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024 - Legends Ion and Daedelus and Icarus · Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty three of Myths and Legends. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Sarah Williams. Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece
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  Speaker 1: and Rome by E. M. Barons, Chapter twenty three Legends
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  Speaker 1: Ion and Daedalus and Icarus. Ion Ion was the son
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  Speaker 1: of Creusa, the beauteous daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens,
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  Speaker 1: and the sun god Phoebus Apollo, to whom she was
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  Speaker 1: united without the knowledge of her father. Fearing the anger
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  Speaker 1: of Erechtheus, Creusa placed her newborn babe in a little
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  Speaker 1: wicker basket, and, hanging some golden charms round his neck,
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  Speaker 1: invoked for him the protection of the gods, and concealed
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  Speaker 1: him in the lonely cave. Apollo, pitying his deserted child,
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  Speaker 1: sent Hermes to convey him to Delphi, where he deposited
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  Speaker 1: his charge on the steps of the temple. Next morning,
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  Speaker 1: the Delphic priestess discovered the infant and was so charmed
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  Speaker 1: by his engaging appearance that she adopted him as her
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  Speaker 1: own son. The young child was carefully tended and reared
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  Speaker 1: by his kind foster mother, and was brought up in
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  Speaker 1: the service of the temple, where he was entrusted with
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  Speaker 1: some of the minor duties of the holy edifice, And
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  Speaker 1: now to return to Creusa. During a war with the Ubians,
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  Speaker 1: in which the latter were signally defeated, Xuthus, son of Aeolus,
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  Speaker 1: greatly distinguished himself on the side of the Athenians, and
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  Speaker 1: as a reward for his valuable services, the hand of Creusa,
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  Speaker 1: the king's daughter, was bestowed upon him in marriage. Their union, however,
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  Speaker 1: was not blessed with children, and as this was a
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  Speaker 1: source of great grief to both of them, they repaired
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  Speaker 1: to Delphi in order to consult the Great Oracle. The
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  Speaker 1: response was that Xuthus should regard the first person who
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  Speaker 1: met him on leaving the sanctuary as his son. Now
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  Speaker 1: it happened that Ion, the young guardian of the temple,
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  Speaker 1: was the first to greet his view, and when Xuthus
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  Speaker 1: beheld the beautiful youth, he gladly welcomed him as his son,
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  Speaker 1: declaring that the gods had sent him to be a
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  Speaker 1: blessing and comfort to his old age. Creusa, however, who
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  Speaker 1: concluded that the youth was the offspring of a secret
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  Speaker 1: marriage on the part of her husband, was filled with
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  Speaker 1: suspicion and jealousy when an old servant, observing her grief,
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  Speaker 1: begged her to be comforted, assuring her that the cause
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  Speaker 1: of her distress should be speedily removed. When, upon the
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  Speaker 1: occasion of the public adoption of his son Xuthus gave
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  Speaker 1: a grand banquet, the old servant of Creusa contrived to
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  Speaker 1: mix a strong poison in the wine of the unsuspecting Ion.
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  Speaker 1: But the youth, according to the pious custom of the
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  Speaker 1: ancients of offering a libation to the gods before partaking
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  Speaker 1: of any repast, poured upon the ground a portion of
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  Speaker 1: the wine before putting it to his lips. When suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: as if by a miracle, a dove flew into the
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  Speaker 1: banquet hall and sipped of the whine of the libation,
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  Speaker 1: whereupon the poor little creature began to quiver in every limb,
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  Speaker 1: and in a few moments expired. Ion's suspicions at once
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  Speaker 1: fell upon the obsequious servant of Creusa, who, with such
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  Speaker 1: officious attention had filled his cup. He violently seized the
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  Speaker 1: old man and accused him of his murderous intentions. Unprepared
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  Speaker 1: for this sudden attack, he admitted his guilt, but pointed
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  Speaker 1: to the wife of Xuthus as the instigator of the crime.
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  Speaker 1: Ion was about to avenge himself upon Creusa, when, by
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  Speaker 1: means of the divine intervention of Apollo, his foster mother,
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  Speaker 1: the Delphic priestess, appeared on the scene and explained the
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  Speaker 1: true relationship which existed between Creusa and Ion. In order
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  Speaker 1: to set all doubts at rest, she produced the charms
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  Speaker 1: which he had found round the neck of the infant,
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  Speaker 1: and also the wicker basket in which he had been
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  Speaker 1: conveyed to Delphie. Mother and son now became reconciled to
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  Speaker 1: each other, and Creusa revealed to Ion the secret of
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  Speaker 1: his divine origin. The Priestess of Delphi foretold that he
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  Speaker 1: would become the father of a great nation called after him,
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  Speaker 1: the Ionians, and also that Xuthus and Creosa would have
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  Speaker 1: a son called Doris, who would be the progenitor of
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  Speaker 1: the Dorian people, both of which predictions were in due
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  Speaker 1: time verified. Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus, a descendant of Erechtheus,
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  Speaker 1: was an Athenian architect, sculptor, and mechanician. He was the
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  Speaker 1: first to introduce the art of sculpture in its higher development,
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  Speaker 1: for before his time statues were merely rude representations, having
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  Speaker 1: the limbs altogether undefined. But great as was his genius,
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  Speaker 1: still greater was his vanity, and he could brook no rival.
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  Speaker 1: Now his nephew and pupil, Talus, exhibited great talent, having
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  Speaker 1: invented both the saw and the compass, and Daedalus, fearing
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  Speaker 1: lest he might overshadow his own fame, secretly killed him
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  Speaker 1: by throwing him down from the cidadel of Pallas Athene.
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  Speaker 1: The murder being discovered, Daedalus was summoned before the court
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  Speaker 1: of the Areopagus and condemned to death, but he made
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  Speaker 1: his escape to the island of Crete, where he was
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  Speaker 1: received by King Minos. In a manner worthy of his
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  Speaker 1: great reputation, Daedalus constructed for the king the world renowned Labyrinth,
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  Speaker 1: which was an immense building full of intricate passages intersecting
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  Speaker 1: each other in such a manner that even Daedalus himself
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  Speaker 1: is said, upon one occasion to have nearly lost his
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  Speaker 1: way in it. And it was in this building the
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  Speaker 1: king placed the minotaur, a monster with the head and
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  Speaker 1: shoulders of a bull and the body of a man.
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  Speaker 1: In the course of time, the great artist became weary
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  Speaker 1: of his long exile, more especially as the king, under
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  Speaker 1: the guise of friendship, kept him almost a prisoner. He
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  Speaker 1: therefore resolved to make his escape, and for this purpose
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  Speaker 1: ingeniously contrived wings for himself and his young son, Icarus,
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  Speaker 1: whom he diligently trained how to use them. Having awaited
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  Speaker 1: a favorable opportunity, father and son commenced their flight and
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  Speaker 1: were well on their way when Icarus, pleased with the
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  Speaker 1: novel sensation, forgot altogether. His father's oft repeated injunction not
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  Speaker 1: to approach too near the sun. The consequence was that
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  Speaker 1: the wax by means of which his wings were attached, melted,
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  Speaker 1: and he fell into the sea and was drowned. The
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  Speaker 1: body of the unfortunate Icarus was washed up by the
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  Speaker 1: tide and was buried by the bereaved father on an
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  Speaker 1: island which he called after his son Ecaria. After this
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  Speaker 1: sad event, Daedalus winged his flight to the island of Sicily,
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  Speaker 1: where he met with a kind welcome from King Cocalis.
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  Speaker 1: For whom he constructed several important public works. But no
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  Speaker 1: sooner did Minos receive the intelligence that his great architect
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  Speaker 1: had found an asylum with Cocalus than he sailed over
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  Speaker 1: to Sicily with a large army and sent messengers to
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  Speaker 1: the Sicilian king demanding the surrender of his guest. Cocalus
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  Speaker 1: feigned compliance and invited Minos to his palace, where he
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  Speaker 1: was treacherously put to death in a warm back. The
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  Speaker 1: body of their king was brought to Agregient by the Cretans,
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  Speaker 1: where it was buried with great pomp, and over his
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  Speaker 1: tomb a temple to Aphrodite was erected. Daedalus passed the
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  Speaker 1: remainder of his life tranquility in the island of Sicily,
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  Speaker 1: where he occupied himself in the construction of various beautiful
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  Speaker 1: works of art. End of section twenty three. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Sarah Williams, Germantown, Maryland, June two thousand eight.