Name: 【TED-Ed】The myth of Icarus and Daedalus - Amy Adkins
Uploaded: 2017-03-27T15:56:53.000Z
Duration: 5 min 9 s
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soaring above Crete on wings made from wax and feathers,

Icarus, the son of Daedalus, defied the laws of both man and nature.

Ignoring the warnings of his father, he rose higher and higher.

To witnesses on the ground, he looked like a god,

and as he peered down from above, he felt like one, too.

the line that separated god from man was absolute

and the punishment for mortals who attempted to cross it was severe.

Such was the case for Icarus and Daedalus.

his father Daedalus was highly regarded as a genius inventor,

He invented carpentry and all the tools used for it.

He made sculptures so lifelike that Hercules mistook them for actual men.

Though skilled and celebrated, Daedalus was egotistical and jealous.

Worried that his nephew was a more skillful craftsman,

As punishment, Daedalus was banished from Athens and made his way to Crete.

Daedalus was welcomed  with open arms by Crete's King Minos.

There, acting as the palace  technical advisor,

Daedalus continued to push the boundaries.

he made mechanically animated toys that seemed alive.

He invented the ship's sail and mast, which gave humans control over the wind.

With every creation, Daedalus challenged human limitations

that had so far kept mortals separate from gods,

King Minos's wife, Pasiphaë, had been cursed by the god Poseidon

to fall in love with the king's prized bull.

Under this spell, she asked Daedalus to help her seduce it.

With Pasiphaë hiding inside Daedalus's creation,

she conceived and gave birth to the half-human half-bull minotaur.

who blamed Daedalus for enabling such a horrible perversion of natural law.

As punishment, Daedalus was forced to construct an inescapable labyrinth

When it was finished, Minos then imprisoned Daedalus

within the top of the tallest tower on the island

where they were to remain  for the rest of their lives.

But Daedalus was still a genius inventor.

While observing the birds that circled his prison,

He and Icarus would fly away from their prison

Using feathers from the flocks that perched on the tower,

Daedalus constructed two pairs of giant wings.

As he strapped the wings to his son Icarus,

flying too near the ocean  would dampen the wings

the heat would melt the wax and the wings would disintegrate.

Therefore, the key to their escape would be in keeping to the middle.

With the instructions clear, both men leapt from the tower.

While Daedalus stayed carefully to the midway course,

Icarus was overwhelmed with the ecstasy of flight

and overcome with the feeling of divine power that came with it.

Daedalus could only watch in horror as Icarus ascended higher and higher,

When the heat from the sun melted the wax on his wings,

the consequences of defying  the natural laws of mortal men

Icarus was also carried away by his own hubris.

both men paid for their departure  from the path of moderation dearly,

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【TED-Ed】The myth of Icarus and Daedalus - Amy Adkins

overwhelmed

regret

attempt

ancient