Part I

 “If god wanted man to fly he would have given him wings.”  Daedalus and Icarus were the first men of flight.  Daedalus was a great and talented architect and sculptor who lived in Athens. He could design anything and was well-known throughout Athens. His sculptures were so real that people though they could open their mouths and speak at any time.

 Daedalus had a son named Icarus who was very clumsy. He wanted, in the worst way, for Icarus to be talented just as he was. He also had a nephew named Talus. Talus was extremely talented like Daedalus.  Talus’ mother sent him to be an apprentice  To Daedalus. Walking on the shore one day, Talus picked up the backbone of a fish and with it he made a saw to cut with.

 Talus invented the compass.  Instead of Daedalus being pleased, he was very jealous and angry that his boy was not like Talus. He was afraid that Talus would soon be better than he, himself.

 One day they were all up on the roof top watching the birds. Daedalus had always had a fascination with how birds flew.  All of sudden Deadalus went into a fit of rage and pushed Talus off the roof and he died.  After he did that he couldn’t believe what he had done. He was very sad.  The worst sin in mythology is the killing of your own kin.

 Daedalus had no choice but to flee to Athens.  He wandered around for awhile and ended up in Crete where King Minos ruled. The king knew of Daedalus’ work so he was pleased that he was there.  King Minos possessed a fearful monster called the Minotaur. He had the head and shoulders of a bull and the legs and trunk of a man.

 The Minotaur is a symbol of strength and energy. He fed off the flesh of young men and girls sent to him as a sacrifice.  The king wanted a suitable place to keep the minotaur. It had to be a place that he couldn’t escape from or any prisoner that he put with the bull could not escape from. So, Daedalus built a maze called a labyrinth.

 Daedalus was unhappy- he felt as though he was a prisoner of King Minos, and he truly was!  King Minos commanded that he tell no one how to escape the labyrinth.  Daedalus was always fascinated with flight so he began to study the flight patterns of birds and how they flew. He began to think that he knew the secret of flight.

 So, everyday he would gather feathers from the birds. He finally collected enough feathers to build one set of wings. He used wax to put them together. When he finished the wings he put them on and flew around.  Icarus was so excited that he also wanted a pair. So, Daedalus made him a pair.

 Daedalus warned his son not to fly to close to the sun or it will melt the wax.  He also said don’t fly to close to the sea or the water will wet them and weigh them down. He made him repeat the directions since he was so clumsy.

 At first he kept his son close to him.  Icarus was so excited that he flew higher and higher in the air. He went so high that the sun melted the wax, and he went plummeting into the water. He died.  Dedaelus felt as though the gods avenged him for what he did to Talus. Daedalus buried his son on the island that bears his name, Icarus.

 Next, Daedalus went on to Siciliy where Cocalus reigned. King Minos presented a challenge to King Cocalus’ daughter. They had to thread a string through a seashell. They took it to Daedalus and he completed the task.

 They took it back to King Minos. He knew that the only person who could complete such a task was Daedalus. So King Minos had Daedalus sent back to Crete.  Daedalus had to work for King Minos. He knew the layout of the bath house. He was getting the bath ready for the king. He boiled the water so hot that he boiled the king.

 No one knows whatever happened to Daedalus after that.  Scholars even question as to whether or not the man actually existed.

 Theseus was the grandson of King Pittheus of Troezen.  Theseus was also the cousin of Hercules.  Theseus thought he was the son of Poseidon but his mother never told him who his father really was.  She thought that if he knew for sure who his father was, he would leave her just like his father did.

 On his 16 th birthday, he was given a challenge.  If he could move a huge boulder, underneath it would be revealed the name of this father.  He tried and tried. Finally, he toppled it over. Underneath were two things, sandals and a sword that once belonged to his father.  He found out that his father was King Aegus of Athens

 He had to go to his father. So he left his mother just as fate would have it. Remember, the King also left Theseus’ mother.  On his journey he had many obstacles and villains to defeat.

 The first villain was Peraphates ( crippler).  He tried to fight Theseus with an iron club but he managed to kill him.  The second villain was Sineous (pine bender) after robbing his victims, he would tie them between two pine trees and bend one tree back until the victim was cut in half.  He slayed many others along the way and came to his third villain.

 Procrustes (the stretcher)- ◦ Procrustes had some companions with him when Theseus ran into him. Procrustes invited Theseus to join him for dinner. ◦ Theseus refused so the companions grabbed Theseus and he was forced against his will and taken to Procrustes’ house. ◦ While he was in the other room, his slave went to pour Theseus a drink.. The slave whispered in his ear, “Get out while you can. My master is a terrible person.”

 The terrible thing about Procrustes is that when his victims fell asleep he would tie them up and stretch them to fit the bed. If the person was to long for the bed he cut off the legs. If he was too short, he stretched him to fit.  Theseus found a club and killed Procrustis and continued across the river to Athens.

 King Aegus knew a young traveler was coming but did not know who it was.  As of now, the king thought he was childless and would not have an heir to throne as king.  Aegus’ wife was Medea-(the princess of darkness) who was a sorcerer.  Medea could not let a previous son take over the reign as king because then the king would not want anything to do with her and secondly, she wanted to have a son so he could be the ruler. Since Theseus would be the older of the two, he would get the throne. The third reason why she wanted him dead, was because she knew that with the king having a son, he would no longer take her advice on how the kingdom should be ran.

 She told the king that Theseus was not a good person, that he was trying to deceive the king by saying that he was his son and that they should poison him.  At first the king went along with the plan.  But right before Theseus was to take a drink of the wine, he took out his father’s sword and layed it on the table. Immediately the king knew who the boy was and he knocked the drink out of his hand.

 Medea knew that the king would no longer want anything to do with her so she left on her winged dragons. No one knows where she flew to or ended up.

 After King Aegus had come to know his son, Crete (King Minos) sent Heralds to demand for the third time, that a human tribute be sent to Crete.  Every nine years a human sacrifice from Athens was sent to Crete.  Years before, Androgeos, the son of Minos, went to Athens to take part in the Olympic games. He was very good and won most of the games. This angered King Aegus so he had him killed.

 King Minos (Crete) then proclaimed war on King Aegus(Athens).  King Minos’ army was so big that King Aegus did not want a war.  The price King Aegus had to pay was that every nine years seven young boys and seven young girls would be sent to Crete as a sacrifice to the Minotaur.

 Theseus saw how angry the people from Athens were at his father, so he offered to be one of the sacrifices.  Theseus went and was determined to slay the Minotaur.  King Aegus was so distraught over his son going. He told him that upon his return if he saw the ship coming into port and it had a black sail, he would know that he was no longer living. If the ship came in with a white sail, he would know that he was victorious.

 Crowds gathered to see who the new sacrifices were.  Ariadne, King Minos’ daughter, who was also in the crowd of on-lookers, could not take her eyes off of Theseus.  When night came, Ariadne snuck out of the palace and went to visit Theseus.  Ariadne gave Theseus a sword and a ball of twine. She told him to tie one end of the string to the inside of the door and unwind it as he walked through the labyrinth,so he was able to retrace his steps.

 To thank the princess, Theseus promised to marry Ariadne and take her with him.  Theseus came upon the Minotaur who was sleeping. He fought with monster and killed him.  Exhuberant, Theseus and the others loaded the ship. Ariadne was waiting there by the ship for Theseus to fulfill his promise to her.

 In the meantime, the crew was so happy that they forgot to change the sail from black to white.  King Aegus was waiting on shore for the ship to arrive. He saw the black sails, thought his son was dead, and threw himself into the sea. (Aegean Sea)