Editing Daedalus (section)

== Inventor, architect, artist ==
A mythical craftsman named Daedalus is first mentioned in roughly 1400 BC on the Knossian Linear B tablets. He is later mentioned by Homer as the creator of a dancing floor for [[Ariadne]], similar to that which [[Hephaestus]] placed on the Shield of Achilles.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=2:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> It is clear that this Daedalus was not an original character of Homer's. Rather, Homer was referencing mythology that his audience was already familiar with.<ref>Robin Lane Fox, ''Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer'', 2009:187, 178.</ref>

[[File:Daedalic torso of kore, Eleutherna, 7th century BC, AMH, 145400.jpg|left|thumb|Upper body of a Daedalic statue of a Kore, [[poros stone]]. Eleutherna, archaic period, 7th century BC.]]

Daedalus is not mentioned again in literature until the fifth century BC, but he is widely praised as an inventor, artist, and architect, though classical sources disagree on which inventions exactly are attributable to him. In [[Pliny's Natural History]] (7.198) he is credited with inventing carpentry, including tools like the axe, saw, glue, and more.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=2:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Supposedly, he first invented masts and sails for ships for the navy of King Minos. He is also said to have carved statues so spirited they appeared to be living and moving.<ref>William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 40.</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], in traveling around Greece, attributed to Daedalus numerous archaic wooden [[cult figure]]s (see ''[[Xoanon|xoana]]'') that impressed him. In fact, so many other statues and artworks are attributed to Daedalus by Pausanias and various other sources that likely many of them were never made by him.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, The Sculptors, The Archaic Period|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=2:chapter=1&highlight=daedalus|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

In his [[Socratic dialogue]] with [[Meno (general)|Meno]], [[Plato]] cites Daedalus's handiwork as a metaphor for genuine understanding of [[truth]], as opposed to [[belief]] that coincidentally happens to be true. [[Socrates]] argues that while truth, like one of Daedalus's "moving" statues, is inherently valuable, their animacy would mean they are worthless if the owner cannot shackle them in place to stop them from wandering off.<ref name=Meno>[[Plato]], ''[[Meno]]'' 97a–98b, translated by Adam Beresford (in Beresford, 2005)</ref>

Daedalus gave his name, [[eponym]]ously, to many Greek craftsmen and many Greek contraptions and inventions that represented dextrous skill. A specific sort of early Greek sculptures are named Daedalic sculpture in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Daedalic sculpture|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Daedalic-sculpture|access-date=2021-06-07|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> In [[Boeotia]] there was a festival, the [[Daedala]], in which a temporary wooden altar was fashioned and an effigy was made from an oak-tree and dressed in bridal attire. It was carried in a cart with a woman who acted as bridesmaid. The image was called daedala''.''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 3|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=9:chapter=3&highlight=daedala|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Some sources claim that the daedala did not receive their name from Daedalus, but the opposite. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] claims that Daedalus was not the name given to the inventor at birth, but that he was named so later after the daedala.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 3|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=9:chapter=3&highlight=daedala|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Some of the functions of Daedalus overlapped with those of [[Aristaeus]] (Aristaeos), another famous Greek inventor god. But Aristaeos mostly concerned himself with the rural and agricultural arts.