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Icarus/Daedalus

 Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalus had revealed the labyrinth's secrets and imprisoned them—either in a large tower overlooking the ocean or the labyrinth itself, depending upon the account. Icarus and Daedalus escaped using wings Daedalus constructed from feathers, threads from blankets, clothes, and beeswax. Daedalus warned Icarus first of complacency and then of hubris, instructing him to fly neither too low nor too high, lest the sea's dampness clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored Daedalus's instructions not to fly too close to the sun, causing the beeswax in his wings to melt. Icarus fell from the sky, plunged into the sea, and drowned. The myth gave rise to the idiom, "fly too close to the sun." In some versions of the tale, Daedalus and Icarus escape by ship.

Icarus/Daedalus Stamp Collection

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Greece 1935 Daedalus and Icarus building the wings constructed from feathers, threads from blankets, clothes, and beeswax

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Surinam 1978 Daedalus and Icarus building the wings

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Greece 1978 Daedalus and Icarus building the wings

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Belgium 1944  Daedalus instructing Icarus to fly neither too low nor too high. It's a Baroque oil on canvas painting created by Anthony van Dyck from 1615 to 1625. It lives at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Canada.

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Gabon 1984  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Gabon 1984  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Ghana 2004  Daedalus ties the wings to Icarus  by Charles Lebrun (1619-1690, Hermitae Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, celebrating 300 years of St. Petersbutg

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Yemen, Arab Republic 1971  Daedalus and Icarus  with rocket ship in the project conquest of Mars

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Uruguay 1985  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Switzerland 1981  The symbol of Icarus for "Pro Aero" 50 Year Swissair

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Anguilla 1984  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Turkey 1984  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

Since its fortieth anniversary, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had decided to use the ending date of the Chicago Conference, i.e., 7 December 1944, to calculate its anniversaries. In the following correspondence sent to all ICAO Contracting States , the ICAO Secretary General, Yves Lambert, suggested to the Civil Aviation Authorities to consider the issuance of postage stamps to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the signing in Chicago of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

The picture of Icarus, used on the stamp project was adapted from the spectacular mural entitled Man in Flight, commissioned by Switzerland from Hans Erni (1909-2015).

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Tanzania 1984  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Yemen, Arab Republic 1985  The symbol of Icarus for 40 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Greece 1991  Icarus flying for Europa (C.E.P.T.) 1991 - Europe in Space with the first satellite "sputnik"

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Aitutaki 1975  Daedalus with Space Capsule in the series of Apollo-Soyuz Space Project

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Nicaragua 1978  Icarus flying for 75th Anniversary First Powered Flight by the Wright Brothers

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Canada 1935  Daedalus flying over the strait of Georgia between Vancouver and the mainland

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Hungary 1940  Icarus in Horthy aviation funds

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Ecuador 1938  Icarus in National Progress Exhibition - Inscribed "1830 - 1937" for  Post-transport

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Hungary 1924  Icarus flying above Budapest

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Switzerland 1924  Icarus flying in airmail stamps

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Latvia 1932  Icarus flying in the series of AIR - CHARITY - Pioneers of Aviation

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Gabon 1970  Icarus falling In the series of conquest of space

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Greece 1933  Icarus in airmail stamps for the lines of Aeroespresso Italiana

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Maldives 1974  Icarus flying to the sun in Space explorations of US and USSR

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Liechtenstein 1948  Icarus in the series of Airplane pioniers 

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Brazil 1959  Icarus Monument In honour of Alberto Santos-Dumont on the Avenue de Longchamp, in Saint-Cloud, erected in 1913 ,there is a bronze statue commissioned by the Airclub of France, for the Week of the Wing 

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Venezuela 1937  Icarus and Globe with Venezuela

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Hungary 1968  Icarus falling In Memoriam - Cosmonauts Killed in Accidents

Hungary 1962  Icarus in front of an airplane with the emblem of the aeroclub of Hungary

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Chile 2005  Icarus in 75 Years Aviation Subsecretary

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Brazil 1947  Reproduction of the painting "Awakening of Icarus" by Lucílio de Albuquerque (1877-1939), collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Rio de Janeiro/RJ.

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Philippines 2009  The symbol of Icarus for 65 years of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

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Brazil 1934  Icarus Monument In honour of Alberto Santos-Dumont on the Avenue de Longchamp, in Saint-Cloud, erected in 1913 ,there is a bronze statue commissioned by the Airclub of France, for the National Aeronautic Congress 

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Argentina 1947   Icarus Falling in the series Aviation Week  

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Mexico 1944  Probably (?) Icarus flying in Man In flight

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Ras al Khaima 1972  Icarus falling In the series of skylab program

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Lybia 1978  Icarus falling 75th Anniversary of First Powered Flight

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Antigua & Barbuda 1987  Icarus falling In Birth Centenary of Marc Chagall

Hungary 1978  Icarus falling with Wilbur and Orville Wright at the series of History of Pilots

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Rwanda 1969  Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Brueghel Older

Rwanda 1969  In the stamp you can't see Icarus. Only in the painting he is in the water on the right

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parallel to other mythologies

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Thailand 1925  Geruda which is a Hindu deity and is described as the king of the birds and a kite-like figure.  He is shown either in a zoomorphic form (a giant bird with partially open wings) or an anthropomorphic form (a man with wings and some ornithic features).

Kiribati 1983  Obaia, feathered Legend from the Oceania mythology

Another Icarus in Greek Mythology

IKARIOS (Icarius) was an Athenian man who was instructed in the art of winemaking by the god Dionysos when he first arrived in the country. Ikarios shared the gift with his countrymen, but was stoned to death by a group of drunken shepherds who thought they had been poisoned.

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Cyprus 1983  Icarius and the discovery of wine (mosaic), Paphos

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