Icarus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Icarus (Latin, Greek Íkaros, Etruscan Vicare, German Ikarus) was the son of Daedalus (Daídalos), famous for his death by falling into the sea when the wax holding his artificial wings together melted.

The story of Icarus

The following is an account of the Fall of Icarus as told by Thomas Bulfinch:

Icarus was imprisoned, with his father, in a tower on Crete, by the king, Minos. Daedalus contrived to make his escape from the prison he was in, but could not leave the island by sea, as the king kept strict watch on all the vessels, and permitted none to sail without being carefully searched. "Minos may control the land and sea," said Daedalus, "but not the regions of the air. I will try that way." So he set to work to fabricate wings for himself and his young son Icarus. He wrought feathers together beginning with the smallest and adding larger, so as to form an increasing surface. The larger ones he secured with thread and the smaller with wax, and gave the whole a gentle curvature like the wings of a bird. Icarus, the boy, stood and looked on, sometimes running to gather up the feathers which the wind had blown away, and then handling the wax and working it over with his fingers, by his play impeding his father in his labors.

When at last the work was done, the artist, waving his wings, found himself buoyed upward and hung suspended, poising himself on the beaten air. He next equipped his son in the same manner, and taught him how to fly, as a bird tempts her young ones from the lofty nest into the air. When all was prepared for flight, he said, "Icarus, my son, I charge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low the damp will clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt them. Keep near me and you will be safe." While he gave him these instructions and fitted the wings to his shoulders, the face of the father was wet with tears, and his hands trembled. He kissed the boy, not knowing that it was for the last time. Then rising on his wings he flew off, encouraging him to follow, and looked back from his own flight to see how his son managed his wings. As they flew the ploughman stopped his work to gaze, and the shepherd leaned on his staff and watched them, astonished at the sight, and thinking they were gods who could thus cleave the air.

They passed Samos and Delos on the left and Lebynthos on the right, then the boy, exulting in his career, began to leave the guidance of his companion and soar upward as if to reach heaven. The nearness of the blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they came off. He fluttered with his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air. While his mouth uttered cries to his father, it was submerged in the blue waters of the sea, which thenceforth was called by his name. His father cried, "Icarus, Icarus, where are you?" At last he saw the feathers floating on the water, and bitterly lamenting his own arts, he buried the body and called the land Icaria in memory of his child. Daedalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god.

Icarus in modern culture

Icarus continues to be cited as a moral lesson about the danger of hubris, suggesting that someone who dares to fly too close to the realm of the gods will suffer for it. Icarus may be regarded as a metaphor for a social fall, and this is taken into its full extreme in Walter Tevis' novel The Man Who Fell to Earth. Both it and the subsequent film reference Icarus, and the hero, a slowly corrupted and disillusioned extraterrestrial, has Brueghel's painting The Fall of Icarus (illustration, right) on his wall. This painting is a pivotal modern reference, serving as a reference and backdrop for other literary uses.

In his poem Musée des Beaux-Arts, W. H. Auden saw Brueghel's figures— so oblivious to the tragic plunge— as part of the blind continuity of daily life, its innocent callousness:

''how everything turns away

''Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may

''Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,

''But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone

''As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green

''Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen

''Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,

had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on. ^*

William Carlos Williams saw Brueghel's landscape and wrote the poem, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus:

"According to Brueghel

when Icarus fell

it was spring

a farmer was ploughing

his field

the whole pageantry

of the year was

awake tingling

near

the edge of the sea

concerned

with itself

sweating in the sun

that melted

the wings' wax

unsignificantly

off the coast

there was

a splash quite unnoticed

this was

Icarus drowning"

Modern musical references

Queen's song "No-one But You" makes a reference to the myth of Icarus - especially in the chorus with the line "they're only flying too close to the sun"
The Iron Maiden album, Piece of Mind features a song entitled "Flight of Icarus," based very loosely on the myth with some significant differences. ^*
The song "Too Close To The Sun" from the 1996 Alan Parsons release On Air relates the escape of Daedalus and Icarus from the labyrinth of the minotaur.
The Paul Winter Consort recorded an instrumental song called Icarus, written by Ralph Towner, which appears on the album of the same name.
Rock band Thrice recorded a song called The Melting Point Of Wax about Icarus, which can be found on their 2003 album The Artist In The Ambulance.
The song Just a man by the band Faith No More features a reference to the myth of Icarus.
Twice, rock band Kansas has recorded songs referencing Icarus. Their 1975 album Masque contains a song "Icarus (Borne On Wings Of Steel)" which relates the story of the flight of Icarus to a desire to leave the world for good and not "come down no more." In 2000 they recorded a song called "Icarus II" on their Somewhere to Elsewhere album; this song recounts the thoughts of a wartime pilot who is scrambled early one morning, and when the battle goes badly, ultimately he gives his life to save his friends in the other planes.
In composer Adam Guettel's song cycle Myths and Hymns, there is a song about the rise and fall of Icarus, and references to it in other songs in the cycle.
Jazz/rock group Ohm, fronted by former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland recorded an instrumental song "Icarus Falls" for their 2005 album Amino Acid Flashback.
The Rush song "Bravado" mentions Icarus in the line "If we burn our wings flying too close to the sun"
The Hopesfall song called Icarus describes this tale in the chorus, which goes "Oh Icarus tempting fate again, altitude sickness setting in. Tradewinds bury fire from broken wings, into arms below the ocean."
On the album 'Only Just Beginning' by Jason Webley, his song "Icarus" refers to this mythological story: "I bang my head for days against the walls inside this maze, I've never been too good at this kind of thing. I'm in here with my father, I'm just pacing but he's smarter; he's been building a fantastic set of wings. And like that I'm up and flying with the Labyrinth behind me, but I go too high, the sun is melting through the wax. It burns! It hurts! I tumble to the earth, and as I fall I feel myself relax."
On the album Evolve by Ani DiFranco, her song "Icarus" uses the mythological story in the line "just like Icarus ascending, never intending to look back, nature's law and your tragic flaw, are vying to send you flying into the arms of another Venus fly trap". This is used to exemplify the tragedy one could face if they try to escape their problems instead of finding the strength to face them.
Emperor's "An Elegy of Icaros," off of IX Equilibrium, is, as its title suggests, an elegy for Icarus.
Trance producer Flutlicht created a song called "The Fall," documenting the death of Icarus
The song Wax by The One AM Radio makes reference to the story of Icarus
The song "Lacrimosa" by Regina Spektor briefly references Icarus.
On Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force album, there was an instrumental track called "Icarus' Dream Suite"
In 1974 Led Zeppelin launched their own record label known as "Swan Song" the label of the record logo was an image of the Greek God Apollo, but it often misinterpreted and referred to as 'Icarus'
Liam Lynch makes reference to Icarus in "Wax Wings" from his album "EEL"
"Blinded" by Third Eye Blind mentions Icarus in the last verse; "Icarus is a not a t-shirt, nor a swan song, no, he is born again..."
Goth Band "The Crüxshadows" has an unlyricised sond "Daedelus Flight...Icarus Falls"
Christian band Jars Of Clay refers to Icarus in their song "Worlds Apart," likening the moderation Icarus symbolizes to the balance between pride and humility that Christians believe must be maintained before God.
Argentine band Soda Stereo makes reference to Icarus in their song "En la ciudad de la furia"

Modern dramatic and cinematic references

Books by Sara Douglass feature a race with wings, known as the Icarii (plural for Icarus)
Actor and playwright Sam Shepard titled a one-act play "Icarus's Mother", with thematic content of a plane crashing for an unknown reason and a group of picnic-goers witnessing the event before a fire-works show.
In the film 24 Hour Party People, Tony Wilson (as played by Steve Coogan) suggests that his story is akin to the story of Icarus, characteristically adding "If you know who that is, that's great; if not it doesn't matter...but you should probably read more."
In the film Die Another Day, the space program of villain Gustav Graves is fittingly named Icarus, foreshadowing his impending demise.
In the film The Animatrix there is a chapter that call "The last flight of Icarus" , in reference with the last mission of the aircraft call "Osiris". Also, in the film The Matrix Reloaded, the Icarus is a hovercraft.
In the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, the Icarus is the ship on which the astronauts who are protagonists in the film begin their journey, the ship's name foreshadowing the fate of the crew
In the television series Babylon 5, the Icarus is a ship sent on an archaelogical dig to a planet in the previously unexplored galactic rim by the Earth corporation InterPlanetary Expeditions. The crew of the ship, seeking advanced alien technologies, awaken a malevolent alien race instead.
The Next Generation's second season saw an episode entitled The Icarus Factor; the main story involved Commander William T. Riker being briefed by his estranged father on a possible deep space command.
In the anime and manga Fullmetal Alchemist, the protagonist Edward Elric makes a reference to Icarus while talking about bringing humans back to life.
In Marvel Comics Icarus is a mutant of the New Mutants, Vol. 2/New X-Men: Academy X
"The Man Who Fell To Earth" a 1976 (drama/comedy) became an '80s cult science fiction classic. In it Bowie plays an alien disguised as a human who is put on earth to find a way to ship water back to his dying planet.
Poet Jack Gilbert wrote a poem about the end of a marriage using the story of Icarus as a metaphor for the triumph of the relationship before it died. The poem is called "Failing and Flying". Read the poem on www.poets.org.
Varekai, a Cirque Du Soleil show, currently touring, is about Icarus, and what would have happened if he had fallen into a forest instead of the ocean.

Computer game references

In Deus Ex, a video game realesed in 2000, Icarus is the name of an antagonistic AI entity. The game also has AI entities named Daedalus and Helios.
In The Legendary Adventure, Icarus is one of the "Boss" characters
In Kid Icarus, for the Nintendo Entertainment System, you control a younger Icarus named Pit.
In Mission to Earth, there is a power up called "Icarus Wings." They allow the player character to fly.
In Quake II Icarus are a kind of airborn Strogg.
In the game Morrowind, The character can find scrolls of "Icarian Flight" which allow the character to fly for a short duration, at which point they fall to the ground, and most likely die.
In the game "Deadalus Encounter", a video adventure game, starring Tea Carrere, the abandoned space ship was called Daedalus

External links

Daedalvs et Icarvs - original Latin text by Ovid (broken link?)
Daedalus and Icarus - English translation of Ovid's prose