by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus's father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun, whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. This tragic theme of failure at the hands of hubris contains similarities to that of Phaëthon. Daedalus – he was a skillful craftsman and artist. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix and possibly also the father of Iapyx although this is unclear. Major themes Chiladze wrote A Man Was Going Down the Road in the early 1970s while Georgia was still a part of the Soviet Union. The book is allegorical. In the story of how Colchis was overrun by outsiders – and native Colchians like Popeye were turned into informants and torturers – Chiladze is telling Georgia's story. References Category:1973 novels Category:Historical novels Category:Novels by Otar Chiladze Category:Georgian novels Category:Georgian magic realism novels Category:Allegory Category:Georgian mythology Category:Mythology in popular culture Category:Greco-Roman mythology in popular culture