DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0055
D AID ALUS.
19
who is generally cited as a witness against the personal existence of
Daedalus, appears to waver in his opinion.1
Daedalus is variously stated to be the son of Eupalamus, or of
Motion—both of them sons of Erechtheus—and of Merope, daughter
of Erechtheus and cousin of Theseus;2 and by some writers he is
called a Cretan.3 We are told that he became jealous of' his nephew
and pupil (?) Talos (or Perdix),4 whom he murdered, and was obliged
in consequence to flee to Crete, where he worked for King Minos,
Fasiphae5 and Ariadne.
The name of Da;dalus, however, is most frequently and intimately
connected with Athens, where a guild of wood-carvers, claiming de-
scent from him, maintained itself under the name of Daedalids for many
centuries. But, wherever wood-carving was practised, Daedalus was
supposed to have resided, and works attributed to him existed at
Thebes, Lebadaea, Corinth, Argos, Pisa, Messene, and Gela in Sicily.'1
Diodorus Siculus7 carries him to Egypt, where he is said to have built
the temple of Ptha at Memphis, and to have been rewarded by per-
mission to set up a statue of himself in the building.
The invention of the saw, the axe, the plummet-line, the gimlet,
and a kind of ' fish-glue' (isinglass) are ascribed to him.8 But his chief
importance in the history of sculpture is owing to the belief that he
was the first to loose the arms of his figures from their sides, and to
unbind their feet and allow them to step out. He too opened the
closed eyes (o/x/iara fisfivKora), which characterised the Predaedalian
statues—closed, as was sometimes said, in consequence of atrocities
committed in the temples which the deities refused to witness. The
mobility and life imparted to the works of Daedalus by the substitution
of the ctksXi] &ta/3e/3r)KOTa for the <tks\t] crvfxfisfirjicoTa (crvfnroSa) (' sepa-
rated : for ' closed legs '), gave rise to various legends expressive of the
surprise and admiration of the beholders. The statues of Daedalus had
' Pausan, vii. 4. 5 and ix. 3. 2. Conf.
Diodor. Sic. iv. 76. Apollodorus (iii. p. 137)
says : Outos ipxlT^K7tct' fy>1<TTt,s Ka* xp^'Tos
2 Plutarch, ThlttUS, 19.
s Eustalhius, Com. ad JliaJ. p. 1166.
1 The murder of Perdix is represented on
a Ponipeian wall-painting. Perdix lies dead
with a nail in his head.
1 Eustathius, Com. ad Iliad.:—
'Kpwra. Tor tov Tavfjov tfitaLTtvaim
* Brunn, K.-G. pp. 17-20.
' i. 98. " Plin. N. //.
19
who is generally cited as a witness against the personal existence of
Daedalus, appears to waver in his opinion.1
Daedalus is variously stated to be the son of Eupalamus, or of
Motion—both of them sons of Erechtheus—and of Merope, daughter
of Erechtheus and cousin of Theseus;2 and by some writers he is
called a Cretan.3 We are told that he became jealous of' his nephew
and pupil (?) Talos (or Perdix),4 whom he murdered, and was obliged
in consequence to flee to Crete, where he worked for King Minos,
Fasiphae5 and Ariadne.
The name of Da;dalus, however, is most frequently and intimately
connected with Athens, where a guild of wood-carvers, claiming de-
scent from him, maintained itself under the name of Daedalids for many
centuries. But, wherever wood-carving was practised, Daedalus was
supposed to have resided, and works attributed to him existed at
Thebes, Lebadaea, Corinth, Argos, Pisa, Messene, and Gela in Sicily.'1
Diodorus Siculus7 carries him to Egypt, where he is said to have built
the temple of Ptha at Memphis, and to have been rewarded by per-
mission to set up a statue of himself in the building.
The invention of the saw, the axe, the plummet-line, the gimlet,
and a kind of ' fish-glue' (isinglass) are ascribed to him.8 But his chief
importance in the history of sculpture is owing to the belief that he
was the first to loose the arms of his figures from their sides, and to
unbind their feet and allow them to step out. He too opened the
closed eyes (o/x/iara fisfivKora), which characterised the Predaedalian
statues—closed, as was sometimes said, in consequence of atrocities
committed in the temples which the deities refused to witness. The
mobility and life imparted to the works of Daedalus by the substitution
of the ctksXi] &ta/3e/3r)KOTa for the <tks\t] crvfxfisfirjicoTa (crvfnroSa) (' sepa-
rated : for ' closed legs '), gave rise to various legends expressive of the
surprise and admiration of the beholders. The statues of Daedalus had
' Pausan, vii. 4. 5 and ix. 3. 2. Conf.
Diodor. Sic. iv. 76. Apollodorus (iii. p. 137)
says : Outos ipxlT^K7tct' fy>1<TTt,s Ka* xp^'Tos
2 Plutarch, ThlttUS, 19.
s Eustalhius, Com. ad JliaJ. p. 1166.
1 The murder of Perdix is represented on
a Ponipeian wall-painting. Perdix lies dead
with a nail in his head.
1 Eustathius, Com. ad Iliad.:—
'Kpwra. Tor tov Tavfjov tfitaLTtvaim
* Brunn, K.-G. pp. 17-20.
' i. 98. " Plin. N. //.