Daedalus devised a device for Pasiphae that enabled her to mate with the white bull given to Minos by Poseidon, and he built the labyrinth where the dishonourable fruit, Asterion the Minotaur, is locked up. The same Daedalus was responsible for the red thread tied by Ariadne to Theseus’ ankle. This was too much betrayal for Minos, who locked him in the labyrinth with his son Icarus; Daedalus made wings of feathers and wax and, before taking to the skies, warned his son to stay away from the sun.
Inebriated by the flight, Icarus, forgetting his father’s advice, climbs upwards, his wings unravel and he falls to his death.
Nag Arnoldi – The fall of Icarus, cardboard for a mosaic, 2003
The myth soon inspired German manufacturer Lehmann, which named its first toy plane
IKARUS
1913 – 1927 – Tinplate, paper – Wind-up, propeller turns – 38 x 27 cm
He repeated this in the 1930s with
ICARUS, NR. 818
