From Out of the Dark

Icarus set - studio shoot.


The Fall of Icarus:

Daedalus, a respected Athenian artisan, was exiled to Crete for the murder of his nephew: a talented young apprentice. While in Crete, he was ordered by King Minos to build the Labyrinth, in order to imprison and conceal the Minotaur.

The Minotaur was fed by the sacrifice of human youths from Athens, which angered the heroic Theseus, who vowed to free the Athenians from the cycle of human sacrifice. He travelled to Crete, where he and Ariadne, Minos' daughter, fell in love; and so she convinced Daedalus to reveal the secrets of the Labyrinth, in order for Theseus to survive.

When Minos discovered what Daedalus had done, he was furious and imprisoned both him and his son, Icarus, in the Labyrinth. Daedalus planned to escape by crafting wings from wax and bird feathers he collected, then flying to safety with his son. Before they set off, he warned Icarus not to fly too high or too low, as there was the danger of either the sun melting the wax or the spray from the sea making his wings wet.

However, Icarus did not heed his father's warning and, caught up in the thrill of flight, he flew too close to the sun; causing the wax to melt and his wings to break, so he fell into the sea and drowned.