Labyrinth

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This article is about the elaborate maze-like labyrinth from Greek mythology. For other uses, see Labyrinth (disambiguation).

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Silver coin from Knossos displaying the 7-course "Classical" design to represent the Labyrinth, 400 BC
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In

romanized: Labúrinthos)[a] was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at the Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the hero Theseus. Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he built it.[1]

Although early Cretan coins occasionally exhibit branching (multicursal) patterns,

Roman era until the Renaissance are almost invariably unicursal. Branching mazes were reintroduced only when hedge mazes became popular during the Renaissance.[5]

In English, the term labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze. As a result of the long history of unicursal representation of the mythological Labyrinth, however, many contemporary scholars and enthusiasts observe a distinction between the two. In this specialized usage, maze refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of path and direction, while a unicursal labyrinth has only a single path to the center. A labyrinth in this sense has an unambiguous route to the center and back and presents no navigational challenge.[6][7][8][9]

Unicursal labyrinths appeared as designs on

therapeutic use in hospitals and hospices.[10]

Etymology

Labyrinth is a word of

Minoan palace of Knossos in Crete early in the 20th century, suggested that the ruins there inspired the story of the labyrinth, and since the double axe motif appears in the palace ruins, he asserted that labyrinth could be understood to mean "the house of the double axe".[13] The same symbol, however, was discovered in other palaces in Crete.[14] Nilsson observed that in Crete the double axe is not a weapon and always accompanies goddesses or women and not a male god.[15]

The association with "labrys" lost some traction when

Mount Dikte and Mount Ida, both of which are associated with caverns.[19][20] Caverns near Gortyna, the Cretan capital in the 1st century AD, were called labyrinthos.[18]

Natural History gives four examples of ancient labyrinths: the Cretan labyrinth, an Egyptian labyrinth, a Lemnian labyrinth, and an Italian labyrinth. These are all complex underground structures,[21]
and this appears to have been the standard Classical understanding of the word.

Beekes also finds the relation with labrys speculative, and suggests instead a relation with Greek λαύρα ('narrow street').[22]

Ancient labyrinths

Cretan labyrinth

Zeugma, Commagene (now in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum) depicting Daedalus, his son Icarus, Queen Pasiphaë
, and two of her female attendants
Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth, by Edward Burne-Jones, 1861

When the Bronze Age site at Knossos was excavated by archaeologist Arthur Evans, the complexity of the architecture prompted him to suggest that the palace had been the Labyrinth of Daedalus. Evans found various bull motifs, including an image of a man leaping over the horns of a bull, as well as depictions of a labrys carved into the walls. On the strength of a passage in the Iliad,[23] it has been suggested that the palace was the site of a dancing-ground made for Ariadne by the craftsman Daedalus,[24][25] where young men and women, of the age of those sent to Crete as prey for the Minotaur, would dance together. By extension, in popular legend the palace is associated with the myth of the Minotaur.

In the 2000s, archaeologists explored other potential sites of the labyrinth.

National Geographic Channel
.

The Egyptian labyrinth

See also: Labyrinth of Egypt

In Book II of his

City of Crocodiles", that he considered to surpass the pyramids.[28] The structure, which may have been a collection of funerary temples such as are commonly found near Egyptian pyramids,[29] was destroyed in antiquity and can only be partially reconstructed.[30][31] During the nineteenth century, the remains of this ancient Egyptian structure were discovered at Hawara in the Faiyum Oasis by Flinders Petrie at the foot of the pyramid of the twelfth-dynasty pharaoh Amenemhat III (reigned c. 1860 BC to c. 1814 BC).[32]

Pliny's Lemnian labyrinth

Pliny the Elder's Natural History (36.90) lists the legendary Smilis, reputed to be a contemporary of Daedalus, together with the historical mid-sixth-century BC architects and sculptors Rhoikos and Theodoros as two of the makers of the Lemnian labyrinth, which Andrew Stewart[33] regards as "evidently a misunderstanding of the Samian temple's location en limnais ['in the marsh']."

Pliny's Italian labyrinth

According to Pliny, the Tomb of Lars Porsena contained an underground maze. Pliny's description of the exposed portion of the tomb is intractable; Pliny, it seems clear, had not observed this structure himself, but is quoting the historian and Roman antiquarian Varro.[34]

Ancient labyrinths outside Europe

Hoysaleswara temple, Halebidu
, India

A design essentially identical to the 7-course "classical" pattern appeared in Native American culture, the

Tohono O'odham people labyrinth which features I'itoi, the "Man in the Maze." The Tonoho O'odham pattern has two distinct differences from the classical: it is radial in design, and the entrance is at the top, where traditional labyrinths have the entrance at the bottom (see below). The earliest appearances cannot be dated securely; the oldest is commonly dated to the 17th century.[35]

Unsubstantiated claims have been made for the early appearance of labyrinth figures in India,

better source needed] Other examples have been found among cave art in northern India and on a dolmen shrine in the Nilgiri Mountains, but are difficult to date accurately. Securely datable examples begin to appear only around 250 BC.[36] Early labyrinths in India typically follow the Classical pattern or a local variant of it; some have been described as plans of forts or cities.[38]

Labyrinths appear in Indian manuscripts and

Al-Beruni's India (c. 1030 AD) p. 306 (with a diagram on the following page).[39]

By the White Sea, notably on the Solovetsky Islands, there have been preserved more than 30 stone labyrinths. The most remarkable monument is the Stone labyrinths of Bolshoi Zayatsky Island – a group of some 13 stone labyrinths on 0.4 km2 area of one small island. Local archaeologists have speculated that these labyrinths may be 2,000–3,000 years old, though most researchers remain dubious.[40]

Labyrinth as pattern

"Classical" or "Cretan" design, well-known in antiquity.

The 7-course "Classical" or "Cretan" pattern known from Cretan coins (ca 400–200 BC) appears in several examples from antiquity, some perhaps as early as the late Stone Age or early Bronze Age.

floor mosaics typically unite four copies of the classical labyrinth (or a similar pattern) interlinked around the center, squared off as the medium requires, but still recognisable. An image of the Minotaur
or an allusion to the legend of the Minotaur appears at the center of many of these mosaic labyrinths.

The four-axis pattern as executed in Chartres Cathedral (early 1200s)

The four-axis medieval patterns may have developed from the Roman model, but are more varied in how the four quadrants of the design are traced out. The Minotaur or other danger is retained in the center of several medieval examples. The Chartres pattern (named for its appearance in Chartres Cathedral) is the most common medieval design; it appears in manuscripts as early as the 9th century.

Medieval labyrinths and turf mazes

Chartres Cathedral, about 1750, Jean Baptiste Rigaud

When the early humanist

Arena";[42]
perhaps he was seeing the cubiculi beneath the arena's missing floor. The full flowering of the medieval labyrinth came about from the twelfth through fourteenth centuries with the grand pavement labyrinths of the gothic cathedrals, notably
Alkborough, and Saffron Walden
.

Over the same general period, some 500 or more non-ecclesiastical labyrinths were constructed in Scandinavia. These labyrinths, generally in coastal areas, are marked out with stones, most often in the simple 7- or 11-course classical forms. They often have names which translate as "Troy Town." They are thought to have been constructed by fishing communities: trapping malevolent trolls or winds in the labyrinth's coils might ensure a safe fishing expedition. There are also stone labyrinths on the Isles of Scilly, although none is known to date from before the nineteenth century.

There are examples of labyrinths in many disparate cultures. The symbol has appeared in various forms and media (petroglyphs, classic-form, medieval-form, pavement, turf, and basketry) at some time throughout most parts of the world, from Native North and South America to Australia, Java, India, and Nepal.

Modern labyrinths

Labyrinth on floor of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Starting in the late 20th century, there has been a resurgence of interest in labyrinths and a revival in labyrinth building, of both unicursal and multicursal patterns.[47] Approximately 6,000 labyrinths have been registered with the Worldwide Labyrinth Locator; these are located around the world in private properties, libraries, schools, gardens, recreational areas, as well as famous temples and cathedrals.[48][49]

The labyrinth is also treated in contemporary

fine arts. Examples include Piet Mondrian's Pier and Ocean (1915), Joan Miró's Labyrinth (1923), Pablo Picasso's Minotauromachy (1935), M. C. Escher's Relativity (1953), Friedensreich Hundertwasser's Labyrinth (1957), Jean Dubuffet's Logological Cabinet (1970), Richard Long's Connemara sculpture (1971), Joe Tilson's Earth Maze (1975), Richard Fleischner's Chain Link Maze (1978), István Orosz's Atlantis Anamorphosis (2000), Dmitry Rakov's Labyrinth (2003), and drawings by contemporary American artist Mo Morales employing what the artist calls "Labyrinthine projection." The Italian painter Davide Tonato has dedicated many of his artistic works to the labyrinth theme.[50] In modern imagery, the labyrinth of Daedalus is often represented by a multicursal maze, in which one may become lost.[citation needed
]

Guinness World Record Tube Challenge.[51][52]

Cultural meanings

Prehistoric labyrinths may have served as traps for malevolent spirits or as paths for ritual dances.[citation needed] Many Roman and Christian labyrinths appear at the entrances of buildings, suggesting that they may have served a similar apotropaic purpose.[53] In their cross-cultural study of signs and symbols, Patterns that Connect, Carl Schuster and Edmund Carpenter present various forms of the labyrinth and suggest various possible meanings, including not only a sacred path to the home of a sacred ancestor, but also, perhaps, a representation of the ancestor him/herself: "...many [New World] Indians who make the labyrinth regard it as a sacred symbol, a beneficial ancestor, a deity. In this they may be preserving its original meaning: the ultimate ancestor, here evoked by two continuous lines joining its twelve primary joints."[54] Schuster also observes the common theme of the labyrinth being a refuge for a trickster; in India, the demon Ravana has dominion over labyrinths, the trickster Djonaha lives in a labyrinth according to Sumatran Bataks, and Europeans say it is the home of a rogue.[54]

One can think of labyrinths as symbolic of pilgrimage: people walking the path ascend toward salvation or enlightenment. Mystical teachings in traditions across centuries suggest that they can also be understood as coded maps of the spiritual path.[55]

Many labyrinths have been constructed recently in churches, hospitals, and parks. These are often used for contemplation; walking among the turnings, one loses track of direction and of the outside world, and thus quiets the mind.

Christian use

Walking the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral

Labyrinths have on various occasions been used in Christian tradition as a part of worship. The earliest known example is from a fourth-century pavement at the Basilica of St Reparatus, at Orleansville, Algeria, with the words "Sancta Eclesia" [sic] at the center, though it is unclear how it might have been used in worship.

In medieval times, labyrinths began to appear on church walls and floors around 1000 AD. The most famous medieval labyrinth, with great influence on later practice, was created in Chartres Cathedral.[43]

The use of labyrinths has recently been revived in some contexts of Christian worship. Many churches in Europe and North America have constructed permanent, typically unicursal, labyrinths, or employ temporary ones (e.g., painted on canvas or outlined with candles). For example, a labyrinth was set up on the floor of St Paul's Cathedral for a week in March 2000.[56] Some conservative Christians disapprove of labyrinths, considering them pagan practices or "New Age" fads.[57]

Usage in media

Labyrinths and mazes have been embraced by the video game industry, and countless video games include such a feature. For example, the 1994 video game Marathon features many maze-like passages the player must navigate.

A number of film, game, and music creations feature labyrinths. For instance, the avant-garde multi-screen film In the Labyrinth presents a search for meaning in a symbolic modern labyrinth. The well-received 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth draws heavily upon labyrinth legend for symbolism. A magical labyrinth appears in the third episode "And The Horns of a Dilemma" of The Librarians. See Labyrinth (disambiguation) for a further list of titles.

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges was entranced with the idea of the labyrinth, and used it extensively in his short stories (such as "The House of Asterion" in The Aleph). His use of it has inspired other authors (e.g. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves). Additionally, Roger Zelazny's fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber features a labyrinth, called "the Pattern," which grants those who walk it the power to move between parallel worlds. In Rick Riordan's series Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the events of the fourth novel The Battle of the Labyrinth predominantly take place within the labyrinth of Daedalus, which has followed the heart of the West to settle beneath the United States. Ursula K. Le Guin used an underground labyrinth in the second book of her Earthsea series, The Tombs of Atuan, in which the series hero Ged is captured by the book's protagonist Tenar on his trip to the Kargish Empire – the spiritual power of the "Nameless Ones" is vested at least in part in the labyrinth. Australian author Sara Douglass incorporated some labyrinthine ideas in her series The Troy Game, in which the Labyrinth on Crete is one of several in the ancient world, created with the cities as a source of magical power. Lawrence Durrell's The Dark Labyrinth depicts travelers trapped underground in Crete. Because a labyrinth can serve as a metaphor for situations that are difficult to be extricated from, Octavio Paz titled his book on Mexican identity The Labyrinth of Solitude, describing the Mexican condition as orphaned and lost.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ancient: [labýrintʰos], Modern: [laˈvirinθos]
  1. ^ Doob 1992, p. 36
  2. ^ Kern, Through the Labyrinth, 2000, item 43, p. 53.
  3. ^ Kern, Through the Labyrinth, 2000, item 50, p. 54.
  4. ^ Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth, pp. 40–41.
  5. ISBN 0375423060
    .
  6. ^ Kern, Through the Labyrinth, p. 23.
  7. ^ The usage restricting maze to patterns that involve choices of path is mentioned by Matthews (p. 2–3) as early as 1922, though he does not find the distinction useful and does not follow it himself.
  8. ^ Jeff Saward. "Mazes or Labyrinths?" (PDF). Labyrinthos. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  9. ^ "About Labyrinths". The Labyrinth Society. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  10. ISBN 0375423060
    .
  11. ^ Mayer, "Maximilian (1892). "Mykenische Beiträge. II. Zur mykenischen Tracht und Kultur". Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich deutschen archäologischen Instituts. VII: 191.
  12. ^ Λυδοὶ γάρ 'λάβρυν' τὸν πέλεκυν ὀνομάζουσι, Plutarch, Greek Questions, 45 2.302a.
  13. ^ a b The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press p.116. Oxford Classical Dictionary
  14. S2CID 164124200. Rouse criticised the association with Knossos, noting the reappearance of the same inscribed symbols at the newly discovered palace at Phaistos
    (p. 273).
  15. ^ Martin Nilsson (1967): Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion. C.F.Beck Verlag Vol I, p. 277
  16. ^ Raymoure, K.A. "da-pu2-ri-to-jo". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.
  17. ^ Stephanie Lynn Buden. The Ancient Greeks. An introduction. Oxford University Press.p. 227 [1]
  18. ^ a b Sarullo, Giulia (2008). "The Cretan Labyrinth: Palace or Cave?". Caerdroia. 37: 31–40.
  19. ^ Aspesi, Francesco (1996). "Greco labyrinthos, ebraico debîr". KRHTH TIS GAI ESTI: Studi e ricerche intorno ai testi minoici. Roma: Il Calamo.
  20. ^ Aspesi, Francesco (1996). "Lineare A (-)da-pu2-re: un'ipostesi". KRHTH TIS GAI ESTI: Studi e ricerche intorno ai testi minoici. Roma: Il Calamo.
  21. ISBN 3791321447
    .
  22. ISBN 978-90-04-17418-4
    .
  23. ^ Homer. "Iliad". Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University. xviii.590–3.
  24. S2CID 161753794
    .
  25. ^ "Furthermore he wrought a green, like that which Daedalus once made in Cnossus for lovely Ariadne. Hereon there danced youths and maidens whom all would woo, with their hands on one another's wrists. The maidens wore robes of light linen, and the youths well woven shirts that were slightly oiled. There was a bard also to sing to them and play his lyre, while two tumblers went about performing in the midst of them when the man struck up with his tune."
    The Iliad: Transl, by Samuel Butler:[2]
  26. ^ a b Steve Connor (16 October 2009). "Has the original Labyrinth been found?". The Independent.
  27. ^ National Geographic Channel: The Holy Grail (and the Minotaur) Archived 1 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  28. The Histories, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt
    , Book II, pp. 160–161.
  29. ^ Kern 2000, p. 59.
  30. ISBN 9780802117038
    .
  31. ISBN 9780500285473
    .
  32. ^ Matthews, p. 13.
  33. ^ Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works, "Smilis."
  34. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History, xxxvi.91–92.
  35. ISBN 1579905390
    .
  36. ^ a b Saward, Labyrinths and Mazes, p. 60.
  37. ^ "Festival on Labyrinth and Symmetry". 9th ISIS Congress. 9 September 2013.
  38. ^ Saward, Labyrinths and Mazes, pp. 60–61.
  39. ^ Al-Beruni, India, (c. 1030 AD), Edward C. Sachau (translator), Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, London, 1910 Online version from Columbia University Libraries (Retrieved 5 December 2009)
  40. ^ Saward, Labyrinths and Mazes, pp. 148–149.
  41. ^ "Labyrinthos Archive – The First Labyrinths". www.labyrinthos.net. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  42. ^ "quod nunc Harena dicitur": Roberto Weiss, The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity 1969:25.
  43. ^
    ISBN 978-3-7913-2144-8
    .
  44. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Labyrinth" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  45. ^
    ISBN 978-0-674-00503-7
    .
  46. JSTOR 1260358
    .
  47. ISBN 1579905390
    .
  48. ^ Bliss, Laura (29 July 2020). "The Pandemic-Era Appeal of Getting Lost in a Labyrinth". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  49. ^ "Welcome to the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator!". World-Wide Labyrinth Locator. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  50. ^ Davide Tonato, Labyrinth of Transformations (edited by Renzo Margonari), Grafiche Aurora, Verona 1988
  51. ^ Brown, Mark (7 February 2013). "Tube celebrates 150th birthday with labyrinth art project". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  52. ISBN 9781908970169
    . Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  53. ^ Ruth Mellinkoff, Averting Demons, 2004, Vol. 2, p. 164.
  54. ^ a b Schuster, Carl, & Edmund Carpenter (1996). Patterns that Connect: Social Symbolism in Ancient & Tribal Art. Harry N. Abrams. p. 307.
    ISBN 978-0-8109-6326-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  55. ISBN 978-0983303800
    .
  56. ^ Ian Tarrant and Sally Dakin, Labyrinths and Prayer Stations, p 6.
  57. ^ Mark Tooley (September 2000). "Maze Craze". Touchstone Magazine. The Fellowship of St. James. Retrieved 29 December 2016.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Labyrinth.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Labyrinth.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Labyrinth".
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Labyrinths.
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