Perdix- Greek FigureMortal

Apprenticeship and Inventions

Perdix was the son of Daedalus's sister and was placed under his uncle's tutelage in Athens to learn the master craftsman's arts. But the apprentice proved more inventive than his teacher. Perdix invented the saw after observing the spine of a fish — or a serpent's jawbone, in some accounts — and replicating its serrated edge in iron. He created the geometer's compass by joining two metal rods at a pivot, and is further credited with the potter's wheel.

The Fall from the Acropolis

Daedalus, who had never known a rival in his craft, was consumed by jealousy. He threw Perdix from the Acropolis — the sacred citadel of Athens and site of Athena's temple — pretending the boy had fallen.

But Athena, patron of crafts, witnessed the act. She caught Perdix mid-fall and transformed him into a partridge (perdix in Greek), saving his life by changing his form. The bird retained something of the boy's nature: the partridge keeps close to the ground and nests in hedgerows rather than flying high, remembering the terror of its ancient fall.

Daedalus was tried for the murder before the Areopagus, Athens's court for homicide. Found guilty, he was exiled from the city and took refuge in Crete at the court of King Minos — where he would build the Labyrinth and, years later, fly with Icarus on wings of wax.

The Partridge's Triumph

Ovid provides a haunting coda. When Icarus fell from the sky and Daedalus buried his son on the nearby island, a partridge watched from a branch above the grave. The bird clapped its wings and sang with joy — the transformed Perdix, at last avenged. The uncle who threw his nephew from the Acropolis now buried a son who fell from the sky.

A sanctuary near the Acropolis commemorated the boy's fate, and Pausanias records a statue there.