July 19: Travel Month

King Minos of Crete had a lot to thank the gods for, and especially Poseidon felt entitled to a token of gratitude. So he sent Minos a wonderful white bull, to be sacrificed with a lot of pump and circumstance. Minos however didn’t follow the instructions and kept the bull for himself. An infuriated Poseidon took revenge in good Greek tradition, by targeting an innocent family member, Minos’ wife Pasiphaë in this case. He made her feel madly attracted to the bull, to the point where she ordered palace architect Daidalos to craft a contraption to make her dreams a reality. A few months later, she gave birth to the Minotaur. Minos locked him up in a labyrinth under the castle, designed by Daidalos, who had become a prisoner too, together with his son Ikaros. To escape his tower jail, Daidalos crafted two pairs of wings and one day, they flew away. Unfortunately, Ikaros, young and excited, flew too high, too close to the sun… The wax melted, his wings fell apart and he famously crashed. On the island that still carries his name, Ikaria.

Daedalus presenting the wooden bull, fresco, House of the Vettii, Pompeï, Italy

Icarus on lekythos, Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York, USA

Did you know?

• The Minotaur’s birthname could have been Asterion or Asterius.

• About Theseus: “Belonging”, “Paradoxes”, “A Mixed Marriage”, “Female Logic”, “The Wineskin”.

• According to Apollodorus, Herakles buried Ikaros on the island of Ikaria.

• Ikaros’ mother would have been a Cretan slave girl with the name of Naukrate.

• Daidalos was credited with inventing carpentry and designed masts and sails to put on a ship.

• About the Cretan bull: cfr. “Bulls and Boars”.

• Daidalos crafted the wings out of bird feathers and leftovers of candle wax.

• About Poseidon (Neptune): cfr. “Old Money”, “Victim Blaming”, “The Weight of the World”, “A Crowded Mountain”, “A little Snowman”, “Shiny Seawater”, “A little Lamb”, “The Kingmaker”, “The last Stand”, “Pebbles”.