Cocalus
A king of Sicily who sheltered the craftsman Daedalus after his escape from Crete and whose daughters killed King Minos with boiling water
The Legend of Cocalus
Cocalus was the king of Camicus in Sicily who unwittingly became entangled in the vendetta between Minos of Crete and the master craftsman Daedalus. After Daedalus escaped from Crete using the wings he had constructed — the same flight in which his son Icarus perished — he made his way to Sicily and took refuge at the court of Cocalus. Daedalus repaid his host's hospitality by constructing marvellous works of engineering, including an impregnable fortress on a cliff and a system of heating for a bathhouse. When Minos tracked Daedalus to Sicily by posing a puzzle that only the craftsman could solve — threading a spiral shell, which Daedalus accomplished by tying a thread to an ant — the Cretan king demanded his return. Cocalus pretended to comply and invited Minos to a banquet, offering him a bath first. While Minos bathed, the daughters of Cocalus, who had grown fond of Daedalus and did not wish to lose him, poured boiling water through pipes that Daedalus himself had installed. Minos was scalded to death, ending the great king's pursuit.
Parents
None recorded
Children
The daughters of Cocalus
Symbols
Fun Fact
The greatest king in Cretan mythology met his end in a bathtub, killed by the very engineering genius of the man he was hunting
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