[Greek heroic] The Athenian Daedalus, son of Metion and the grandson of Erechtheus 1, was a famous architect, inventor, and craftsman. Among his inventions and creations were the wooden cow he constructed for the queen Pasiphae, the Labyrinth at Knossos, artificial wings for himself and his son Icarus, and he was even said to have invented images. His homeland was Athens. For a short time, his apprentice was his sister's son Perdix. When Daedalus feared that the boy would surpass him in talent, he murdered the boy by tossing him from the Acropolis of Athens. He was then tried at the Areopagus and banished from the city. He fled to Crete, where he began to work at the court of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae, in the magnificent palace of Knossos. There he constructed a wooden cow for the queen to hide in to satisfy her amorous longings for a white bull sent by Poseidon, and by which she became pregnant with the Minotaur. When the Minotaur was born, Daedalus built the Labyrinth to contain the...
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