Introduction to the Idea of the Labyrinth

The Idea of the Labyrinth

This is why I will try here to clarify and distinguish these different meanings, in order to facilitate the visit of this site and eventually a more serious study of that fascinating phenomenon, the labyrinth.

It might be appropriate to say here that no consensus has yet been attained on the etymology of the word, and that therefore it is not of much use. It seems that the word has appeared in the context of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, where it designates a man-made place (built by the architect Daedalus). The form of the place is not described: it stands somewhere between a shapeless chaos and a very complex building. Its function seems to be that of a prison where one can enter freely but whence one cannot exit. Theseus came out using Ariadne's thread, Daedalus himsel, the builder of the labyrinth, had to fabricate some wings in order to fly up out of it (therefore it was not covered).

One may think that the ancient Greeks called labyrinths those large and complex quasi-legendary buildings because of this comlex and mysterious mythical image. Subsequently, those buildings came to be considered as the true original labyrinths, since the mythical labyrinth had obviously no real existence.

The drawing of the labyrinth

The classical labyrinth, which is our subject here, is a drawing of lines delineating a unique path from the exterior to the center and covering all the available surface.

The development of that drawing was independent from the Cretan myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, and it was not yet called a labyrinth. I think that this happened before the appearance of spoken language, and therefore long before the creation of the myth. The appearance of language is now currently dated at 40 000 years before our era.

Among other drawings of concentric circles, of spirals and of rudimentary labyrinths, long after the tracing of a line on the sand with a rod or on a stone with another stone was invented, and probably after several thousand years of fumbling, one day there appeared the drawing of a labyrinth that we now call, for reasons of commodity, the Cretan labyrinth.

Three main forms of the drawing of the classical labyrinth are known: the Cretan labyrinth, just mentioned, which is of prehistoric origin; the Roman labyrinth, which was found in the Roman Empire; the Medieval labyrinth, first used as a manuscript illustration from the early 9th century, and later, from the 12th and mainly the 13th century, incorporated in the floor of several cathedrals and religious buildings.

From the 15th century, labyrinths with several paths are drawn, both to serve as a game and to represent more realistically the mythical labyrinth, which was designed so as one would get lost in it, in opposition with earlier labyrinth drawings, which had only one path.

From the 16th century, three-dimensional representations of the classical labyrinth are drawn, whereas this labyrinth had always been two-dimensional. These three-dimensional perspective representations were principally of the Medieval labyrinth.

The recent history of the graphical motif of the labyrinth has been exploring these different avenues. Only one new model of the classical labyrinth, until now undated, is worth mentioning: the one associated with the Pima-Papago-Tohona 'O'odham Indians of southern Arizona, which is related to the Cretan labyrinth.

In the ancient and medieval tradition it is never made mention of the graphical motif as such, but it is constantly used as an illustration of the mythical labyrinth, to the point that it seems to have been considered as representing its actual form. Some recent writers still support this ambiguity.

The mythical labyrinth

The oldest known versions of the myth are at least a thousand years posterior to the historical events associated with that myth. At least 50 generations set apart these two periods: 50 generations of of interpretations, of embellishments, of dramatizations. Therefore one should be extremely careful in assessing the historical foundations of the myth.

On the other hand, I believe that the myth of the labyrinth and the Minotaur is much older than the Cretan story, which therefore would not have been at the origin of the myth, but would rather have been recuperated into the narrative of the myth and reinterpreted by it, and probably greatly amplified into the myth.

Likewise, rather than having been developed as an interpretation or a representation of the myth, the ancient drawing of the labyrinth, being older than the myth, would have been recuperated later by it as an illustration of the myth, and only thereafter would have been called a labyrinth.

The architectural labyrinth

Many authors still believe the labyrinth of the myth to have been one of those buildings (like the palace of Knossos), or at the least, that Daedalus had got his inspiration from one of those (like the so-called Egyptian labyrinth). This is impossible if we accept the myth to be anterior to the Cretan history and to those buildings.

The medieval floor labyrinths are not really architectural labyrinths; they are more like an enlargement of the graphical motif used as an architectural decoration or ornament in a still unknown function. The garden labyrinths appeared with the baroque gardens. Their geometry is rather strict but they always have multiple paths.

In northern Europe there is a tradition of large outdoor labyrinths. In Scandinavia the Cretan model was used, often in an "augmented" version (with a larger number of circles than the original). In England, the Chartres medieval model was used, sometimes also augmented. These installations are difficult to date, but they don't seem to be older than the large medieval floor labyrinths.

The labyrinth as metaphor

This is how the ancient buildings that were called labyrinths were called so through a metaphorical reference to the mythical labyrinth and to its great complexity, which made it inextricable.

Modern literature has frequently referred to the labyrinth metaphor to represent the very complex and often formless network of human relations and the inextricable individual situation which is contemporary man's. This metaphor usually refers to the mythical labyrinth, but the classical graphical motif is often used as an illustration. Again, the habitual ambiguity is present here.

Thus the classical image of the labyrinth design is part of the metaphor. That design, which is strongly structured geometrically (and rhythmically) brings to the metaphor a dimension of order, logic and finality, which is nevertheless ignored by authors who use it. Of course, that dimension is not readily apparent in the situation which the metaphor is applied to (which is why the metaphor is applied to it in the first place), but it is part of it and should be sought after and be found.

The labyrinth as symbol

Thus the labyrinth was associated with the underworld and death, with the uterus and the maternal womb and therefore with birth and life, with psychological or spiritual progress, with the moral conduct of life and salvation which is its end, with meeting the unconscious or God, with the resolution of problems, with medieval pilgrimages and crusades, with the plowing of a field... It is often the metaphorical meaning which takes up a symbolic meaning. In fact, it might rather be that the symbolic meaning founds the metaphor and warrants it.

In recent labyrinth literature, the different labyrinths are often considered as metaphors or symbols. In particular, the drawing of the labyrinth is discussed as if it was a literary metaphor or a psychologic symbol, and not as a drawing. The same goes for the architectural labyrinth.

Back to drawing the labyrinth

In English, several authors use indifferently labyrinth and maze. Others disagree and refuse that practice. It seems that both words are actually quite synonymous, in particular when applied to the graphical motif or drawing. In French, the corresponding words of labyrinthe and dédale are not synonymous. Dédale would be applied only to the metaphorical sense of the labyrinth. All the actual labyrinths will only be called labyrinthe.

As a way of summing up, it could be said that everything would be simpler if the graphical motif had a different name. If it had not taken up the name labyrinth from the myth. Then a large part of the contaminations between meanings, due to sharing the same name, would have been avoided.