• Labyrinths and Mazes—Why So Intriguing?
    Awake!—1999 | December 22

    • The Cretan Labyrinth

      The labyrinth at Knossos, on the island of Crete, was apparently built some years after the Egyptian one. Although its site has not yet been positively identified, records say that it was similar to, but very much smaller than, the Egyptian pattern.a Our word “labyrinth” may be related to laʹbrys, a double-headed ax representing the two horns of the sacred bull. This bull was featured in Minoan (Cretan) worship, which was deeply influenced by mythology.

      The Cretan labyrinth was famous in mythology for its resident Minotaur—a mythological man with a bull’s head. Pasiphaë, the wife of Minos, king of Crete, is said to have given birth to this creature—hence its name, Minotaur, meaning “Bull of Minos.” According to the myth, the city of Athens lost a war with Crete, and its people were compelled every nine years to send 14 youths—7 boys and 7 girls—as sacrifices to the Minotaur. These youths were released into the labyrinth, where they got lost and were then supposedly devoured by the Minotaur.

      In time, however, one youth, Theseus, took up the challenge and entered the labyrinth to kill this mythical monster. Upon encountering it, Theseus is said to have killed the Minotaur with his sword. To escape, he retraced his steps by following a golden thread, which he had laid down from the entrance of the labyrinth. The thread had been given to him by Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos.

      Michael Ayrton, who constructed a conjectural model of the Cretan labyrinth, explained: “Each man’s life is a labyrinth at the centre of which lies his death, and even after death it may be that he passes through a final maze before it is all ended for him.” In this sense, the mythological Theseus’ escape from the labyrinth symbolized his rebirth, his escape from death. Again, the teaching of human immortality becomes apparent.

      Greece and Rome

      The pattern of the classical Cretan labyrinth appears on coins found at Knossos. Soon this pattern was imitated by the Greeks and the Romans.