Representation of the legend of Daedalus and Icarus. Illustration from a publication dated 1887. Daedalus was shut up in a tower to prevent his knowledge of his Labyrinth from spreading. Since Minos controlled the land and sea routes, Daedalus set to work to fabricate wings for himself and his young son Icarus. When both were prepared for flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, because the heat of the sun would melt the wax, nor too low, because the sea foam would soak the feathers. They had passed Samos, Delos and Lebynthos by the time the boy, forgetting himself, began to soar upward toward the sun. The blazing sun softened the wax that held the feathers together and they came off. Icarus quickly fell in the sea and drowned.