DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0173
DAIDALOS. 141
Besides these nebulous constellations, one name is so often mentioned, that
the temptation has been to consider it as standing for an historical artist.
This is Daidalos, the traditional contemporary of King Minos of Crete, builder
of the labyrinth at Cnossos, creator of most varied works of art, descendant
and friend of gods and heroes, and founder of Cretan and Athenian art. Most
varied works were ascribed to him, while all agree that the material in which he
worked was wood. Indeed, he is said to have invented the instruments for
working it,—the saw, axe, borer, and glue.'s3 The name Daidalos seems, be-
sides, to be symbolical of progress. He was said to have loosed the limbs of
the gods, and to have opened their eyes, which, according to pious myth, had
been closed on acts of human wantonness. Orpheus had, by the magic strains
of his lyre, miraculously tamed the brute creation : but Daidalos accomplished
the still greater wonder of giving life to the wooden block ; so that, as the old
writers say, his statues " must needs be bound, lest they walk." It is said that he
represented the mighty Heracles so that the hero was deceived by his own like-
ness. Seeing the image in the night, he believed it to be alive, and flung a stone
at it. But these legends show how thoroughly mythical is the character of
Daidalos. Such he was, even to the Homeric poets ; since in the Iliad we read,
"And there famed Hephaistos also made a dance, — a maze like that which
Daidalos once contrived for fair-haired Ariadne." lS4 In fact, the very name
"artist" stands clearly for a class rather than for an individual: to this name
are also attributed extensive architectural works, not only in the Greek islands,
Italy and Sicily, but also in far-off Sardinia, and even Egypt. Later genera-
tions kept, as a sacred trust, in their temples, small wooden statues, which they
reverently showed, as the work of Daidalos' hand, to the traveller Pausanias,
who lived about 160 A.D. To him they seemed strange and uncouth,— the
very beginnings of art; but in veneration for objects of worship so very an-
cient, he says, that "there is a certain inspiration of the god which pervades
them."'8s
Happily we arc not left to vague myths alone for our knowledge of art
activity in those remote pre-Homeric and Homeric ages, long before the ap-
pearance of attested historical characters. Around the few isolated monu-
ments, standing out alone in the midst of that nebulous past, may now be
grouped numerous often less pretentious remains, discovered within the last
twenty years in Asia Minor, the islands, and Greece itself. Thus the cele-
brated Lion Gate of Mykene, and its equally mysterious neighbors, the so-called
Treasuries of the ancients, may be looked upon as parts of one great, although
complicated whole, whose connecting-links, thanks to discoveries, at last join
on to the artistic traditions of a later and better-known day. In these remains
we have the humble seed out of which should spring, little by little, the glori-
ous plant known in its perfection as Greek art, one strong branch of which was
sculpture. This branch is, however, so intimately connected with the root and
Besides these nebulous constellations, one name is so often mentioned, that
the temptation has been to consider it as standing for an historical artist.
This is Daidalos, the traditional contemporary of King Minos of Crete, builder
of the labyrinth at Cnossos, creator of most varied works of art, descendant
and friend of gods and heroes, and founder of Cretan and Athenian art. Most
varied works were ascribed to him, while all agree that the material in which he
worked was wood. Indeed, he is said to have invented the instruments for
working it,—the saw, axe, borer, and glue.'s3 The name Daidalos seems, be-
sides, to be symbolical of progress. He was said to have loosed the limbs of
the gods, and to have opened their eyes, which, according to pious myth, had
been closed on acts of human wantonness. Orpheus had, by the magic strains
of his lyre, miraculously tamed the brute creation : but Daidalos accomplished
the still greater wonder of giving life to the wooden block ; so that, as the old
writers say, his statues " must needs be bound, lest they walk." It is said that he
represented the mighty Heracles so that the hero was deceived by his own like-
ness. Seeing the image in the night, he believed it to be alive, and flung a stone
at it. But these legends show how thoroughly mythical is the character of
Daidalos. Such he was, even to the Homeric poets ; since in the Iliad we read,
"And there famed Hephaistos also made a dance, — a maze like that which
Daidalos once contrived for fair-haired Ariadne." lS4 In fact, the very name
"artist" stands clearly for a class rather than for an individual: to this name
are also attributed extensive architectural works, not only in the Greek islands,
Italy and Sicily, but also in far-off Sardinia, and even Egypt. Later genera-
tions kept, as a sacred trust, in their temples, small wooden statues, which they
reverently showed, as the work of Daidalos' hand, to the traveller Pausanias,
who lived about 160 A.D. To him they seemed strange and uncouth,— the
very beginnings of art; but in veneration for objects of worship so very an-
cient, he says, that "there is a certain inspiration of the god which pervades
them."'8s
Happily we arc not left to vague myths alone for our knowledge of art
activity in those remote pre-Homeric and Homeric ages, long before the ap-
pearance of attested historical characters. Around the few isolated monu-
ments, standing out alone in the midst of that nebulous past, may now be
grouped numerous often less pretentious remains, discovered within the last
twenty years in Asia Minor, the islands, and Greece itself. Thus the cele-
brated Lion Gate of Mykene, and its equally mysterious neighbors, the so-called
Treasuries of the ancients, may be looked upon as parts of one great, although
complicated whole, whose connecting-links, thanks to discoveries, at last join
on to the artistic traditions of a later and better-known day. In these remains
we have the humble seed out of which should spring, little by little, the glori-
ous plant known in its perfection as Greek art, one strong branch of which was
sculpture. This branch is, however, so intimately connected with the root and