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of passages would cross over each other, whilst there seemed to be no start or end to the maze. It was said that it was so complicated that even Daedalus had trouble getting out of it after he had constructed it. Once the Minotaur was imprisoned, King Minos demanded an annual tribute of Athenian youths, to feed the beast.

The story of Daedalus then mixes with that of the hero Theseus. Theseus arrives on Crete in order to kill the Minotaur, and stop the annual tributes. Theseus falls for Ariadne, the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, and she falls for him. Ariadne therefore seeks out the assistance of Daedalus, who provides a thread with which Theseus can guide himself out of the Labyrinth, after slaying the Minotaur.

King Minos is of course outraged at the loss of his annual tribute, the killing of the Minotaur, and the departure of Ariadne. Realising the treachery of Daedalus, Minos incarcerates him, and his son Icarus, in his workshop. In some versions Daedalus is locked in the Labyrinth although if anyone could escape from it, surely the creator would be the most obvious. The workshop, though, is in a room that looks down on the Cretan countryside, and so Daedalus looks for a means to escape.

Daedalus realises that King Minos controls the land and sea; so instead he looks to the air for an escape route. Daedalus builds wings for himself and Icarus. Fabricated from bird feathers, wings were built in the style of a bird wing. Daedalus used thread to secure the largest feathers, whilst the smallest ones were kept together with wax. Trials eventually saw Daedalus able to suspend himself by beating the wings fixed to his arms. Teaching Icarus how to fly, Daedalus added a warning about not flying too high or too low. Too high would see the heat of the sun melt the wax, whilst too low would see the feathers become wet from the sea and would not work.

After practice attempts, Daedalus and Icarus escaped from Crete. Together they passed Samos, Delos and Lebynthos. Icarus though became over confident, and attempted to fly up into the heavens. As he got closer to the god Helios, the sun, the wax holding many of the feathers together melted, causing Icarus to crash into the sea and drown. The place where he drowned was named Icaria in his honour. Grieving the loss of his son, Daedalus continued his escape, arriving safely at the court of King Cocalus in Camicus, in Sicily. To honour the gods, Daedalus built a temple to Apollo and hung up his wings.

King Minos, was not happy at losing the great artisan, and sought to bring him back to Crete. Minos searched from city to city. In each city, Minos would offer a reward to whoever could run a thread through a spiral seashell, knowing that Daedalus would be the only person who could solve such a puzzle. When Minos arrived in Camicus, King Cocalus took the puzzle to Daedalus. Daedalus tied the thread to an ant and then used honey to lure the ant through the shell.

Solving the puzzle though betrayed Daedalus' presence, and Minos demanded his return. King Cocalus agreed to do so, and convinced Minos to take a bath and then partake of some entertainment. Whilst in the bath, Cocalus' daughters murdered Minos. The daughters had no desire to lose the inventor of their numerous amusing gifts.

With all of his inventions and artisan skills, Daedalus became a key figure in Greek mythology. Even in modern times his name is still associated with any master craftsman.

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