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Ancient Greek

Greek mythology is the body of myths and teaching that belongs to ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes. Its purpose was to explain, teach and, entertain. Greek mythology explained why things happen. It was also their religion. They prayed to gods and gave them offerings.

Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives.

Each god and goddess has a part their world that was their responsibility, like in the similar story “The Myth of Phaeton,” Helios was the god of the sun.

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The myth of Daedalus and Icarus

The myth of Daedalus and Icarus is about a man and who lost his son because his son didn't listen. The message in this story was don't let desire change your decisions. In this myth Icarus’s desire was to fly too high.

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The story of Icarus and Daedalus

Daedalus and his son Icarus wanted to escape Crete so Dedalus created wings that were made out of wax and feathers. Before flying off, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too high or the wings would get burned by the sun, and to not to fly too low because the dampness would clog the feathers. While icarus and daedalus were flying, Icarus ignored the instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and the wings started to melt causing him to fall into the sea where he drowned.

Icarus falling to into the ocean with Daedalus next to him.

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The story continues

Daedalus flew lower hoping to see Icarus on the surface, but he knew that

no one could survive that fall. His son was gone. He couldn’t do anything

about it, so he had to continue his journey to the island of Sicily where he

hoped to be welcomed and be allowed to live a trouble free life. But

however long he lived, he would never forget the voice of his son yelling for his help.

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The truth behind the flight

Every animal that flies has a certain structure that allows it to fly. Bones inside of a bird are hollow allowing them to take lift. It’s not just the wings that make them fly, it’s the structure.

Icarus was a fully grown human of about 200lbs. Humans aren’t built for flight because it consumes too much energy. Even though Icarus had wings, his body structure wasn’t built for flight. He was too heavy to lift and his wings wouldn’t produce enough lift energy.

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Science behind the story

Icarus flew above the atmosphere and flew too close to the sun and burned. That is what the story stated. In reality icarus would’ve froze.

The natural causes of his death would be these factors.

The atmosphere above would’ve froze the wax on his wing,not

melting it because he wasn’t close enough to the sun. The average temperature at 30,00o feet altitude is about -33 degrees and can even drop to -60. More than cold enough to cause the body to freeze.