235

What happened to Daedalus after Icarus died?

He completed the flight alone to Sicily and took refuge with King Cocalus. Minos eventually traced him there using a riddle involving threading a spiral seashell that only Daedalus could solve, but Cocalus's own daughters killed Minos in his bath before he could reclaim the craftsman.

Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome 1.14-15

Later Traditions

Daedalus flew on alone to Sicily, where King Cocalus gave him shelter. Minos tracked him there with a test only Daedalus could pass: a spiral seashell that had to be threaded clean through, which Daedalus solved by tying a thread to an ant and letting it walk the shell's spiral from end to end. The trick gave him away, but Cocalus's own daughters killed Minos in his bath before he could take Daedalus back, according to Apollodorus's account of the story's ending. Later writers used Daedalus chiefly as the archetype of the inventor whose skill outruns its own consequences - a craftsman capable of building an escape from any prison but not of controlling what his own inventions, or his own son, would do with the freedom they gave.

Lineage

See the full family tree

1 recorded relation, each with the ancient line behind it.

Children

Icarus Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome 1.12-1.13

Also Connected

2 recorded connections, each with the ancient line behind it.

Connected

Minotaur Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.15.8
Daedalus built both the wooden cow that let Pasiphaë conceive the Minotaur and the Labyrinth built afterward to contain it.
Theseus Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome 1.12-1.13
Daedalus told Ariadne to give Theseus a thread to unwind and follow back out of the Labyrinth, the trick that let Theseus escape after killing the Minotaur.

Where Accounts Differ

whether his nephew is named Talos or Perdix

Some sources name Daedalus's nephew Talos, others Perdix, for the same killed apprentice; this project keeps the two figures separate from the bronze automaton Talos who guards Crete, a distinct character in this corpus.

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Mythology

Mythology Greek Mythology

Appears In

Term The Labyrinth

Sources

Primary sources

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.183-235
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.236-259
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.15.8
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome 1.14-15