Daedalus (or Daidalos)
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Daedalus (or Daidalos): A hero of Greek mythology. A native of Athens, he gained fame as an accomplished architect, inventor and craftsman. After designing the famous Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete to house the Minotaur, Daedalus aided the hero Theseus to defeat that monster and successfully escape. The enraged Minos had Daedalus and his son Icarus imprisoned in the Labyrinth. The two prisoners escaped using wings designed the inventor, flying from Crete out over the sea. Icarus disobeyed his father’s warning and flew too close to the sun. The wax binding the feathers on his wings melted and the boy plunged to his death into the sea. Daedalus, unable to save Icarus, continued on his own flight, coming to rest finally in Sicily. He came to reside in Camicus (or Inycus), at the court of Cocalus (Kokalos), a Sikan king. Minos set out with a fleet to find the fugitive. Upon reaching Sicily, Minos used a ruse to discover where Daedalus resided. The Cretan king offered a rich reward for anyone who could perform the seemingly impossible feat of passing a thread through a spiral seashell. Desiring this prize for himself, Cocalus approached Daedalus for a solution. Daedalus simply tied a thread to an ant and had the insect pull it through the shell. When Minos learned that the problem had been solved, he knew that only Daedalus could have achieved it. Minos demanded that Cocalus turn the fugitive over or be attacked by his forces. Cocalus knew that he could not defeat Minos but did not wish to give Daedalus up to his fate. Instead, he pretended to cooperate and invited Minos into Camicus to dine before taking away his prisoner. As Minos relaxed in the customary bath prior to the meal, he was murdered by the daughters of Cocalus. With Minos dead, his leaderless forces withdrew and Daedalus was saved. There are several places in Sicily that are associated with Daedalus. The River Platani (Halykos), which winds its way through the Sikanian Kamico Mountains to a mouth midway between Agrigento and Sciacca, was part of Cocalus’s kingdom. The name of ancient Eraclea Minoa, located near Montallegro and the mouth of the river Platani, appears to be inspired by Minos. The mythographer-historian Diodorus Siculus claimed that Minos was buried here. In reality the city was named by its Greek founders after the Greek island of Minoa.
Some sources say that Daedalus landed at Cumae instead of Sicily, and that he built a temple there in honor of Apollo. This version, however, may have been the result of mistaking the name of Camicus for Cumae.