Flight Before Physics: The myth of Daedalus and Icarus
From myth to machine, this newsletter explores humanity’s journey to the sky.
Long Before engineers calculated lift and drag, humans dreamed of flight, often watching birds and wondering, what if we could do that?
The famous Greek myth about Icarus and Daedalus shows early humans’ interest in flight. In Athens lived a skillful inventor, Daedalus who is credited as the inventor of carpentry and all the tools use for it.
After being banished from Athens, he left for Crete, and was welcomed by King Minos for his craftsmanship. He served as the palace technician.
During his time there, the king’s wife, Pasiphae was cursed by the god Poseidon to fall in love with the King’s bull. She asked Daedalus to help her seduce it. Daedalus constructed a wooden bull that can be controlled from the inside, which the King’s wife used to seduce the bull. Pasiphae then gave birth to the half human, half bull Minotaur. The King, after hearing this was furious at Daedalus for assisting his wife. He ordered him to construct a prison that cannot be escaped by any human and imprisoned Minotaur. Once the prison was constructed Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned in a tall tower for the rest of their lives.
While Daedalus and his son were bounded within the walls of the tall tower, Daedalus observed the movements of the birds that flew around. He then used a flock of bird feathers and candle wax to create huge wings that were capable of human flight. He made one pair for his son and another for himself. They both knew that flying was their only hope escape.
As both men took off from the tower Daedalus successfully completed his flight leading to his freedom. His son however was excited by the power. He ascended until it got too warm from the sun’s heat. The wax melted. His wing fell off, and so did he.
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly know how far one can go.”
— T.S. Eliot
Although this story is just a myth, it represents one of the first recorded idea of humans trying to fly, while giving us an understanding of how humans adapted the ideology of flight based on the movements and anatomy of birds.
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