All language subtitles for Great.Greek.Myths.S01E09.Dedalus.and.Icarus.-.A.Shattered.Dream.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-TEPES

(mysterious instrumental music)

(thuds)
(water splashing)

- [Man] It's all over.

He will never fly again.

He is dead.

Icarus is dead.

(somber instrumental music)

And yet, Daedalus, his
father, had warned him.

He had told him to be careful,

to make sure that he
always remained midway

between the sea and the sun.

If he flew too low,

the foam of the waves
would soak his wings.

If he flew too high, the heat
of the sun would scorch them.

(dramatic music)

But Icarus did not heed
his father's warning.

Still, what kind of father
would make a pair of wings

for his son and encourage him
to rival the flight of birds?

What an insane idea.

Daedalus must have been out of his mind

to thus risk the life of the
one person he truly cared for.

But in fact, no, not at all.

Daedalus was a most extraordinary
inventor who had learned

his skills from the
goddess Athena herself.

He was also a brilliant
architect, a gifted artist,

a sculptor who mastered
his art to such perfection

that it was said his
statues had to be chained

so that they would not run away.

He once made a sculpture of
Heracles that was so true

to life that when the hero himself saw it

he was outraged and smashed it.

(crashing)

But Daedalus had one fault.

He was jealous.

He could not bear the
thought of anyone being more

talented than he was.

One morning however, his
nephew, Talos, invented the saw.

Inspired by a fish bone, the
young apprentice had copied it

by carving out a series of
notches in a piece of iron.

The citizens of Athens were
impressed by this invention.

Daedalus on the other hand,

flew into an uncontrollable rage.

One morning he led Talos
up to the temple of Athena

and pushed him off.

(dramatic music)

Then he hurried back down
to the base of the Acropolis

and put Talos's body into a bag.

He was planning to bury
his nephew in secret.

But his despicable crime
was soon discovered.

Daedalus was arrested and tried.

In the end, because his
many inventions had rendered

a great service to humanity,
the Athenians decided not

to send him to prison, but
to banish him from the city.

That is how Daedalus and
his son Icarus came to live

in Crete, in the court of
its powerful King Minos.

But that does not explain
why Daedalus sent his son

flying up into the sky

and thus risked seeing
him come crashing down.

(wind softly whooshing)

It all began a long, long time ago.

(serious instrumental music)

Zeus, whose reputation as a
charmer, was by now firmly

established, had just
left his latest conquest,

a beautiful Venetian princess name Europa.

After changing himself
into the form of a bull,

he had abducted Europa
from the shores of Tia

and whisked her away to
the mountains of Crete.

Europa bore him three
beautiful children, all boys.

Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon.

Their mother did not remain
single for very long.

There were many contenders.

They all considered it a
great honor to woo the woman

who had been the lover
of the master of Olympus.

It was Asterius, the prince
who reigned over Crete,

who won her hand.

Asterius married Europa
and adopted her children,

who then became his heirs.

Many years went by.

Then one day in winter, Asterius died.

The funeral was barely over
before one of his three

adopted sons, Minos, came
forth and asserted his right

to the crown.

The two other brothers
however, did not agree.

In order to support his
claim to the throne,

Minos maintained that the Gods
had given the kingdom to him

and as evidence, he declared
that they would grant him

anything he desired to ask of them.

His brothers were, to say
the least, rather skeptical.

They dared him to prove it.

Minos took up the challenge.

After dedicating a temple to Poseidon,

he begged the god of the sea
to send a bull out of the waves

which he would then offer as a sacrifice.

Then the impossible happened.

(dramatic music)

As Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon
and the entire congregation

looked on, a magnificent bull
with a dazzling white coat

emerged from the sea.

Never in living memory
had anyone ever seen

such a marvelous creature.

Minos himself was struck with awe.

He probably had not expected
to see his wish granted

in such an extraordinary way.

It was such a wondrous act,

that his brothers had to give in.

Minos became king of Crete.

(majestic instrumental music)

Minos thought Poseidon's
bull was so beautiful

that he decided to deceive the god.

Instead of sacrificing the
animal as he had promised,

he sent it to be added to his own herds

and slaughtered another in its place.

Poseidon did not at all appreciate

the King's double dealing.

The erasable god planned his revenge.

It would be dreadful.

(ominous instrumental music)

A king without a queen
is not quite a king.

Once he had been crowned,
Minos took as his wife

a young woman named Paciphae,

which means she who shines for all.

Paciphae was the daughter
of the sun god, Helios,

and the nymph, Crete.

She was said to be immortal.

She was also said to be a
magician because she was able

to kill any woman who
tried to take her husband

away from her.

Anyone who slept with him
would be covered with scorpions

and serpents that were
discharged from his body.

Three children were born
of this royal union.

Two daughters, Ariadne and Phaedra,

and a son, Androgeos.

The royal couple were happy together.

But unbeknownst to them, the
offended Poseidon had concocted

a diabolical scheme.

One night the god of the oceans

crept into queen Paciphae's bedroom.

He circled around her bed,
whispering words that no one

could understand and then left.

At first glance, nothing in
particular seemed to happen.

At first glance, because
at dawn Paciphae woke up

and to her astonishment found
that she was madly in love,

inflamed with passion, with
an overpowering passion.

For her husband?

No.

Paciphae had fallen in
love with the white bull

that Minos had failed to sacrifice.

In her confusion, not knowing
how to slake the desire

that burned within her,
the irresistible desire

that she felt for Poseidon's white bull,

Queen Paciphae went to see Daedalus.

After he was banished from
Athens, the renowned inventor

had taken up residence in the royal court,

where he enchanted Minos and his family

with the animated wooden
dolls and many other wonders

he made for them.

He would surely be able to
find a way to help Paciphae.

Daedalus listened to the queen.

What she was seeking
defied his imagination.

She was seeking to satisfy
her desire for the white bull.

Daedalus hesitated.

Such a union between a woman and an animal

seemed repulsive to him.

He wanted to refuse.

But Paciphae threatened to
have him and his son Icarus

put to death if he did
not obey her immediately.

Daedalus had no choice.

He had an idea.

He built a wooden cow, covered
it with a thick cow hide,

and then mounted it on wheels,

which were concealed in its hooves.

After pushing it into the
meadow where Poseidon's bull

was grazing, he showed
Paciphae how to get inside

and how to open the little folded doors

in the back of the cow.

Then he quietly withdrew,

preferring not to witness
what would happen next.

(dramatic music)

Nine months later, from
this unnatural coupling,

was born a terrifying
beast, a hybrid creature.

It had a man's body with mighty shoulders

and a broad chest, together
with a bull's head.

The Cretans called it the Minotaur,

which means the bull of Minos.

Minos was livid with rage.

His first impulse was to punish Daedalus

for his thoughtless act, but
then he changed his mind.

What Daedalus did, he
decided, Daedalus must undo.

He ordered the architect to
build a fool proof prison

from which the Minotaur,

that affront to the sacred
institution of marriage,

could never escape.

(ominous music)

Daedalus immediately went to work.

Assisted by his young son, Icarus,

he began constructing the most
extraordinary architectural

structure, a labyrinth.

A labyrinth that would be so
complex that anyone who entered

it would never be able to
find his way out again.

Anyone, including its creator.

It was in this open air fortress

that Minos had the Minotaur imprisoned.

But then the king received
some devastating news.

Androgeos, his only son,
had been killed in Athens

under suspicious circumstances.

Minos held Aegeus, the
monarch who ruled over Athens,

responsible for his death.

(dramatic music)

War broke out.

Athens was under siege.

The people of the city
were facing starvation.

In order to lift the siege,

the Athenians sent word to
Minos that they would submit

to any terms of surrender he wanted.

(dramatic music)

Minos did not think for very long.

He demanded a payment of
seven boys and seven girls

to be sent to Crete every year,

so that he might offer
them to the Minotaur.

The Athenians had no choice.

They had been defeated.

For many years they sent
over the terrible tribute

demanded by Minos.

(dramatic music)

Until one day Theseus,

the young heir to the throne of Athens,

decided to take it upon himself
to eliminate the monster.

Even though his father
tried to dissuade him,

Theseus joined the group of future victims

and left for Crete.

He was determined to slay the Minotaur.

When he arrived in Crete,

Theseus was taken to the
palace of King Minos.

His daughter, the Princess Ariadne,

saw him and immediately
fell in love with him.

She did not want the handsome
young man to be devoured

by the Minotaur or lost in the labyrinth.

Ariadne confided her thoughts

to the only man who
could help her, Daedalus.

He was moved by the
princess's feelings of love

by her desperation, and
he decided to help her.

A decision that would turn out
to have fateful consequences.

(sweet instrumental music)

On the day that Theseus
was to enter the labyrinth,

Daedalus slipped a ball of
thread into Ariadne's hand.

She was to give it to Theseus.

Once inside, all he had to
do was to unravel the thread

as he moved deeper into the maze

and then retrace his steps
to find his way out again.

(ominous sounds)

Everything went exactly as planned.

Theseus killed the Minotaur
and was able to make his way

safely out of the labyrinth
by following Ariadne's thread.

(ominous music)

Then on that very same day,
he took the princess with him

and they sailed away from Crete.

The news of what had happened
threw Minos into a cold rage.

He immediately sent out
orders to have Daedalus

and Icarus arrested and
thrown into the labyrinth.

(dramatic music)

So there they were, Daedalus and Icarus,

imprisoned in the very structure they

themselves had created.

Although it was Daedalus who
had designed the labyrinth,

he like everyone else, was
unable to find his way out

through the stifling, twisting
rows of arid stone corridors.

He just kept going round
and round in circles.

Finally, he had to admit defeat.

He and his son were trapped
in the bowels of his own maze.

Icarus was filled with despair.

He sat there on the dusty
floor of the labyrinth.

What else could he do but wait?

Wait for who knows how long

as life passed him by,
slowly yet relentlessly.

And then, when he pulled himself
together and tried to find

a way out of this prison, it
was always the same thing.

He became bewildered, lost,
even more discouraged.

So Icarus sat back down
and gazed at the sky.

(dramatic music)

The sky, which symbolized the
freedom that he no longer had.

Icarus brooded despondently.

Daedalus, in the meantime,
was busy thinking.

It wasn't the sky he was
contemplating, but the birds.

(dramatic music)

Up in the air above his head,
they circled, they drifted,

they soared, rising higher,
vanishing into the clouds.

They pursued each other
in an aerial ballet

full of lightness and elegance

and then came down to perch
gently on top of the high walls

of the labyrinth.

(dramatic music)

An idea began to form in Daedalus's head.

It would, of course, be
impossible to climb over the walls

of the labyrinth, but there was perhaps,

if one dared, another way to escape.

The old craftsman was
willing to give it a try.

He shook Icarus out of
his torpor and said,

pointing his finger at the
clouds, we will leave by the sky.

Icarus was dumbfounded.

But knowing how clever and
creative his father was,

he did not ask any questions.

He had faith in him.

Right away, Daedalus told
him to gather all of the bird

feathers he could find.

They both set off to accomplish

this long and laborious task.

(dramatic music)

The two prisoners then took
the feathers and laid them

side by side, lining them
up meticulously one by one

from the smallest to the largest in size,

so that their tips seemed
to rise in a slope.

When they'd finished
arranging the feathers,

Daedalus tied them together
using flaxen threads

torn from his tunic.

Then after binding them with wax,

he gave the whole structure a slight curve

in order to imitate the
wings of a real bird.

(dramatic music)

Icarus did the same thing,
little knowing that he was

making the instrument
that would be the cause

of his downfall.

(dramatic music)

Daedalus put the wings on his son's back.

He adjusted them and showed
Icarus how to use them,

telling him repeatedly
how important it was

to stay close to him and not to stray.

Father and son were now ready.

With Daedalus in front, they took off.

There they were, rising into the air,

climbing higher into the sky,

leaving the labyrinth far behind.

From time to time, Daedalus
would turn to check on his son

to make sure he was following close behind

and staying on course.

In his excitement, Icarus
took to flying more and more

freely through the air.

His youthfulness made him reckless.

Gradually, Icarus, who kept
soaring higher and higher,

began to stray away
from his father's path.

Daedalus called out to him.

He implored his son to come back.

But the old man's voice was
carried away by the wind.

Besides, Icarus was no longer listening.

He was oblivious to anything
but the jubilation of flying,

of rising to greater and greater heights.

Why stay in between?

Why take the middle
course when we're offered

the entire expanse of the sky?

Let's go further, even higher.

Nothing can stop us.

(wind softly whooshing)

For a moment or two,

Icarus felt like the kind of the universe.

Now that he could fly, anything
seemed possible to him.

But as he continued to climb
the rays of the god of the sun

began to melt the wax in his wings.

All of a sudden, his
flapping arms were no longer

sustained by the wind.

Icarus looked down at the sea far below.

His heart skipped beat.

All of the wax had melted.

His wings had fallen off.

Icarus began to panic.

He moved his arms, which were not bare.

Nothing happened, he was falling.

He wanted to cry out to his
father, to call for help.

Too late.

The body hit the surface of
the sea and was swallowed up

by its emerald waters, leaving
only a few forlorn feathers

bobbing on the waves.

That sea now bears the name
of Daedalus's unfortunate son.

It is called the Icarian Sea.

Daedalus had defied the
laws of nature twice.

The first time in order to help Paciphae,

who'd given birth to a monstrous beast.

The second time, in order to
escape, by turning men into

birds for which he paid
with the life of his son.

(dramatic music)

One does not with impunity,

try to tamper with the laws of nature,

and the gods do not like it
when mortals seek to go beyond

the limits of their human condition.

That is what old Daedalus
came to understand

when crippled by grief, he
landed on a small arid island

far from Crete, which he renamed Icaria,

in honor of his lost son.

(somber instrumental music)

For hundreds of years,
sailors and travelers have,

as they crossed the Icarian
Sea, wondered about Icarus

and his airborne quest.

Are we any different from Icarus?

From the child who lived
in an open air prison

and dreamed of flying
away to another place,

a place he imagined might be better?

Icarus may not have
fallen because he had lost

all sense of moderation.

His father Daedalus was
clever, but also cautious,

observant, and inventive,
but also a man of reason.

Icarus, in spite of his father's
explanations and warnings,

refused to listen to
the voice of experience.

But as we all know,

experience is a light that
only illuminates oneself.

(water splashing)

(dramatic music)