We love stories and myths that feature mazes, truly the best inspiration for maze design. For our 2011 corn maze we travelled to ancient Greece for the story of Icarus.

The myth tells the story of Daedalus and his son Icarus, who are trapped inside a labyrinth of Daedalus’ own creation after King Minos suspects him of treason. In order to escape the labyrinth and the dangerous minotaur inside it, Daedalus builds for his son a pair of wings. He cautions Icarus to not fly too low to the sea, for the waves could soak the feathers, nor too close to the sun as the sun’s rays would melt the wax holding the wings together.

However, the warning was not heeded. Icarus, overcome with the joy of flight and freedom, flew up too high. The sun melted the wings, causing him to plunge into the sea.

Now, we often use the idiom “don’t fly too close to the sun,” to discourage potentially destructive hubris. However, perhaps we should also caution against “flying too close to the waves,” the same as Daedalus warned Icarus, for it is just as dangerous to fly too low as it is to fly too high.

Within the maze design for 2011 there are several nods to the original myth, as well as an art style inspired by the grecian amphora in which stories such as that of Icarus would have been painted and recorded.