According to Greek mythology, Daedalus was an Athenian engineer and inventor. He was afraid that his pupil, Talos, who invented the saw and potter's wheel, would become greater than he was so he threw Talos into the sea. He was condemned by the council and fled to Crete. There he made his famous labyrinth for King Minos who wouldn't let him leave. Daedalus, according to Ovid, thought "Minos' dominion/ Does not include the air" so he made wings out of feathers and wax for himself and his son, Icarus, and flew away, "changing the laws of nature."
Ovid gives details of the invention and has Daedalus warning Icarus to fly a middle course: "Don't go too low, or water will weigh the wings down;/ Don't go too high, or the suns' fire will burn them." Ovid next describes the scene below the flyers: "Far off, far down, some fisherman is watching/ As the rod dips and trembles over the water,/ Some shepherd rests his weight upon his crook,/ Some ploughman on the handles of the ploughshare,/ And all look up, in absolute amazement,/ At those air-borne above. They must be gods!"
And therein lies the rub for the ancient Greeks and for Ovid. Daedalus is guilty of hubris when he "turned his thinking / Toward unknown arts" and invents wings. He must be punished. Icarus "soared higher, higher, drawn to the vast heaven,/ Nearer the sun, and the wax that held the wings/ Melted in that fierce heat, and the bare arms/ Beat up and down in the air...Until the blue sea hushed him." While burying his drowned son, Daedalus "cursed his talents."
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