Daedalus and Icarus

Greek myth · c. 600 BCE · Myth / Legend · Greek · Ancient

The craftsman who built the Cretan labyrinth is imprisoned on the island with his son by the king who commissioned it, and makes two pairs of wings out of feathers and wax. He warns the boy to hold the middle course: too low and the sea will soak the wings, too high and the sun will loosen them. Invention outrunning wisdom.

Open Daedalus and Icarus in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Lineage

• ↓ Theseus and the Minotaur
  Greek myth · c. 600 BCE · Myth / Legend — shares sources with this
• ↓ Song of Solomon
  Toni Morrison · 1977 CE · Novel — reworks this

Attributes

Closest analogues

• Paradise Lost
  John Milton · 1667 CE · Poem

  55% · 10 shared
  TragedyAmbition & HubrisLoss of InnocenceFreedom vs FateCreatorTragic ReversalThe Fall / Descentvs SelfMythicTragic
• Frankenstein
  Mary Shelley · 1818 CE · Novel

  47% · 9 shared
  Ambition & HubrisLoss of InnocenceArt & CreationCreatorTragic ReversalRise–Fall (Icarus)vs Naturevs SelfTragic
• Quetzalcoatl
  Aztec myth · c. 1400 CE · Myth / Legend

  41% · 9 shared
  Myth / LegendTragedyArt & CreationCreatorWings / FlightThe SunThe Seavs SelfMythic
• Prometheus Bound
  Aeschylus · c. 460 BCE · Play

  41% · 8 shared
  TragedyAmbition & HubrisFreedom vs FateCreatorTragic ReversalMythicTragicGreek
• Moby-Dick
  Herman Melville · 1851 CE · Novel

  41% · 8 shared
  TragedyAmbition & HubrisFreedom vs FateTragic ReversalThe Seavs Naturevs SelfTragic
• Faust, Part Two
  Goethe · 1832 CE · Play

  41% · 8 shared
  TragedyAllegoryAmbition & HubrisArt & CreationThe Seavs Naturevs SelfMythic