A labyrinth is a pattern with one single path. There are no tricks and no dead ends. Unlike a maze, which has more than path and forces choice and confusion, the labyrinth has only one path, a path that meanders into the center and then will guide the walker safely back out again.
The labyrinth is an ancient archetypal symbol, one which is usually composed of a spiral and a circle combined together, but is occasionally generated by setting a path within a square. The resulting image shows a meandering but purposeful pathway set within clearly defined boundaries.
The labyrinth is an ancient archetypal symbol, one which is usually composed of a spiral and a circle combined together, but is occasionally generated by setting a path within a square. The resulting image shows a meandering but purposeful pathway set within clearly defined boundaries.
The circle and the spiral are found everywhere in nature. The circle is seen in the daily round of the rising and setting sun, as well as in the greater annual cycle as the seasons turn through the year. The spiral occurs in shells, in whirlpools, in the microcosm of our DNA and in the macrocosm of the spiral galaxies of deep space. As a symbol of growth and evolution, the spiral is used as a metaphor for the enfolding of spirit into matter and the unfolding of matter returning to spirit. The synthesis of the spiral path and the central “heart” combines to create the Labyrinth, a symbol holding both movement along the spiral path and the potential of stillness at the centre.
This ancient pattern has been found on pottery, tablets, tiles and as decoration in diverse and ancient cultures from across the world[1]. The earliest known graphic representation of a Labyrinth is carved on a piece of mammoth ivory found in a Palaeolithic tomb in Siberia and reputed to be over 7000 years old. The earliest known Labyrinth structure dates from the nineteenth century BCE and was situated at Hawara in Egypt.[1]
Although the Labyrinth does not originate in ancient Crete, the most famous of all Labyrinths is the legendary Labyrinth of Knossos, constructed for King Minos by the master inventor Daedalus.
This ancient pattern has been found on pottery, tablets, tiles and as decoration in diverse and ancient cultures from across the world[1]. The earliest known graphic representation of a Labyrinth is carved on a piece of mammoth ivory found in a Palaeolithic tomb in Siberia and reputed to be over 7000 years old. The earliest known Labyrinth structure dates from the nineteenth century BCE and was situated at Hawara in Egypt.[1]
Although the Labyrinth does not originate in ancient Crete, the most famous of all Labyrinths is the legendary Labyrinth of Knossos, constructed for King Minos by the master inventor Daedalus.
The story is told of the great King Minos and how he hired the celebrated artist-craftsman Daedalus to invent and construct for him a Labyrinth, in which to hide something of which the palace was at once ashamed and afraid. For there was a monster on the premises – which had been born to Pasipsaë, the Queen.
Joseph Campbell
The Hero With A 1000 Faces
The monster was the Minotaur, the half-human, half-bull child born of a union between the Cretan Queen and a sacred bull that belonged to the sea god Poseidon. The Minotaur craved human flesh and King Minos sent a steady supply of young youths and maidens into his Labyrinthine lair, a sacrificial tribute from the King of Athens.
Eventually Theseus, an Athenian Prince, arrived in Crete and Princess Ariadne saw him as he disembarked. She fell in love with him and offered him a way to navigate the Labyrinth if he, in exchange, would marry her and take her away from Crete. The deal was struck and Ariadne offered Theseus the skein of linen thread that, when fixed to the entrance would ensure that he could find his way through and out of the Labyrinth.
Theseus entered the Labyrinth and, finding the Minotaur in his lair, killed him and then retraced his steps by rewinding the thread. Although the legendary Labyrinth at Knossos was destroyed by earthquake and fire, the myth of Theseus, the Labyrinth, and the Minotaur endured; at the centre of the Labyrinth at Chartres there was once a plate depicting Theseus and the Minotaur. The plate was torn up in 1792 and the Labyrinth centre is now empty.