“Flying too close to the sun”
Daedalus was a descendant of Hephaestus and was famous for his creative mind and his inventions. But one day in Athens, Daedalus was so upset and envious of his nephew Talos who had imagined the compass that he killed him. He had to fled and sailed to Crete.
The Labyrinth
In Crete, the King Minos requested him to build a prison where no one could escape. Daedalus imagined and build the labyrinth where Minos could hide the terrible Minotaur.
But after building the labyrinth, the cautious King Minos kept Daedalus with his son Icarus imprisoned in a tower so that he would not divulge the secrets of the maze as well as the secret about the Minotaur, who was kept there.
Daedalus was a brilliant mind , so he imagined the most extraordinary way to escape.
He patiently collected feathers from the birds nestled in the tower. He then used wax to glue the feathers together to create wings. He made two sets of wings, one for himself and one for his beloved son Icarus.
Daedalus warned his son to not fly too close to the sun or the wax would melt with the heat and the wings would fall apart.
The plan of Daedalus worked perfectly. One morning the soldiers guarding the tower were so shocked to witness the 2 captives flying away.
It must have been exhilarating, so extraordinarily exhilarating that Icarus forgot completely the wise warnings of his father.
Icarus flew too close to the sun, causing the wax to melt with the heat of the sun, the wings to break apart and Icarus to drop into the sea.
Daedalus, heartbroken by the loss of his son, arrived safely far, far away from Crete in Sicily. He managed to be introduced at the court of the king, Cocalus. He proposed to the King to build him a splendid temple consecrated to Apollo and offered him his wings.
The Sin of Hubris
In Crete, king Minos was furious and worried that Daedalus might give away the secrets of the labyrinth.
He knew that Daedalus had a weak point : his arrogance. So he sent envoys every where asking if anyone could solve the riddle of running a string through a spiral seashell.
Daedalus could not resist : he was able to attach a thin string to an ant and then attracted the ant into the seashell with a drop of honey !
Minos knew now where Daedalus was hidden. He made a secret pact with king Cocalus and Daedalus was quietly and quickly murdered.
Both father and son had succumbed because their “hubris”’, their excessive confidence.
In Ancient Greece, an excessive confidence was an intolerable outrage and would be immediately punished by the gods.
The Icarus Syndrome
Icarus gave his name to the excess of confidence, “the Icarus Syndrome” , with its lack of humility, is a pattern that every one and especially every successful leader needs to be concerned about.
It has felled on so many leaders throughout history, who planned grandly but failed miserably by overestimating their knowledge, foresight and ability.
Icarus also created the expression “ Flying too close to the sun”.
Ariadne’s thread
Only Theseus was able to find his way out of the terrible labyrinth created by Daedalus. He was able to do so because of the help of Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, who had the idea to give him a thread to guide him out.
Since then the expression Ariadne’s thread means to find a way to solve a problem or a puzzle.