Having received the revelation of wine from Dionysus, Ikarios travelled throughout Attica to share his knowledge of the grapevine. He dined one night with some shepherds who, having fallen into a deep sleep after drinking too much wine, thought upon awaking that Ikarios had poisoned them with the intention of robbing them. Surrounding him, they struck him so hard they killed him. One of the shepherds then impaled his body on a roasting spit. Some time before, Ikarios had killed and impaled a goat that was eating grape leaves in his garden in the very same way.

Around the body of the impaled goat, Ikarios had danced, wearing its skin. Other farmers had participating, playing music, dancing and making a wineskin out of the animal's hide: "He who wants to disguise himself as a satyr must first kill a goat and skin it", Aristotle was to say.