Daedalus and Icarus

Daedalus, who hailed from Athens, was the greatest artist and most skillful craftsman in all of Ancient Greece. Beautiful statues all over the empire had been shaped by the tapping of his chisel as it dug smoothly into stone. All the land admired his works of art. But genius is not everything. As skillful as he was, Daedalus was also jealous. He couldn’t stand when someone was seen as a better artist than him.

Daedalus had an apprentice whose name was Talos. However, it wasn’t long before Daedalus noticed that Talos was very talented, perhaps even more so than the master craftsman himself. Not only did he create beautiful artworks, but he also invented various tools that improved his craft even more. But what made Daedalus so jealous is that his apprentice didn’t need his master’s help. Talos started gradually gaining fame and praise all over Athens.

Daedalus feared the glory of his student would overshadow his own. One day, overwhelmed by anger and envy, he crept up behind Talos, who was watching birds from a tower, and pushed him off. But he was caught red handed by the city guards, and swiftly locked up. Luckily for him, he was well liked by some of the rich people of Athens, so he didn’t spend much time in prison. Daedalus managed to escape with their help to the island of Crete, where he won the favour of King Minos. There, for many years he continued to develop his art, and again enjoyed the fame and admiration of the locals. He still created the most magnificent sculptures in the whole country - in fact the only ones that bore even a spitting resemblance to human models back in those days.

Years went by, and life in exile began…