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Crete TOURnet: Home Crete Guide Mythology of Crete Daedalus and Icarus

Daedalus and Icarus

When King Minos learned that Daedalus had helped his wife Pasiphae to couple with the white bull of Poseidon, he imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth. Pasiphae freed them, but Minos kept his ships on guard so that Daedalus could not escape from Crete. Daedalus made a pair of wings for himself and another pair for Icarus, and they flew away from Crete. Icarus disobeyed his father’s instructions and flew towards the sun. The sun melted his wings and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. Today the island near where he fell is called Icaria.