Daedalus and Minos
by Ignazio Caloggero
Reference page: Repertory of Cults and Myths
Origins of the Myth
Legend has it that Daedalus, an Athenian by birth, was an expert architect and sculptor, renowned for his ability to carve statues that, because of their naturalness, seemed lifelike. Daedalus's pupil was a young man named Talos , his sister's son. His nephew, a man of great genius, invented various machines, including the saw and the drill. His fame almost overshadowed that of his master, who, blinded by jealousy, killed him. Daedalus, discovered and accused of the murder, was forced into exile, first to Attica and then to Crete, where, admired for his skills, he became a friend of King Minos . It was customary at that time for King Minos to annually sacrifice the most beautiful bull in his herd to Poseidon . One day, however, a beautiful bull was born, and Minos, struck by its beauty, refused to sacrifice it to the god, offering another in its place. Poseidon, enraged, caused Pasiphae , the king's wife, to fall in love with the bull. Minos's wife yearned to mate with the animal, but this presented some small practical as well as moral problems. Daedalus then built a hollow cow-shaped statue, covered it with cowhide, and, to complete the work, taught Pasiphae how to sit inside so she could mate with the bull. From this union was born a hideous creature, the famous and mythical Minotaur , half bull and half man.
Daedalus and Pasife (Pompeii)
Kylix (ceramic wine cup) with the Minotaur – National Archaeological Museum of Spain [1]
When the Athenian Theseus came to Crete to kill the Minotaur, Daedalus advised Ariadne , daughter of Minos, who had fallen in love with Theseus, to give him the ball of thread that would allow him to escape the labyrinth. Minos, learning of this new plot by Daedalus, became very angry, and Daedalus decided to flee Crete with his son Icarus , aided by Pasiphae, who provided him with a ship for their escape. When they reached an island, while disembarking from the ship, Icarus, due to his boldness, fell into the sea and died. Daedalus arrived in Sicily, in the territory ruled by the Sican king Cocalus , who received him at court and they became friends. This version of Daedalus' escape from Crete is told by Diodorus Siculus . Another, more famous version, recalled by Diodorus himself, tells that Daedalus, unable to escape on board a ship because all of them were under the control of Minos, remained in Crete, hidden by Pasiphae, until he built, for himself and his son, wings modelled with wax. Once the wings were applied, they managed to escape from Crete by flight but, while they were in the open sea, Icarus, despite having been called back by his father, flew too high, the wax that held the wings together (due to the heat of the sun) melted, he fell into the sea and died. Daedalus, however, flying close to the sea and frequently wetting his wings, managed to arrive safe and sound as far as Sicily [2].
As can be seen, in both versions the inexperience and youthful bravado are highlighted, as if to want to moralize the young so that they submit to the experience of adults.
The Myth in Sicily
Daedalus lived for a long time with Cocalus and the Sicilians, demonstrating his ingenuity and building numerous works in Sicily. Among the works attributed to him is the construction of an artificial cave near Selinunte , where the fumes rising from the fire were so strong that they caused a slow sweat, healing those who frequented the cave with any ailments. It is also thought that the steam baths were those of Mount Kronio (Sciacca).
Icarus and Daedalus (Charles Paul Landon 1799) [3]
At Erice , on a rock that rose sheer above the temple of Aphrodite , Daedalus built walls with which he widened the raised platform over the ravine, which was at the base of the temple and he also built there a golden ram of wonderful beauty.
Near Megaride , he built a kolymbethra (pool or pool) on the waters of the Alabon River. This site has been identified with Megara Hyblaea, one of the ancient Hyblaeans.
In Agrigento , on the Camico River, Daedalus built a city perched on a mountain, which would later become the strongest and most impregnable in Sicily. Indeed, the climb to its summit was narrow and winding, and could easily be defended by a few men. For this reason, Cocalus moved his royal residence from the city of Inico to the new city, which he named after the nearby river and where he stored his treasures. This fortress has been identified with the ancient town of Camico, the site of which is believed to be that of Sant'Angelo di Muxaro, 26 km northwest of Agrigento.
King Minos of Crete, learning of Daedalus's escape to Sicily, organized an expedition. Having assembled a fleet, he set sail from Crete and landed his ships at a location near Agrigento (possibly the beach of Capo Bianco near Heraclea Minor), which was later named Minoa in his honor . To find Daedalus, he employed a peculiar stratagem: he promised, in the places he passed, a reward to anyone who could thread a thread through the spirals of a snail shell. Cocalus proposed the solution to Daedalus, who tied the thread to an ant, pushing it into the new labyrinth. When Cocalus had the shell brought to Minos, Minos realized that Daedalus must be nearby and sent ambassadors to ask Cocalus to return the fugitive. Cocalus then invited Minos and, after promising to grant his requests, invited him to his home, where he had magnificent baths crafted by Daedalus, and granted Minos use of them. But while Minos, unsuspecting, was bathing, served, according to the custom of the time, by Cocalus' daughters, the girls, violating the sacred laws of hospitality, drowned him and kept him in hot water until he died. Cocalus returned the body to the Cretans, telling them that Minos had died by accidentally slipping into the hot water.
According to some versions of the Legend of Daedalus and Minos, the place where Cocalus buried Minos, before returning him to the Cretans, was a cave identified with the Caves of Gurfa (Alia).
Heraclea Minoa [4]
The Cretans asked and obtained to bury their king sumptuously, they built a two-story tomb where, in the part hidden by the earth they placed the bones and in the raised part they built a temple dedicated to Aphrodite [5].
Daedalus, finally free, lived in Sicily until his death. According to another version, Daedalus, after having lived for many years with the Sicilians, moved to Sardinia, where he built the nuraghi, also called dedalei.
Minoan influence in Sicily
The legend of Daedalus and Minos in Sicily is, in some way, considered the myth of a phenomenon of colonization by some Cretans that occurred long before the eighth century. BC, an epoch corresponding to the arrival of the first Greek colonists. The hypothesis could be strengthened by the fact that the Cretan regime was of a monarchical type and Minos was probably not the name of a king but the title that was assigned to the kings of Crete.
Note: The first important European civilization, the Minoan, emerged on the island of Crete, reaching its peak around the 16th century BC. It was characterized by intense commercial and maritime activity, which likely led the Cretans to establish trade relations, though perhaps short-lived, with the indigenous peoples of Sicily. Around 2500 BC, Indo-European populations descended on Greece from the Danube region, including the Achaeans. They came into contact with the Minoan culture and adopted its characteristics. The resulting culture took its name from the city of Mycenae, the Achaean stronghold, and was known as the Mycenaean culture.
The newcomers spread an Indo-European language in Greece, which later became Mycenaean Greek. Around 1450 BC, the Achaeans extended their dominion over Crete by destroying what remained of the Minoan civilization. The maximum splendor of the Mycenaean civilization goes from 1600 to 1150 BC, and from 1400 to 1200 there is a great expansion of this civilization in the Mediterranean regions that also touches Sicily, as evidenced by the innumerable archaeological discoveries. Towards 1150 BC a further invasion by Indo-European peoples, that of the Dorians, put an end to the Mycenaean civilization, causing a reduction of the Mycenaean presence in the Mediterranean, and opening the doors to the commercial presence of the Phoenician element in the area.
Archaeology has now dispelled any doubts that Greek influence in Sicily began long before colonization, which occurred in the 8th century BC. A presence from the Aegean must have existed in Sicily in the Bronze Age, when the Minoan civilization was still flourishing in Greece. This presence must have been predominantly commercial, with superficial and short-lived contact with the indigenous populations, although the latest finds, at Sant'Angelo di Muxaro and at Thapsos , suggest, in some cases, a more stable form of permanence.
Angel of Muxaro: Gold cup
The Minoan-Mycenaean influence can be found in many areas of Sicily. A lot of material dating back to the Mycenaean period (Mycenaean IIIA and Mycenaean IIIB) has been found in Thapsos.
Note: The chronology of Mycenaean ceramics includes three periods, the third of which is the one concerning southern Italy; it is divided into: Mycenaean III A (1425-1300), Mycenaean III B (1300-1230) and Mycenaean III C (1230-1025).
In this locality the Mycenaean influence on the indigenous cave tombs is also evident and a stone settlement has been identified, considered the largest and most important of the Middle and Late Bronze Age (XNUMXth-XNUMXth century BC) not only in Sicily, but of the whole area of the western Mediterranean. Mycenaean pottery has been found in various places in the Syracusan area and also in the Aeolian Islands where pottery dating back to the late Minoan period (XNUMXth century BC) has been found and, therefore, among the oldest found in the West.
Another particularly rich area is central-southern Sicily, especially S. Angelo di Muxaro, identified by some with the ancient Camico and linked to the legend of Cocalus and Minos. Here, in addition to some tombs similar to the Cretan-Mycenaean 'tholoi', four gold cups were found, of which only one is preserved in the British Museum. It is decorated with six cattle, whose heads are of Cretan type attributed to a local craftsmanship of Mycenaean tradition. This strengthens the hypothesis that the legend of Cocalus and Minos could reflect a Greek presence starting from a pre-colonial period, that is before the 8th century BC. In this regard, the fact that the name of Cocalus appears on Linear B tablets found in Pylos, in the Peloponnese [6] could be significant.
Note: Linear B is a writing system in which the symbols are mostly letters and derive from Linear A; while Linear A was the system used by the Cretans, whose phonetics were different from the Greek one, Linear B was instead used by the Mycenaeans who spoke Greek and from whom they had borrowed the writing system; the Linear B writing system disappeared with the Dorian invasion that put an end to the Mycenaean civilization.
The Myth in the IWB Register of the Sicily Region
The Sicily Region has entered the Myth of Daedalus and Minossee in the LIM register (Places of identity and memory) - Places of gods and minor divinities.
Places indicated on the IWB:
- Rock of Kamicos (S. Angelo Muxaro-province of Agrigento)
- Steam baths, Monte Kronio (Sciacca-province of Agrigento)
- Megalithic Walls (Erice-province of Trapani)
- Capo Bianco beach (Eraclea Minoa-province of Agrigento)
- Caves of the Gurfa (Alia-province of Palermo)
- Kolymbethra, waters of Alabon (Megara Hyblaea-prov. Syracuse)
To view the places of the Myth on an Interactive Map, see the following web page: The places of Daedalus and Minos
Excerpt from the book “ Myths of Ancient Sicily” by Ignazio Caloggero ISBN:9788832060157 © 2022 Centro Studi Helios srl
[1] https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tondo_Minotaur_London_E4_MAN.jpg
[2] Diodorus Siculus book IV.77
[3] https://it.artsdot.com/@@/ARCAJV-Charles-Paul-Landon-Icaro-e-Dedalo
[4] https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eraclea_Minoa#/media/File:Ruins_of_a_residential_quarter_-_Heraclea_Minoa_-_Italy_2015.JPG
[5] Diodorus Siculus lib. IV.79
[6] Sabatino Moscati: The Mediterranean Civilization p. 374
