Icarus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Icarus

5 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Icarus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Icarus was the son of the famous craftsman Daedalus in Greek mythology. His father was the creator of the Labyrinth, a huge maze located under the cou... For the story in one place, read our article on Icarus.

Homer (1)

Homer, The Homeric Hymns 1.1–21Hymn 1 to Dionysus (fragment)Only a fragment of the first hymn to Dionysus survives. It rejects the places that claim to be his birthplace, among them Dracanum, Icarus, Naxos, the river Alpheus and Thebes, and says that Zeus bore him secretly, far from men and from white-armed Hera, on a mountain called Nysa. The surviving lines end with the promise of sacrifice in his honour.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.76.1–4.80.6Daedalus, Minos in Sicily and the Mothers at EngyumDaedalus, an Athenian craftsman who invents the saw and the potter's wheel, flees to a deme of Attica after the death of his nephew, then to Crete, where he makes the contrivance for Pasiphae, and then escapes to Sicily; Icarus falls into the sea. Minos pursues him to Sicily and dies at the court of Cocalus. The section ends with the cult of the Mothers at Engyum and the great temple the townspeople built for them.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.152–263The Minotaur; Daedalus and IcarusMinos returns to Crete and shuts the Minotaur, the monster born of Pasiphae's unnatural love, in a labyrinth built by Daedalus. The Athenians pay tribute of youths and maidens until Theseus kills the monster with the help of Ariadne's thread, and Ariadne is placed among the stars as a crown. Daedalus, long exiled in Crete, makes wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son Icarus, who flies too near the sun and falls into the sea. Daedalus' nephew Perdix, whom he threw from a tower out of jealousy, is changed into a partridge, and Daedalus is received by King Cocalus in Sicily.

Pausanias (1)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.11.1–7Thebes: the house of Amphitryo, the sanctuary of Hercules and Apollo of the AshesPausanias describes the ruins of Amphitryo's house with Alcmena's bridal-chamber, the tomb of the children of Hercules and Megara, and the stone with which Athena stunned the maddened Hercules. He tells how Historis tricked the witches sent by Hera to delay Alcmena's labour. He describes the sanctuary of Hercules with its marble image, an old wooden image attributed to Daedalus, the story of Icarus' drowning, gables by Praxiteles showing the labours, and the offerings of Thrasybulus and the Athenian exiles. The altar of Apollo of the Ashes has divination by voices.

Strabo (1)

Strabo, Geography 14.1.14–19Samos and Icaria: Polycrates and IcarusStrabo describes Samos with its Heraeum full of paintings and statues by Myron, and recounts the tyrant Polycrates and his ring found in a fish. Pythagoras leaves the island, Creophylus is said to have hosted Homer, and Athens besieges the island under Pericles. Icaria is named from Icarus, the son of Daedalus, who fell there when the wax of his wings melted.