Icarus

Icarus is the most famous ancient reference of flight in Greek mythology. Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, a famous Greek legend. Daedalus was a talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman. Later, he shifted to Crete with his son Icarus, and became the local inventor for the prosperous King Minos.

He designed the Labyrinth, which was so cleverly designed that once one entered the maze it was impossible to find a way out. Labyrinth was created to imprison the Minotaur, half man and half bull.

Daedalus helped the king Theseus, the enemy of Minos, to defeat the Minotaur and to survive from the Labyrinth. After killing Minotaur, Theseus set fire to the palace, and ran away with Ariadne, the king’s daughter, Daedalus unfaithfulness was revealed and the king sent his soldiers to detain him. Daedalus created two pairs of wings out of feathers and wax for himself and Icarus. Daedalus instructed his son to fly low enough so that the heat of the sun would not melt the wax that held the feathers together, nor high enough so that the ocean mist would not moisten the wings and make them too heavy. Overcome by the dizziness that flying lent Icarus, he flew too high and came too close to the sun, which melted the wax, his wings came apart, and he sunk to death in the sea near an island that was later named Icaria in his tribute.

The Pigeon

Archytas (428 BC – 347 BC) was an Ancient mathematician, statesman, astronomer, strategist and a Greek philosopher. He created the first artificial bird-shaped model, self-propelled flying machine pushed by a jet steam, which is said to have flown some 200 meters. The Pigeon was the name given to that machine by its inventor, which may have been balanced on a pivot or wire for its flight.