In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of a skilled Athenian craftsman, Daedalus, responsible for building the labyrinth for King Minos of Crete, near his palace in Knossos, to imprison the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Daedalus built the labyrinth for Minos, but later displeased the king and was imprisoned. He managed to escape from prison, but could not leave the island by sea, as it was under strict surveillance.

Daedalus then made two pairs of wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son. He tried his wings first and taught his son to fly. However, before trying to escape the island, he recommended to Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea, but to follow his flight path at a moderate height, as the humidity could clog the wings and the heat of the sun could melt the wax that held their feathers. Father and son then took flight, causing great surprise to those who were watching them from the ground. They had left Samos and Delos on the left and Lebintos on the right, when Icarus, overcome by vertigo during the flight, disobeyed his father and began to rise eagerly to reach the sky. The proximity of the sun melted the wax that held the feathers together and they came off. Icarus continued waving his arms, but there were no longer any feathers to support him in the air. Screaming for his father, he then fell into the sea and drowned. Mourning his own art and crying over his son's death, Daedalus buried his body and named the nearest land Icaria in his memory. Daedalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, there laying his wings in offering to the god. Icarus story is told by Ovid in the Book VIII of the Metamorphoses. Today, the supposed burial site on the island bears his name, and the sea near Icaria, where he drowned, is called the Icarian Sea.