Icarus
Icarus was the son of Daedalus who escaped Crete on wings of wax and feathers but flew too high — the sun melted his wings and he fell into the sea.
The Legend of Icarus
Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings from feathers and wax to escape King Minos's prison on Crete, where the Minotaur's Labyrinth had become their cage. He warned Icarus: fly neither too low, where Poseidon's spray would soak the feathers, nor too high, where Helios would melt the wax. Apollo watched as the boy ignored his father. The wings failed and Icarus fell into the sea. Athena could not intervene — Zeus allows mortals their choices. The myth mirrors Phaethon's ride and Bellerophon's flight to Olympus: the gods set limits that ambition cannot survive.
Parents
Daedalus and Naucrate
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Icarus
🗡 heroBoy who flew too close to the sun
The son of Daedalus who flew on wings of wax and feathers but ignored his father's warning not to fly too close to the sun. The wax melted and he fell to his death.
Calais
🗡 heroWind, flight
Winged son of Boreas the North Wind who sailed with the Argonauts and drove off the Harpies
Phaethon
🗡 heroSon of Helios who drove the sun chariot
Phaethon was the son of Helios who insisted on driving the chariot of the sun and lost control, nearly burning the earth to ashes.
Zetes and Calais
🗡 heroflight
Winged sons of Boreas who joined the Argonauts and chased the Harpies away from the blind prophet Phineus.
Aegeus
🗡 herotragedy
King of Athens and father of Theseus who threw himself into the sea when he saw black sails, believing his son was dead.
Bellerophon and Pegasus
🗡 herohubris, fall
The hero who tamed Pegasus and slew the Chimera but was destroyed by his own hubris when he tried to fly to Olympus.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroTamer of Pegasus, slayer of the Chimera
The hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and used him to slay the monstrous Chimera. His story is a cautionary tale about hubris.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Jason
🗡 heroLeader of the Argonauts
The hero who assembled the Argonauts and sailed to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, aided by Medea's sorcery.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Phineus
🗡 heroprophecy, punishment
A blind Thracian king and prophet punished by Zeus for revealing divine secrets, tormented by Harpies until rescued by the Argonauts.
Althaemenes
🗡 heroFate, exile
Cretan prince who fled to Rhodes to avoid a prophecy that he would kill his father, only to fulfil it