The Winged Girl of Knossos

The myths of Theseus and Icarus are synonymous with Greek Antiquity: The tyrannical King Minos, in an effort to prevent the knowledge of his palace's Labyrinth from spreading to the public has legendary craftsman Daedelus and his son Icarus sequestered in a palace tower. Daedalus creates a means of escape, wings made of bird feathers and wax. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, because the heat from the sun would melt the wax, nor too low, because the sea foam would soak the feathers. Unfortunately Icarus did not heed his father's warnings and flew too high, quickly falling in the sea and drowning. Crete is a powerful city-state and demands tribute from their distant neighbor Athens: seven young men and seven young women to be given to the Minotaur annually as sacrifice. Theseus, son of Athenian king Aegeus is one of the young men sent to Crete. When he arrives, Minos' daughter, Ariadne, falls in love with him and gives him a ball of yarn that he can tie near the entrance of the Labyrinth so he can find his way back out. She also gives him a sword, which he uses to kill the Minotaur. He flees with Ariadne, but abandons her on the island of Naxos en route to Athens. In the rush to get home to see his father, Theseus forgets to change the color of his sails. This was supposed to signal to his father that he was returning home safely. Aegeus commits suicide by jumping over a cliff into the sea, despairing over his son's "death". And Theseus is then made King of Athens. History is usually written by the victors, and mythology is no exception. We have only ever been exposed to Hellenized versions of the story. Allena Champlain (under the pen name of Erick Berry) sought to change that with The Winged Girl of Knossos. Published a full 25 year's before Mary Renault's The King Must Die, Winged Girl takes a historical perspective on what could have inspired the myths. Our protagonist is Inas (pronouced ee-nahs) in lieu of Icarus; a spirited young woman and daughter of the inventor Daidalos. She is very much a "modern" woman of the times; Inas dives underwater for sponges, dances and leaps over bulls, flirts with a young sailor named Kadmos and is a trusted friend to Princess Ariadne. She seems to have an enviable life, but her father jaded and uninterested by life at the royal court focuses more on his inventions, some of which could be misconstrued as black magic. Inas's world turns upside down when the Minoan traders arrive with a ship filled with the Athenian youths. Among them is Theseus, the self appointed leader who seeks to free himself and the others from bondage. Ariadne becomes infatuated with him, and since Inas speaks Greek fluently (as it was her mother's language) she is asked to help Theseus in dangerous ways, which will lead the entire kingdom into chaos and destruction. Inas is a fascinating character. She is adventurous and strong female lead. While she does enjoying wearing fancy clothes and jewelry she is not obsessed with excess of preening and posturing. Inas is just as comfortable with sailors and bull dancers as she is with princesses and handmaidens. Much like her father Inas is rather pragmatic; when Ariadne gushes over how handsome she finds Theseus, Inas just thinks the princess just needs to meet more men that aren't at the royal court. Even within her own love life, she does have a great fondness for Kadmos, but does not allow his own assumptions and preconceptions about what is proper for women to do deter her own aspirations and goals. Unlike Renault, who has been criticized for her misogyny, most of Champlain's female characters are three dimensional and interesting. I would suggest that this novel be read by students in the sixth grade and up. I also loved the solutions to more fantastical elements of the myths Champlain has. Instead of having Daidalos construct elaborate wings, he and Inas make bird shaped hang gliders. Inas scoffs off at the idea of the "Minotaur" that the Greek youths