The floor mosaic depicting the works of Daidalos was unearthed in the city of Belkıs' Zeugma, on the second settlement terrace, during the 1999 rescue excavation carried out under the direction of the Gaziantep Museum and with the participation of Nantes University. This mosaic is the floor mosaic of the dining room of a Roman villa. There are six figures in the mentioned mosaic. From left to right: Pasiphae sitting, her daughter Ariadne standing, Tropos chatting with Daidalos, Icarus carving wood are depicted. In the lower right corner is Eros holding an arrow to the severed head of the Minoan bull, and in the upper right corner is the Labyrinthos palace.
Four mythological stories are told in this mosaic.
I. The story of the Minoan bull: Pasiphae is the wife of the Cretan king Minos and the daughter of the gods Helios and Perseis. Pasiphae falls in love with the white bull that Poseidon sent to Minos to be sacrificed, and she has Daidalos make a wooden cow statue so that she can unite with this bull. She enters this statue, which looks as if it were alive, and becomes pregnant and gives birth to the Minoan bull. The Minoan bull was a monster with a human body and a bull's head. King Minos wants to kill this terrible creature, but his mother's heart cannot stand it. Finally, they agree to imprison it in a place where it cannot see the light of day. To hide this, the Labyrinthos palace was built by the architect Daidalos. Seven young men and seven young girls were sacrificed to the Minoan bull every year. (Erhat A. 1989, Mythology Dictionary, p.225-6., 260)When Theseus came to Crete to kill the Minoan bull, Pasiphae's daughter Ariadne saw the hero and fell in love with him as soon as she saw him. With the idea of Daidalos, Ariadne gave a ball of thread to Theseus' hand so that he would not get lost in the Labyrinth with thousands of corridors where the Minoan bull is located. As Theseus progressed through the tangled and dark corridors, he unwrapped the ball and left the thread on the ground. After killing the monster, this thread showed him the way out. Then they kidnapped Ariadne and arrived on the island of Naxos. (Erhat A. 1989, p.59,312). In this mosaic, Ariadne is standing at her mother's bedside.
II. The story of the first people to fly: When he learned that Daidalos, who gave Ariadne the idea of using a ball of thread to enter and exit the Labyrinth, had a hand in Theseus' success, King Minos was very angry and locked Daidalos with his son Icarus in the Labyrinth they had built. But Daedalus found a way out of there: he used the feathers left by the birds on the windows and the honey in the bees' combs to make a pair of wings for himself and Icarus, and they both flew away. Icarus became famous in the world as the first man to fly. Before flying, Daedalus advised his son not to fly too low nor too high and close to the sun's rays. However, after taking off, Icarus forgot his father's words, became proud of his success, or became intoxicated and rose higher and higher, ignored the sun's rays, and committed the crime of despising Helios with the joy of defeating nature and gaining freedom. The sun god melted the wax holding his wings, and Icarus fell headlong into the sea and drowned. The sea around the island of Samos in the Aegean is called the Ikaros sea.(Erhat A. 1989, p.86, 166).
III. The story of the invention of the saw: Daidalos is an architect, a sculptor, and a versatile creator who makes all kinds of mechanical tools and even creates the living statues mentioned in Plato's dialogue Meno. He worked with his nephew Talos in his workshop in Athens. However, one day, Talos invented the saw inspired by a dead snake's tooth, and Daidalos, who was very jealous of this, killed his apprentice by throwing him down from the Acropolis. The Areopagas court, which handled the case, sentenced Daidalos to exile. (Erhat A. 1989, p.86,304). In this mosaic we see a saw in Daidalos' hand.
IV. The story of the capture of the thieving architect: Trophonios is a sculptor and architect. To hide his treasure, the king of Boeotia ordered a solid structure from the other architects, Agamedes and Trophonios. The two architects, who were greedy for money, built the treasure room in such a way that they could easily remove it by moving one of its stones. They would enter here at night and steal things from the treasury. Seeing that its existence was decreasing day by day, the King called the famous architect Daidolos from Crete. They set a trap and just as they were about to catch the two thieves, Trophonios cut off Agamedes' head and escaped.(Erhat A. 1989, p. 13). In this mosaic, the conversation of Daidalos, who came to the city of Boeotia, with his colleague Trophonios is illustrated. Daidalos does not yet know that Trophonios is the person who stole the treasures, and he prepares a trap with his son Ikaros to catch the thief.
Compiled by:Mehmet ÖNAL (Archaeologist)
Mosaic Work
The floor mosaic depicting the works of Daidalos was unearthed in the city of Belkıs' Zeugma, on the second settlement terrace, during the 1999 rescue excavation carried out under the direction of the Gaziantep Museum and with the participation of Nantes University. This mosaic is the floor mosaic of the dining room of a Roman villa. There are six figures in the mentioned mosaic.
