Dædalus (dād' a-lus), in Greek fable, an Athenian who personified the beginning of the arts of sculpture and architecture. He killed his nephew and pupil, who envied his growing skill, and had to flee to Crete, where he carved the well-known cow for Queen Pasiphaë and designed the famous labyrinth for King Minos in which to confine the minotaur. He was imprisoned but escaped, forming wings for himself and his son Icarus, with which to fly across the sea. He flew safely across the Ægean, but Icarus flew too near the sun, the heat of which melted the wax that fastened his wings to him, so that he fell and was drowned in that part of the sea which the ancients afterward called Icarian. At Cumæ, in Italy, Dædalus dedicated his wings to Apollo. Many early works of art were ascribed to him. Discoveries in Crete have made it probable that Dasdalus was a real person.