MISCELLANEA AND CONCLUSION
A Maze Collector--The Labyrinth in Queer Places--The Maze
on Paper and on the Sands--Mirror Mazes--A Temporary
Hedge Maze--Maze Toys--A Verbal Labyrinth--The Maze in
Place-names--A Plea for the Preservation of some Ancient
Monuments 201-213
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 215-235
INDEX 237-254
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
MAZE AT HATFIELD, HERTS. (Photo, G. F. Green) _Frontispiece_
1. EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH. Portion of Ruins, _circ._ 1700.
(P. Lucas) _facing page_ 12
2. EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH. Shrine of Amenemhat III.
(Flinders Petrie) _f.p._ 14
3. EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH. Restored Plan. (Canina) 15
4. EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH. Restored Plan. (Flinders Petrie) 16
5. CRETAN LABYRINTH. (Florentine Picture Chronicle) _f.p._ 18
6. CRETAN LABYRINTH. (Italian Engraving: School of
Finiguerra) 21
7. CAVERN OF GORTYNA. (Sieber) _f.p._ 28
8. KNOSSOS. Maze-pattern on Wall of Palace. (After Evans) 32
9. DOUBLE-AXE AND SOCKET FROM DICTAEAN CAVE. (Evans) _f.p._ 31
10. TOMB OF DOUBLE AXES. Plan. (Evans) 33
11. TOMB OF DOUBLE AXES. View of the Cist. (Evans) _f.p._ 33
12. BRONZE DOUBLE AXE FROM TOMB OF DOUBLE AXES. (Evans) _f.p._ 43
13. TOMB OF LARS PORSENA AT CLUSIUM. Restoration. (Q. de
Quincy) _f.p._ 38
14. POGGIO CAJELLA. Labyrinthine Cemetery. (Dennis) _f.p._ 40
15, 16, 17, 18. EARLY EGYPTIAN SEALS AND PLAQUES.
(British Museum) _f.p._ 43
19. EARLY EGYPTIAN PLAQUE OR AMULET. (Prof. Flinders
Petrie's Collection, Univ. Coll., London) 43
20 to 25. COINS OF KNOSSOS. (British Museum) _f.p._ 44
26 to 31. COINS OF KNOSSOS. (British Museum) _f.p._ 46
32. GRAFFITO AT POMPEII. (Mus. Borb. XIV. 1852) 46
33. MOSAIC AT SALZBURG. (Kreuzer) 47
34. MOSAIC AT CAERLEON. (O. Morgan) _f.p._ 48
35. MOSAIC AT VERDES, LOIR-ET-CHER. (De Caumont) 49
36. MOSAIC AT CORMEROD, SWITZERLAND. (Mitt. Ant. Ges.
Zurich, XVI) _f.p._ 48
37. MOSAIC AT SUSA, TUNIS. (C. R. Acad. Inscriptions,
Paris, 1892) 50
38. GREEK KYLIX, SHOWING EXPLOITS OF THESEUS. (British
Museum) _f.p._ 52
39. ANOTHER THESEUS KYLIX. (British Museum) _f.p._ 52
40. LABYRINTH ENGRAVED ON ANCIENT GEM. (Maffei) 53
41. BRONZE PLAQUETTE. Italian XVIth Century. (British
Museum) _f.p._ 61
42. LABYRINTH IN CHURCH OF REPARATUS, ORLÉANSVILLE,
ALGERIA. (Prevost) 55
43. LABYRINTH IN LUCCA CATHEDRAL. (Durand) 55
44. LABYRINTH IN S. MICHELE, PAVIA. (Ciampini) 56
45. LABYRINTH IN S. MARIA-DI-TRASTAVERA, ROME. (Durand) _f.p._ 56
46. LABYRINTH IN S. VITALE, RAVENNA. (Durand) _f.p._ 56
47. LABYRINTH IN CHARTRES CATHEDRAL. (Gailhabaud) 58
48. LABYRINTH IN AMIENS CATHEDRAL. (Gailhabaud) 59
49. LABYRINTH IN PARISH CHURCH, ST. QUENTIN. (Gailhabaud) 60
50. LABYRINTH IN RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. (Gailhabaud) _f.p._ 61
51. LABYRINTH IN AMIENS CATHEDRAL, CENTRAL PLATE.
(Gailhabaud) _f.p._ 62
52. LABYRINTH IN BAYEUX CATHEDRAL. (Amé) _f.p._ 62
53. LABYRINTH IN SENS CATHEDRAL. (Gailhabaud) 62
54. LABYRINTH IN ABBEY OF ST. BERTIN, ST. OMER. (Wallet) 63
55. LABYRINTH IN POITIERS CATHEDRAL. (Auber) 64
56. LABYRINTHS ON TILES. Toussaints Abbey, Chalons. (Amé) _f.p._ 74
57. LABYRINTH IN ELY CATHEDRAL. (W. H. M.) 66
58. LABYRINTH IN CHURCH AT BOURN, CAMBS. (W. H. M.) 69
59. "JULIAN'S BOWER," ALKBOROUGH, LINCS. (Litho., Rev.
G. Yorke) 72
60. TURF LABYRINTH AT WING, RUTLAND. (Photo, W. J. Stocks;
by permission of Rev. E. A. Irons) _f.p._ 74
61. "SHEPHERD'S RACE," BOUGHTON GREEN, NORTHANTS. (After
Trollope) 76
62. "MIZMAZE," ST. CATHERINE'S HILL, WINCHESTER. (W. H. M.) 80
63. TURF LABYRINTH, PIMPERNE, DORSET. (Hutchins) 81
64. TURF LABYRINTH, SAFFRON WALDEN, ESSEX. (W. H. M.) 83
65. "THE MAZLES," COMBERTON, CAMBS. (Photo, W. H. M.) _f.p._ 84
66. TURF LABYRINTH, HILTON, HUNTS. (W. H. M.) 85
67. TURF LABYRINTH, HILTON, HUNTS. (Photo, W. H. M.) _f.p._ 84
68. "WALLS OF TROY," ROCKCLIFFE MARSH, CUMBERLAND.
(After Ferguson) 87
69. "TROY-TOWN," SOMERTON, OXON. (From sketch by O. W.
Godwin) 89
70. "CAERDROIA." (After P. Roberts) 94
71. LABYRINTH DEVICE OF ARCHBISHOP OF EMBRUN. (After
C. Paradin) 97
72. FLORAL LABYRINTH. (De Vries) _f.p._ 100
73. FLORAL LABYRINTH. (De Vries) 102
74. FLORAL LABYRINTH. (De Vries) _f.p._ 101
75, 76. HERBAL LABYRINTHS. (T. Hill) 104
77, 78. MAZE DESIGNS IN XVIITH CENTURY MANUSCRIPT.
(Harley MS., Brit. Mus.) 106
79. MAZE DESIGN BY ADAM ISLIP, 1602 107
80. MAZE DESIGN BY J. COMMELYN, 1676 108
81. MAZE DESIGN BY J. SERLIO. (XVIth Century) 113
82. MAZE AT CHARLEVAL. (After Du Cerceau) 114
83, 84. MAZES AT GAILLON. (After Du Cerceau) 114
85. MAZE AT THEOBALDS, HERTS. (After Trollope) 115
86. MAZE AT HATFIELD, HERTS. (Photo, G. F. Green) _Frontispiece_
87. MAZE AT HATFIELD, HERTS. Plan. (W. H. M.) 116
88. LABYRINTH OF VERSAILLES. (Perrault) _f.p._ 118
89. LABYRINTH OF VERSAILLES. Fable Group: "Hare and
Tortoise" 118
90. LABYRINTH OF VERSAILLES. Fable Group: "Fox and Crow" 119
91. LABYRINTH OF VERSAILLES. Fable Group: "Snake and
Porcupine" 120
92. LABYRINTH AT THE TUILERIES, PARIS. (After Du Cerceau) 121
93. LABYRINTH AT CHOISY-LE-ROI. (Blondel) _f.p._ 121
94. LABYRINTH AT CHANTILLY. (Blondel) _f.p._ 121
95, 96. MAZE DESIGNS BY ANDRÉ MOLLET. ("Le Jardin de
Plaisir," 1651) _f.p._ 123
97 to 106. MAZE DESIGNS BY G. A. BOECKLER.
("Architectura Curiosa Nova," 1664) 122-126
107. MAZE AT GUNTERSTEIN, HOLLAND. (Nicholas Visscher) _f.p._ 126
108. MAZE AT GUNTERSTEIN, HOLLAND. Plan. (Visscher) _f.p._ 126
109. GARDENS AT LOO, HOLLAND, WITH MAZES. (W. Harris) _f.p._ 127
110. MAZE AT HAMPTON COURT. (Photo, G. F. Green) _f.p._ 128
111. MAZE AT HAMPTON COURT. Plan. (W. H. M.) 129
112. HAMPTON COURT. Mazes and "Plan-de-Troy" in XVIIIth
Century. (Engraving, J. Rocque, 1736) 130
113. HAMPTON COURT. "The Little Maze." (Photo, G. F.
Green) _f.p._ 128
114. LABYRINTH DESIGN BY L. LIGER. (From London and Wise) 131
115. MAZE DESIGN BY BATTY LANGLEY. ("New Principles of
Gardening," 1728) _f.p._ 131
116. MAZE DESIGN BY BATTY LANGLEY. ("New Principles of
Gardening," 1728) _f.p._ 130
117. LABYRINTH AT TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. (Williams) _f.p._ 133
118. WREST PARK, BEDS., WITH TWO MAZES. (Kip) _f.p._ 134
119. MAZE DESIGN BY STEPHEN SWITZER. ("Ichnographia
Rustica," 1742) 133
120. MAZE IN R.H.S. GARDENS, STH. KENSINGTON. (After
Nesfield) 139
121. MAZE IN BRIDGE END GARDENS, SAFFRON WALDEN. Looking S.
(Photo, W. H. M.) _f.p._ 140
122. MAZE IN BRIDGE END GARDENS, SAFFRON WALDEN. Looking N.
(Photo, W. H. M.) _f.p._ 140
123. MAZE AT SOMERLEYTON HALL, SUFFOLK. (W. H. M., from
sketch by G. F. Green) 141
124. STONE LABYRINTH ON WIER ISLAND, GULF OF FINLAND.
(Von Baer) 148
125. STONE LABYRINTH ON FINNISH COAST. (Aspelin) 148
126. STONE LABYRINTH AT WISBY, GOTHLAND. (Aspelin) 149
127. SCANDINAVIAN STONE LABYRINTH. (Rudbeck) 150
128. OLD DANISH STONE CROSS, WITH LABYRINTH. (O. Worm) 151
129. ROCK ENGRAVINGS, ROUTING LINN, NORTHUMBERLAND.
(G. Tate) _f.p._ 152
130. ROCK ENGRAVINGS, OLD BEWICK, NORTHUMBERLAND.
(G. Tate) _f.p._ 152
131. INDIAN LABYRINTH, FROM XVIIITH CENTURY SPANISH
MANUSCRIPT. (After Cotton) 154
132. LABYRINTHINE PICTOGRAPH, MESA VERDE. (After Fewkes) 155
133. ETRUSCAN WINE-VASE FROM TRAGLIATELLA. (After Deecke) 157
134, 135. ETRUSCAN WINE-VASE FROM TRAGLIATELLA. "Troy
Dance" Details. (After Deecke) 157-158
136. STRAIGHT-LINE DIAGRAM. Hampton Court Maze 187
137. STRAIGHT-LINE DIAGRAM. Hatfield Maze 187
138, 139. DERIVATION OF LABYRINTH TYPES FROM ROCK-ENGRAVING
FIGURES. (After Krause) 188
140. ALLEGORICAL LABYRINTH. (Old German Print) _f.p._ 194
141, 142. SEA-SIDE SAND MAZES. (W. H. M.) _f.p._ 202
143. TEMPORARY MAZE AT VILLAGE FÊTE. (W. H. M.) 203
144. MAZE TOY BY A. BRENTANO. (After Patent Specification) 204
145. MAZE TOY BY S. D. NIX. (After Patent Specification) 205
146. MAZE TOY BY J. M. ARNOT. (After Patent Specification) 206
147. MAZE TOY BY J. PROCTOR. (After Patent Specification) 206
148. MAZE TOY BY H. BRIDGE. (After Patent Specification) 207
149, 150, 151. PATH OF RAT IN LABYRINTH. Three Stages.
(After Szymanski) 208
_Erratum_
Page 78, line 21, _for_ Ackerman's _read_ Ackermann's.
MAZES AND LABYRINTHS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A delightful air of romance and mystery surrounds the whole subject of
Labyrinths and Mazes.
The hedge-maze, which is the only type with which most of us have
a first-hand acquaintance, is generally felt to be a survival of a
romantic age, even though we esteem its function as nothing higher
than that of a playground for children. Many a tender intrigue has
been woven around its dark yew alleys. Mr. Compton Mackenzie, for
example, introduces it most effectively as a lovers' rendezvous in "The
Passionate Elopement," and no doubt the readers of romantic literature
will recall other instances of a like nature. The story of fair
Rosamond's Bower is one which will leap to the mind in this connection.
This type of maze alone is worth more than a passing thought, but it is
far from being the only, or even the most interesting, development of
the labyrinth idea.
What is the difference, it may be asked, between a _maze_ and a
_labyrinth_? The answer is, little or none. Some writers seem to
prefer to apply the word "maze" to hedge-mazes only, using the word
"labyrinth" to denote the structures described by the writers of
antiquity, or as a general term for any confusing arrangement of paths.
Others, again, show a tendency to restrict the application of the term
"maze" to cases in which the idea of a puzzle is involved.
It would certainly seem somewhat inappropriate to talk of "the Cretan
Maze" or "the Hampton Court Labyrinth," but, generally speaking, we may
use the words interchangeably, regarding "maze" as merely the northern
equivalent of the classic "labyrinth." Both words have come to signify
a complex path of some kind, but when we press for a closer definition
we encounter difficulties. We cannot, for instance, say that it is "a
tortuous branched path designed to baffle or deceive those who attempt
to find the goal to which it leads," for, though that description
holds good in some cases, it ignores the many cases in which there is
only one path, without branches, and therefore no intent to baffle or
mislead, and others again in which there is no definite "goal." We
cannot say that it is a winding path "bounded by walls or hedges,"
for in many instances there are neither walls nor hedges. One of the
most famous labyrinths, for example, consisted chiefly of a vast and
complicated series of rooms and columns. In fact, we shall find it
convenient to leave the question of the definition of the words, and
also that of their origin, until we have examined the various examples
that exist or are known to have existed.
It may be necessary, here and there, to make reference to various
archæological or antiquarian books and other writings, but the outlook
of the general reader, rather than that of the professed student, has
been mainly borne in mind.
The object of this book is simply to provide a readable survey of a
subject which, in view of the lure it has exercised throughout many
ages and under a variety of forms, has been almost entirely neglected
in our literature--the subject of mazes and labyrinths treated from a
general and not a purely archæological, horticultural, mathematical, or
artistic point of view.
Such references as have been made have therefore been accompanied in
most cases by some explanatory or descriptive phrase, a provision which
might be considered unnecessary or out of place in a book written for
the trained student.
For the benefit of such as may wish to verify, or to investigate more
fully, any of the matters dealt with, a classified list of references
has been compiled and will be found at the end of the book.
The first summary of any importance to be published in this country
on the subject was a paper by the Venerable Edward Trollope, F.S.A.,
Archdeacon of Stow, which appeared in the _Archaeological Journal_ and
in the "Proceedings" of a provincial archaeological society in 1858.
Nearly all subsequent writers on the subject--in this country at any
rate--have drawn largely upon the paper in question and have made
little advance upon it.
The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" contains an illustrated article, written
originally by a botanist and chiefly concerned with hedge-mazes.
Such books as Rouse Ball's "Mathematical Recreations," Andrews'
"Ecclesiastical Curiosities," and Dudeney's "Amusements in Mathematics"
devote each a chapter or so to the matter, and from time to time
there have been brief displays of interest in some aspect or other of
the topic in popular periodicals, the most notable being a pair of
richly illustrated articles in _Country Life_ in 1903. A condensed and
scholarly review of the subject, in so far as it is relevant to his
main _thesis_, is contained in the first volume of Mr. A. B. Cook's
ponderous work on "Zeus" (1914). A similar remark applies to the
recently published (1921) Volume I of Sir Arthur Evans's magnificent
summary of his Cretan researches, "The Palace of Minos at Knossos."
There is a characteristically Ruskinian discourse on Labyrinths in
"Fors Clavigera" (Fors No. 23); and an interesting, if not convincing,
section of Mr. E. O. Gordon's "Prehistoric London" adduces a certain
amount of labyrinth lore in support of the Trojan origin of the
metropolis. So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, no book
dealing solely with the subject has hitherto appeared in our language.
In 1915-16 there appeared posthumously in the _Revue Archéologique_
a very remarkable series of articles on "Les Fallacieux Détours du
Labyrinthe" by a brilliant young French archaeologist, M. Robert de
Launay, who was killed on the field of honour at Neuville-St.-Vaast
in May 1915. The articles are characterised by great boldness and
enthusiasm and show a wide range of knowledge, but it is probable
that, if the author had lived, mature consideration would have led
him to modify some of his conclusions. This is the most recent work
of importance on the subject, though the new work by Sir A. Evans
mentioned above contains much interesting and valuable information on
certain aspects.
In the following chapters an attempt is made to set forth, as
readably as may be, an account of the various devices in which the
labyrinth-idea has been embodied, to indicate where examples may be
found, to give some notion of the speculations which have been made
regarding their origins, and to consider the possibilities of the idea
from the point of view of amusement and recreation.
The earliest labyrinths of which mention is made by the classic writers
are those of Egypt and Crete, and we shall find it convenient to
consider these first of all. We will then notice the other labyrinths
alluded to by the writers of antiquity, and pass on to a consideration
of labyrinthine designs introduced by way of ornament or symbolism
in various objects of later classic art. We shall see that the
labyrinth-idea was adopted and developed by the Christian Church in the
Middle Ages, and will note its progress as a medium of horticultural
embellishment. It will be interesting to examine the mathematical
principles, such as they are, which underlie the construction
or solution of mazes, also to see in what a number of ways these
principles may be applied.
We shall find that our inquiry will bring us into contact with a
greater variety of subjects than one would at first be inclined to
imagine, and that labyrinths and mazes need not by any means be
considered as exclusively a concern of archaeologists and children.
Incidentally we may help to rescue from threatened oblivion a certain
class of native antiquities, small and diminishing in number, but
surely worth sufficient attention to ensure their preservation, namely,
the _turf labyrinths_.
As to the actual origin and primary purpose of these devices we cannot
be dogmatic on the evidence before us, and herein, perhaps, lies a
good deal of their charm. When we can classify and date with precision
any object which is not of a utilitarian nature we relegate it at
once to our mental museum, and a museum is only too apt to become an
_oubliette_. But when there is a considerable margin for speculation,
or, as we usually say, a certain amount of "mystery" in the case, we
are more likely to find pleasure in rehandling it, looking at it from
different points of view and wondering about it. Let us grant, by all
means, that there are quite sufficient unsolved riddles in nature and
life without raising up artificial mysteries. Let us even admit that
when evidence is available (which, by the way, is not the same thing
as _existent_) it is better to settle a question straight away than
to leave it open to further argument. At the same time, let us not be
too hasty in accepting speculations, however shrewd, as proved facts.
Antiquarian books should naturally be as free as possible from actual
misstatements, but they have lost all their charm when they become
collections of bald dogmatic statements or mere descriptive catalogues.
CHAPTER II
THE EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH
(i) _Accounts of the Ancient Writers_
The earliest structure of any kind to which we find the word
_labyrinth_ applied was a huge building situated in the North of Egypt,
a land always noted for its stupendous monuments, and was probably
constructed more than 2000 years before the commencement of the
Christian era.
We live in an age when the use of constructional steel enables the
dreams of the architect to materialise in many ways that would astonish
the builders of old; nevertheless, the modern citizen, whatever his
nationality, can rarely resist a feeling akin to awe when making his
first acquaintance with such works as the Pyramids of Egypt. One can
imagine, then, what a profound effect these massive edifices must have
exerted on the minds of travellers in earlier ages.
We find, as we might expect, many wild exaggerations in individual
descriptions and corresponding discrepancies between the various
accounts of any particular monument, and this is to some extent the
case with regard to the Egyptian Labyrinth.
A fairly detailed and circumstantial account has come down to us from
the Greek writer Herodotus.
Herodotus, who is rightly spoken of as the Father of History, was
born about 484 B.C. and lived about sixty years, of which he spent a
considerable number in travelling about over most of the then known
world. Those who are fortunate enough to be able to read his works in
their original tongue are charmed by their freshness, simplicity, and
harmonious rhythm, but those who look to him for accurate information
on any but contemporary events or matters with which he was personally
acquainted are apt to find a rather too credulous acceptance of the
wonderful. No doubt the poetical instinct in Herodotus was stronger
than the critical spirit of the true historian, but, so far as the
records of his personal observations are concerned, there seems to be
no reason to accuse him of gross exaggeration.
The Labyrinth of Egypt he himself visited, as he tells us in his second
book, and seems to have been considerably impressed by it. After
describing how the Egyptians divided the land into twelve parts, or
_nomes_, and set a king over each, he says that they agreed to combine
together to leave a memorial of themselves. They then constructed the
Labyrinth, just above Lake Moeris, and nearly opposite the city of
crocodiles (Crocodilopolis). "I found it," he says, "greater than words
could tell, for, although the temple at Ephesus and that at Samos are
celebrated works, yet all of the works and buildings of the Greeks
put together would certainly be inferior to this labyrinth as regards
labour and expense." Even the pyramids, he tells us, were surpassed by
the Labyrinth. "It has twelve covered courts, with opposite doors, six
courts on the North side and six on the South, all communicating with
one another and with one wall surrounding them all. There are two sorts
of rooms, one sort above, the other sort below ground, fifteen hundred
of each sort, or three thousand in all." He says that he was allowed
to pass through the upper rooms only, the lower range being strictly
guarded from visitors, as they contained the tombs of the kings who had
built the Labyrinth, also the tombs of the sacred crocodiles.
The upper rooms he describes as being of super-human size, and the
system of passages through the courts, rooms, and colonnades very
intricate and bewildering. The roof of the whole affair, he says, is
of stone and the walls are covered with carvings. Each of the courts
is surrounded by columns of white stone, perfectly joined. Outside
the Labyrinth, and at one corner of it, is a pyramid about 240 feet
in height, with huge figures carved upon it and approached by an
underground passage.
Herodotus expresses even greater admiration, however, for the lake
beside the Labyrinth, which he describes as being of vast size and
artificially constructed, having two pyramids arising from its bed,
each supporting a colossal seated statue. The water for the lake, he
says, is brought from the Nile by a canal.
The Labyrinth and the lake are also described at some length by
another great traveller, Strabo, who lived about four centuries after
Herodotus. He wrote, amongst other works, a Geography of the World in
seventeen volumes, the last of which treats of Egypt and other parts
of Africa. Like Herodotus, he speaks of the Labyrinth from personal
observation. After referring to the lake and the manner in which it
is used as a storage reservoir for the water of the Nile, he proceeds
to describe the Labyrinth, "a work equal to the Pyramids." He says it
is "a large palace composed of as many palaces as there were formerly
_nomes_. There are an equal number of courts, surrounded by columns
and adjoining one another, all in a row and constituting one building,
like a long wall with the courts in front of it. The entrances to the
courts are opposite the wall; in front of these entrances are many long
covered alleys with winding intercommunicating passages, so that a
stranger could not find his way in or out unless with a guide. Each of
these structures is roofed with a single slab of stone, as are also the
covered alleys, no timber or any other material being used." If one
ascends to the roof, he says, one looks over "a field of stone." The
courts were in a line, supported by a row of twenty-seven monolithic
columns, the walls also being constructed of stones of as great a size.
"At the end of the building is the royal tomb, consisting of a square
pyramid and containing the body of _Imandes_."
Strabo says that it was the custom of the twelve _nomes_ of Egypt to
assemble, with their priests and priestesses, each _nome_ in its own
court, for the purpose of sacrificing to the gods and administering
justice in important matters.
He mentions that the inhabitants of the particular _nome_ in the
vicinity worshipped the crocodile which was kept in the lake and
answered to the name of Suchus (Sebek). This animal was apparently
quite tame and used to be presented by visitors with offerings of
bread, flesh, wine, honey, and milk.
In certain parts of his works Strabo speaks rather disrespectfully of
Herodotus as a writer, classing him as a marvel-monger, but it will
be seen that in several important respects these two accounts of the
Egyptian Labyrinth are in fair agreement.
Another writer of about the same period as Strabo, known as Diodorus
the Sicilian, wrote a long, rambling compilation which he called a
"Historical Library" and in which he describes the Egyptian Labyrinth
and Lake Moeris. He says the latter was constructed by King Moeris, who
left a place in the middle where he built himself a sepulchre and two
pyramids--one for himself and one for his queen--surmounted by colossal
seated statues. Diodorus says that the king gave the money resulting
from the sale of the fish caught in the lake, amounting to a silver
talent a day, to his wife "to buy her pins."
A generation or so later the Roman writer Pomponius Mela gives a short
account of this labyrinth, probably at second-hand, and early in the
first century of the Christian era Pliny, in his "Natural History,"
has a good deal to say on the subject. He refers to labyrinths
generally as "the most stupendous works on which mankind has expended
its labours."
Regarding the Egyptian Labyrinth he says, "there exists still, in the
_nome_ of Heracleopolites, a labyrinth first built, it is said, three
thousand six hundred years ago, by King Petesuchis or Tithoës," but
he goes on to quote Herodotus, to the effect that it was built by
twelve kings, the last of whom was Psammetichus, and two other writers
who give the king's name as Moiris and Moteris respectively, "whilst
others, again, assert that it was a building dedicated to the Sun-god,
an opinion which is generally accepted."
He also refers to the fact that the roof was of stone, and notes as a
surprising point that the parts around the entrance were constructed of
Parian marble, whilst the columns of the other parts were of syenite.
"This great mass is so solidly built that the lapse of time has been
quite unable to destroy it, but it has been badly ravaged by the people
of Heracleopolites, who have always detested it. To describe the whole
of it in detail would be quite impossible, as it is divided up into
regions and prefectures, called _nomes_, thirty in number, with a great
palace to each; in addition it must contain temples of all the gods
of Egypt and forty statues of Nemesis in the same number of sacred
shrines, as well as numerous pyramids." He describes it further as
having "banquet halls reached by steep ascents, flights of ninety steps
leading down from the porticoes, porphyritic columns, figures of gods
and hideous monsters, and statues of kings. Some of the palaces are so
made that the opening of a door makes a terrifying sound as of thunder.
Most of the buildings are in total darkness. Outside the labyrinth
there is another great heap of buildings, called the 'Pteron,' under
which are passages leading to other subterranean palaces."
CHAPTER III
THE EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH (_continued_)
(ii) _Accounts of Later Explorers_
A structure which evoked so much wonder and admiration in ancient times
can hardly fail to have aroused the curiosity of later generations, but
no serious attempts to locate it seem to have been made by Europeans
until several centuries later. It was then far too late to observe any
of its glories, for it was all but destroyed in Roman times, and a
village sprang up on its site, largely constructed from its debris.
The Italian traveller Gemelli-Careri, who visited Egypt in 1693, refers
to a subterranean labyrinth which he saw in the neighbourhood of the
Pyramids. In the English version of his account we read: "... the Arabs
conducted us to see a Labyrinth, where the Ancients bury'd Birds. We
went down a narrow Passage into a Room out of which we crept on our
Bellies through a Hole to certain ways where a man may walk well enough
upright. On both sides of these there are Urns, in which the Birds were
bury'd; there is now nothing in them but a little dust. These Ways
are cut out of a _nitrous_ Stone, and run several miles like a City
under ground, which they call a Labyrinth." There is nothing in this
description, however, to suggest that these works had any connection
with the Labyrinth of the ancients.
In 1700 Paul Lucas, the Antiquary to Louis XIV, went on a voyage to
Egypt, and, in the book in which he subsequently published the account
of his travels, gives us some idea of the state of the remains in his
time, but his account is very rambling and unreliable. Fig. 1 is a view
which he gives of part of the ruins of the alleged labyrinth.
Lucas states that an old Arab who accompanied his party professed to
have explored the interior of the ruins many years before, and to have
penetrated into its subterranean passages to a large chamber surrounded
by several niches, "like little shops," whence endless alleys and
other rooms branched off. By the time of Lucas's visit, however, these
passages could not be traced, and he concluded that they had become
blocked up by debris.
The next explorer to visit the spot seems to have been Dr. Richard
Pococke, whose "Description of the East" appeared in 1743. "We observed
at a great distance," he says, "the temple of the Labyrinth, and being
about a league from it, I observed several heaps as of ruins, covered
with sand, and many stones all round as if there had been some great
building there: they call it the town of Caroon (Bellet Caroon). It
seemed to have been of a considerable breadth from east to west, and
the buildings extended on each side towards the north to the Lake
Moeris and the temple. This without doubt is the spot of the famous
Labyrinth which Herodotus says was built by the twelve kings of Egypt."
He describes what he takes to be the pyramid of the Labyrinth as a
building about 165 feet long by 80 broad, very much ruined, and says it
is called the "Castle of Caroon."
The neighbourhood was also explored by the archaeologists who
accompanied that remarkable expedition sent out by Napoleon at the end
of the eighteenth century, and one of them, Jomard, believed that he
had discovered the ruins of the Labyrinth.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Egyptian Labyrinth. Portion of Ruins, _circ._
1700. (_Paul Lucas_)]
In 1843 a Prussian expedition, under K. R. Lepsius, carried out
considerable excavations in the locality and claimed to have
established the actual site of the Labyrinth, attaching great
importance to a series of brick chambers which they unearthed. The data
furnished by this party, however, were not altogether of a convincing
character, and it was felt that further evidence was required before
their conclusions could be accepted.
G. M. Ebers, a pupil of Lepsius, and one who did much to popularise the
study of Egyptology by a series of novels, said that, if one climbed
the pyramid hard by, one could see that the ruins of the Labyrinth had
a horseshoe shape, but that was all.
The actual site of the Egyptian Labyrinth was finally identified by
Professor Flinders Petrie in 1888. He found that the brick chambers
which Lepsius took to be part of the Labyrinth were only remains of
the Roman town built by its destroyers, the Labyrinth itself being so
thoroughly demolished that only a great bed of fragments remained. Even
from this dreary waste of stone chips, however, a few items of interest
were discovered, including scattered bits of foundations, a great well,
two door-jambs--one to the north and one to the south--two granite
shrines and part of another, several fragments of statues and a large
granite seated figure of the king who is now generally recognised to
have been the builder of the Labyrinth, namely Amenemhat (or Amenemhe)
III of the XIIth Dynasty (also known as Lampares), who reigned about
twenty-three centuries B.C. Fig. 2, which, like the diagram shown in
Fig. 4, is reproduced by the kind permission of Professor Petrie from
his book "The Labyrinth, Gerzeh and Mazghuneh" (1912), represents one
of the shrines dedicated to the founder. Sufficient of the original
foundations remained to enable the size and orientation of the building
to be roughly determined.
The Labyrinth must have covered an area of about 1000 feet from east to
west by 800 feet from north to south, and was situated to the east of
Lake Moeris, opposite the ancient town of Arsinoë (Crocodilopolis),
and just to the south of the pyramid of Hawara, in the district known
nowadays as the Fayûm.
The mummified remains of the builder of the Labyrinth, King Amenemhat
III, and of his daughter Sebekneferu, have been discovered in this
pyramid, which is symmetrical about the same N.-S. meridian as the
Labyrinth.
Professor Petrie reviewed all that the classic writers had reported
concerning the Labyrinth, and concluded that, in spite of their
differences, each had contributed some item of value. The discrepancies
between the descriptions of Herodotus and Strabo he attributes to the
probable decay or destruction of the upper storey in the intervening
centuries.
Many attempts have been made to visualise the Labyrinth as it
existed in the time of Herodotus. Fig. 3 shows, in plan, one such
reconstruction, according to the Italian archaeologist Canina. The
actual plan of the Labyrinth would appear to have differed from this in
many respects, judging by the indications found by Professor Petrie.
The latter drew up a tentative restoration based upon the descriptions
of Herodotus and Strabo so far as these tallied with the remains
discovered by him.
He suggests that the shrines which he found formed part of a series
of nine, ranged along the foot of the pyramid, each attached to a
columned court, the whole series of courts opening opposite a series of
twenty-seven columns arranged down the length of a great hall running
east and west; on the other side of this hall would be another series
of columned courts, six in number and larger than the others, separated
by another long hall from a further series of six (Fig. 4).
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Egyptian Labyrinth. Shrine of Amenemhat III.
(_Flinders Petrie_)]
In spite of the scantiness of the present remains and the discrepancies
between the various reports that have reached us from ancient times, we
can at least be reasonably certain that this, the earliest structure
to which the term "labyrinth" λαβύρινθος [Greek: labyrinthos] is
known to have been applied, did actually exist; that it was of the
nature of a stupendous architectural monument, that it is of great
antiquity--having been built over 4000 years ago at any rate--and that
its site is definitely known.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Egyptian Labyrinth. Restored Plan. (_Canina._)]
Its original object is still a matter of conjecture. It is quite
possible that it was used as a meeting-place for the nomes, which would
have been about twenty-two in number at the time of the XIIth Dynasty,
but it is perhaps more probable that it was intended as a sepulchral
monument. In any case it is plain, from the fragments of various gods
and goddesses found on the site, that it was a centre of worship of a
great variety of deities.
From an almost illegible inscription on a great weather-beaten block of
granite, deciphered, with great difficulty, as a dedication by a King
Ptolemy to a Queen Cleopatra, Professor Petrie concluded that as late
as the beginning of the second century B.C. the building was still in
royal care, but not very long afterwards it was considerably despoiled.
Whatever may have been its original object, it afforded several
generations the advantages of a most convenient stone-quarry.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Egyptian Labyrinth. Restored Plan of Western
Half. (_Flinders Petrie._)]
CHAPTER IV
THE CRETAN LABYRINTH
(i) _The Story of Theseus and the Minotaur_
Charles Kingsley in "The Heroes" and Nathaniel Hawthorne in "Tanglewood
Tales" have familiarised most English-speaking people with the story of
the exploits of Theseus, and doubtless most folk have some acquaintance
with the first volume of Plutarch's "Lives," but it will not be out of
place here to recall the portions of the legend which are associated
with our particular theme, the parts, that is to say, which concern the
Labyrinth of Crete. In doing so we will follow the version given by
Plutarch.
This Greco-Roman historian flourished in the latter half of the first
century of our era. His information as to the deeds of Theseus, already
for many centuries a staple ingredient in popular legendry, was drawn
from the accounts of the early Greek writers Bacchylides (fifth century
B.C.), Cleidemus (circ. 420-350 B.C.), Philochorus (circ. 306-260
B.C.), and others.
The Cretan exploit was perhaps the most romantic of the long series of
heroic acts attributed to Theseus. Let us briefly recall it.
Aegeus, the father of Theseus, was King of Athens. At that time
there reigned at Knossos, in Crete, a monarch called Minos, who held
sway over what was then the most powerful maritime state in the
Mediterranean. Minos had a son named Androgeos, who, during his travels
in Attica, was treacherously set upon and slain, or so his father
was informed. In consequence of this Minos imposed a penalty on the
Athenians in the form of a tribute to be paid once every nine years,
such tribute to consist of seven youths and seven maidens, who were to
be shipped to Knossos at the appointed periods.
There was at the court of Minos an exceedingly clever and renowned
artificer or engineer, Daedalus by name, to whom all sorts of
miraculous inventions are ascribed. This Daedalus had devised an
ingenious structure, the "Labyrinth," so contrived that if anybody were
placed therein he would find it practically impossible to discover the
exit without a guide.
The Labyrinth was designed as a dwelling for, or at any rate was
inhabited by, a hideous and cruel being called the Minotaur, a
monstrous offspring of Queen Pasiphaë, wife of Minos. The Minotaur
is described as being half man and half bull, or a man with a bull's
head, a ferocious creature that destroyed any unfortunate human beings
who might come within its power. According to report, the youths and
maidens of the Athenian tribute were periodically, one by one, thrust
into the Labyrinth, where, after futile wanderings in the endeavour to
find an exit, they were finally caught and slain by the Minotaur.
When Theseus arrived at the court of Aegeus, having been brought up
hitherto by his mother in a distant seclusion, he was distressed to
find that his father's joy in the reunion was overcast by a deepening
sadness. On inquiring the reason for this, he learned of the vindictive
tribute laid upon the kingdom, and that the time for the third payment
was approaching.
"Let me make one of the fourteen," said the valiant youth. "I will find
a way to slay this Minotaur, and then there will be no further need for
the tribute."
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Cretan Labyrinth. (_Florentine Picture
Chronicle._)]
After various attempts to dissuade him, Aegeus at length consented, but
stipulated that if Theseus were successful in his design the tribute
ship should, on its return voyage, hoist a white sail in place of the
black one which it customarily bore.
In due course Theseus came to Knossos, where, shortly after his
arrival, he attracted the attention of Ariadne, the fair-haired
daughter of Minos. Youth and love conspired against age and rancour,
and the fair damsel arranged to provide the hero with a clue of thread
and a sword before he was cast into the Labyrinth. One end of this
thread was to be fastened at the entrance and the rest unrolled as he
advanced.
Theseus followed his instructions, met the Minotaur in its lair and,
after a terrific combat, overcame and slew it, after which he retraced
his steps by means of the thread and made his escape from the Labyrinth.
By some means or other he contrived to liberate the other prisoners and
to obtain possession of the tribute ship. Then, with the fair Ariadne
on board, they set sail for Athens.
They do not appear to have been too eager to reach their destination,
however, for the party found time to celebrate their escape with dance
and song on the islands _en route_. It is said that on the island
of Delos they performed a peculiar dance called the _Geranos_, or
"Crane Dance," in which they went through the motions of threading the
Labyrinth, and that this dance was perpetuated by the natives of that
island until fairly recent times.
Theseus seems to have marred his home-coming by two little displays of
thoughtlessness that might be considered reprehensible in anybody but
a Greek hero. In the first place, he left fair Ariadne behind on the
island of Naxos; secondly, he entirely overlooked his father's request
concerning the change of sail, with the result that poor old Aegeus,
on the look-out for the returning ship, saw the black sail in the
distance, concluded that his son had failed in his encounter with the
Minotaur, threw himself into the sea and was drowned. Hence that sea
was called the Aegean, and is so called to this day.
In Fig. 5 we reproduce an early Italian drawing in which the various
incidents in the story are seen simultaneously. This picture is one
of a remarkable series, attributed to Baccio Baldini and known as the
Florentine Picture Chronicle. The collection was for many years the
property of John Ruskin, but is now jealously treasured by the British
Museum. A contemporary engraving, of the school of Finiguerra, seems to
be based on this picture (Fig. 6).
There are many versions of the legend, some of them greatly at variance
with others. For instance, Philochorus, an eminent writer on the
antiquities of Athens, gives in his "Atthis" a very rationalistic
account of the affair, stating that the Labyrinth was nothing but a
dungeon where Minos imprisoned the Athenian youths until such time as
they were given as prizes to the victors in the sports that were held
in honour of his murdered son. He held also that the monster was simply
a military officer, whose brutal disposition, in conjunction with his
name, Tauros, may have given rise to the Minotaur myth.
The Cretan poet Epimenides, who lived in the sixth century B.C., says
that Theseus was aided in his escape from the dark Labyrinth by means
of the light radiated by a crown of blazing gems and gold which Bacchus
gave to Ariadne.
Aristotle, according to Plutarch, stated in a work which has not come
down to us his belief that the Athenian youths were not put to death
by Minos but were retained as slaves. Plutarch, moreover, deplores the
abuse which Greek tradition had heaped upon the name of Minos, pointing
out that Homer and Hesiod had referred to him in very honourable terms,
and that he was reputed to have laid down the principles of justice.
According to the classic faith, he was born of Zeus, the supreme God of
the Greeks, and Europa, daughter of man, both marriage and birth taking
place in the Dictaean Cave, not far from Knossos. He received the laws,
like another Moses, direct from God, and after administering them
during his life on earth continued to do so in the underworld after his
death.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Cretan Labyrinth. (Italian Engraving; School of
_Finiguerra._)]
The probability is, as Professor Murray has suggested, that Minos was
a general name, like "Pharaoh" in Egypt, or "Caesar" in Rome, bestowed
upon each of a number of Cretan kings of a certain type. A mark either
of the respect in which the name was held or of the colonising power of
the monarch or monarchs in question is seen in the application of the
name Minoa to several towns and villages scattered along the northern
shores of the eastern Mediterranean.
The name Daedalus has likewise been thought by some to have been
applied indiscriminately to various artificers and inventors of
unusual ingenuity. The principal feats associated with this name
are, in addition to the planning of the Labyrinth, the construction
of a _Choros_, or dancing-place, for Ariadne, the modelling of a
great hollow cow for Pasiphaë, wife of Minos, in order that she might
interview the great white bull for which she had conceived an unnatural
affection (the outcome being, in the words of Euripides, "A form
commingled, and a monstrous birth, half man, half bull, in twofold
shape combined"), and the invention of wings, wherewith Daedalus
escaped from the Labyrinth when imprisoned there by Minos for his share
in the Pasiphaë episode. Daedalus was also credited with the invention
of the auger, the plumb-line and other tools, and of masts and sails
for ships.
The Theseus-Minotaur incident has been often celebrated in ancient
and mediaeval art, instances of which we shall later have occasion
to mention. Modern artists, also, have not disdained the theme; a
particularly fine example is the colossal marble group by Canova
(1819), now at the Museum of Art History at Vienna, formerly in the
Theseus Temple in the Volksgarten.
The question naturally arises: Was there actually such a thing as the
Labyrinth, and, if so, where was it and what was its nature?
CHAPTER V
THE CRETAN LABYRINTH (_continued_)
(ii) _The Caverns of Gortyna_
According to the Romano-Greek writer Apollodorus,[1] whose
"Bibliotheke" consisted of a history of the world from the fall of
Troy onwards, Daedalus built the Labyrinth at Knossos for King Minos
on the lines of the Egyptian Labyrinth, but of only one-hundredth part
of the magnitude of the latter. This statement, which was repeated
by various other ancient writers such as Pliny and Diodorus, caused
many subsequent inquirers to look for evidence in Crete of a building
similar to, though smaller than, that described by Herodotus and Strabo.
[1] Often erroneously alluded to as "the Athenian Grammarian."
Nothing corresponding to such a description appeared to exist, but at
Gortyna, on the south side of Crete, there was a remarkable series of
winding passages, opening on the side of Mount Ida. Some authors of
antiquity, such as the Roman poets Catullus and Claudian, held the
opinion that this cavern, or one of the many other caves or quarries
in Crete, was the real Labyrinth, and this view has been largely
entertained in recent times, right up to the beginning of the present
century.
The first modern traveller of note to explore the cavern was the French
botanist, G. P. de Tournefort, who spent three years, from 1700 to
1702, travelling about Asia Minor and the Levant.
Tournefort's book, as well as being a mine of information on various
subjects, makes delightful reading, whether in the original French or
in John Ozell's English translation of 1718, from which we quote.
"This famous place," he says, referring to the Labyrinth, which he
visited on July 1, 1700, "is a subterranean Passage in manner of a
Street, which by a thousand Intricacies and Windings, as it were by
mere Chance, and without the least Regularity, pervades the whole
Cavity or Inside of a little Hill at the foot of Mount Ida, southwards,
three miles from Gortyna. The Entrance into this Labyrinth is by a
natural Opening, seven or eight Paces broad, but so low that even a
middle-siz'd Man can't pass through without stooping.
"The Flooring of this Entrance is very rugged and unequal; the Ceiling
flat and even, terminated by divers Beds of Stone, laid horizontally
one upon another.
"The first thing you come at is a kind of Cavern exceeding rustick,
and gently sloping: in this there is nothing extraordinary, but as you
move forward the place is perfectly surprizing; nothing but Turnings
and crooked By-ways. The principal Alley, which is less perplexing
than the rest, in length about 1200 Paces, leads to the further end
of the Labyrinth, and concludes in two large beautiful Apartments,
where Strangers rest themselves with pleasure. Tho' this Alley divides
itself, at its Extremity, into two or three Branches, yet the dangerous
part of the Labyrinth is not there, but rather at its Entrance, about
some thirty paces from the Cavern on the left hand. If a Man strikes
into any other Path, after he has gone a good way, he is so bewildered
among a thousand Twistings, Twinings, Sinuosities, Crinkle-Crankles and
Turn-again Lanes, that he could scarce ever get out again without the
utmost danger of being lost."
He refers to various inscriptions in charcoal, mostly names of former
visitors, and notes various dates ranging from 1444 to 1699. "We too,"
he says, "wrote the Year of the Lord 1700 in three different places,
with a black stone." "After a thorow Examination of the Structure
of this Labyrinth we all concurred in Opinion, that it could never
have been what _Belonius_ and some other of the Moderns have fancy'd;
namely, an antient Quarry, out of which were dug the Stones that built
the Towns of Gortyna and Gnossus. Is it likely that they would go
for Stone above a thousand paces deep, into a place so full of odd
Turnings?... Again, how could they draw these Stones through a place
so pinch'd in, that we were forc'd to crawl our way out for above a
hundred paces together? Besides, the Mountain is so craggy and full
of Precipices that we had all the difficulty in the World to ride up
it.... It is likewise observable, that the Stone of this Labyrinth has
neither a good Hue nor a competent Hardness; it is downright dingy, and
resembling that of the Mountains near which Gortyna stands.
"... It is therefore much more probable, that the Labyrinth is a
natural Cavity, which in times past some body out of curiosity took
a fancy to try what they could make of, by widening most of those
Passages that were too much straitened.... Doubtless some Shepherds
having discovered these subterraneous Conduits, gave occasion to more
considerable People to turn it into this marvellous Maze to serve for
an Asylum in the Civil Wars or to skreen themselves from the Fury of a
Tyrannical Government: at present it is only a Retreat for Bats and the
like."
Tournefort stayed for a while with an ignorant priest, "who would
have persuaded us in his balderdash Italian that there was an ancient
Prophecy wrote on the Walls of the Labyrinth importing that the Czar
of Muscovy was very soon to be Master of the Ottoman Empire and
deliver the Greeks from the Slavery of the Turks." He adds: "Whatever
Scrawlings are made upon the Walls of the Labyrinth by Travellers,
these Simpletons swallow down for Prophecies." He mentions also
a labyrinth at Candia, but says it must not be confused with the
Labyrinth of tradition, "which, from antique Medals, appears to have
been in the town of Gnossus."
Dr. Richard Pococke, to whose description of the Egyptian Labyrinth
we referred in Chapter III, paid a visit to Gortyna about forty years
after Tournefort. He says that the "labyrinth" was shown to him, but
that it was evidently nothing more than the quarry out of which the
town was built. He points out that the real Labyrinth was at Knossos
and that nothing was left of it in Pliny's time.
Another French traveller, C. E. Savary, visited the spot about 1788.
He came to the conclusion that this was the Labyrinth of the Minotaur,
but regarded it as something distinct from that built by Daedalus at
Knossos.
A very interesting account of the Gortyna cavern is that contained in
the Journal of C. R. Cockerell, R.A.,[2] who travelled in Southern
Europe and the Levant during the years 1810 to 1817. He and his party
entered the "labyrinth" by an inconspicuous hole in the rock in a steep
part of the hill (Mount Ida) and found themselves in an intricately
winding passage. They had taken the precaution to bring with them a
great length of string wound upon two sticks, and it was fortunate that
they did so, for "the windings," says Cockerell, "bewildered us at
once, and, my compass being broken, I was quite ignorant as to where I
was. The clearly intentional intricacy and apparently endless number
of galleries impressed me with a sense of horror and fascination I
cannot describe. At every ten steps one was arrested, and had to turn
to right or left, sometimes to choose one of three or four roads.
What if one should lose the clue!" He relates how a poor lunatic had
insisted on accompanying them all the way from Candia and following
them into the cavern. This man, together with a boy who had a lantern,
wandered off and caused the rest of the party--except some Turks, who
philosophically remarked that God takes care of madmen--to feel much
alarm on their account. They were, however, discovered again an hour
later, the boy half dead with fright.
[2] Edited and published by his son, S. P. Cockerell, in 1903.
Chambers opened off from the passages, and contained much evidence of
former visitors, in the shape of names scratched on the walls, such as
"Spinola," "Hawkins, 1794," "Fiott," and many of a Jewish character.
All of the passage ends were infested with bats, which rose in
thousands when one of the party fired a pistol. Lichens grew here and
there, and in one place arose a spring. There were signs of metallic
substances in the rock, but not sufficient, thought Cockerell, to
warrant the supposition that the place was a mine. The stone was sandy,
stratified and easily cut, and the air was dry. The surface of the rock
appeared to have been prepared with a chisel.
The passage was 8 or 10 feet wide, and from 4 to 10 feet high; in
many places it had fallen in. Cockerell concluded that the excavation
was probably made in the days of Minos as a storehouse for corn and
valuables. He mentions that he was informed by natives that the cavern
extended right through the mountain and was three miles in length; also
that a sow once wandered in and emerged some years later with a litter
of pigs!
About fifty years after Cockerell's visit, the cavern was explored
by Capt. T. A. B. Spratt, R.N., who, in his "Travels and Researches
in Crete" (1865), tells us that the Cretans "have long since walled
and stopped up its inner and unknown extremes, so as not to be lost
in its inner intricacies." He discusses the probable location of the
traditional Labyrinth and concludes that probably the latter is to
be found in some similar cavern in the neighbourhood of Knossos. He
mentions that there is, in fact, an excavation in the side of the ridge
overlooking Knossos which the natives state to be the entrance to
extensive catacombs, but that it is choked up by the falling in of its
sides.
He reproduces a sketch by Sieber of the Gortyna Cavern (Fig. 7);
this, he says, took the artist three days to make. Capt. Spratt, by
the way, points out that the meander pattern, which is so common a
feature of Greek ornament, and is associated by some writers with the
origin of the labyrinth idea, may very well have been derived from
the square-spiral trenches which are commonly constructed by Eastern
gardeners for irrigational purposes. (See also Chapter VIII.)
Whatever the original purpose and function of the Gortyna Cavern may
have been, it was certainly a "labyrinth" in the extended sense, and no
doubt the classic writers themselves would have had no hesitation in
admitting the use of that word to describe it, but, as we shall see,
discoveries of recent years have considerably diminished its claim to
be considered as the original Labyrinth of the Minotaur.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Cavern of Gortyna. (_Sieber_)]
CHAPTER VI
THE CRETAN LABYRINTH (_continued_)
(iii) _Knossos_
A few miles to the north-east of Gortyna, and not far south of the
north coast town of Candia, lay, at the base of the hill of Kephala, a
few ruined walls indicating the site of the ancient city of Knossos.
These walls consisted of large blocks of gypsum and bore curious
engraved marks.
For many years Dr. A. J. Evans (now Sir Arthur Evans) had been
convinced that excavation of this site would probably bring to
light evidence of a system of writing which might be of interest in
connection with the origin of the Greek system, but it was not until
the year 1900 that he finally obtained a concession enabling him to
explore the spot. The resulting discoveries were of such an astonishing
nature, and of such absorbing interest, that one is greatly tempted to
digress and to mention them in some detail. However, they have been
summarised and discussed by many able writers (see Appendix III, ii.),
and it must suffice here to refer simply to the main points in which
they bear upon the story of the Labyrinth.
After about two months' work, with a staff of from 80 to 150 men, about
two acres of the remains of a great prehistoric building, showing
strong evidence of having been destroyed by fire, were uncovered,
and later excavations showed that it was yet more extensive, covering
altogether about five acres. Not only this palace, but the multitude
of objects found within it, or associated with it, were of surpassing
importance in their bearing on the nature of the ancient civilisation
of which they demonstrated the existence, and to which Sir A. Evans has
given the name "Minoan." Vast quantities of pottery of widely different
designs and workmanship, written tablets, wall paintings--often
of great beauty--reliefs, and sculptured figures, shrines, seals,
jewellery, a royal gaming-board, and even a throne, were discovered as
the work went on, and eventually the whole area was excavated down to
the virgin rock, remains of an earlier and smaller palace being found
beneath the other, and below this again a great thickness of deposits
containing many remains of neolithic man.
By means of occasional discoveries of imported Egyptian objects, by
comparison of Minoan pottery and paintings with some found in Egyptian
tombs, and by various other indications, it was possible to date the
upper remains, say from 1580 B.C. onwards, fairly nearly. The dating
of the older remains is much more difficult, chiefly because, although
they can often be equated with certain periods of Egyptian culture, the
chronology of the latter admits of widely different views, but it seems
safe to say that the earliest traces of the Minoan civilisation date
from quite 3000 years B.C., and possibly many centuries before that.
The earlier palace and town seem to have been built before 2000 B.C.
and destroyed a few centuries after that date. The later palace was
begun somewhere in the eighteenth or nineteenth century B.C., was
elaborated in succeeding centuries, and was sacked and burned, just as
it had attained the height of its glory, about 1400 B.C.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Double Axe and Stepped Steatite Socket from
Dictaean Cave. (Psychro)
(From _Archæologia_, by kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries,
and Sir Arthur Evans)]
The discovery of this palace was one of the first-class "finds" of
archaeology. Those who based their estimates of the architectural
capabilities of ancient Crete on their knowledge of the development of
the builder's art in classic Greece, a millennium later, were amazed to
find that in many respects the product of the older civilisation was
superior.
To mention but a few of the most remarkable facts about the palace,
it was of _several storeys_, grouped around a central court and
pierced by "light-wells"; it contained several staircases, one of them
at least being of a very imposing character and composed of _many
flights_. Moreover, it possessed a quite modern system of drainage,
with _jointed underground pipes_ and with inspection manholes to the
main drains. Along the west side of the basement ran a long straight
gallery flanked by a series of great storage-rooms or magazines. It
was near one end of this gallery that Dr. Evans discovered a store of
tablets with pictographic inscriptions, in proof of his suspicion that
the Phoenician script was not the original parent of European written
language.
Not far from this spot was the room containing the throne (or
Worshipful Master's Chair, as the masonic Dr. Churchward prefers to
call it) which may actually have been occupied by King Minos.
A definite distinction can be recognised between state and domestic
apartments and subsidiary offices and workshops.
To the north-west of the palace was a "stepped theatral area"
(_orchestra_), which suggests the "dancing ground" of Ariadne.
From the point of view of our subject, however, the most interesting
features were the frequent occurrence of the sign of the double axe,
which was obviously an object of great importance in Minoan worship,
and the profusion of evidence concerning the cult of the bull. On the
fallen plaster of one of the walls of a corridor, too, was a repeated
meander pattern, painted in red on a white ground, very suggestive of a
sort of maze (Fig. 8).
The significance of the axe symbol from our point of view lies in its
bearing on the derivation of the word "labyrinth," a question that will
be referred to in rather more detail in a later chapter.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Knossos. Maze-pattern on Wall of Palace. (After
_Evans._)]
[Illustration: Fig. 11. Knossos. View of Cist, showing shape of Double
Axe. (From _Archæologia_, by kind permission of the Society of
Antiquaries and Sir Arthur Evans.)]
One room of the palace, a stately hall about 80 ft. in length by 26
ft. in breadth, traversed by a row of square-sectioned pillars, has
been named by its discoverer "the Hall of the Double Axes," from the
frequent occurrence of this symbol therein. Not only does the sacred
axe occur as a more or less crude engraving on the stone blocks
composing certain pillars in the palace, but little models of it
were found associated with an altar, and, in the Dictaean cave, some
miles distant, several bronze specimens of the axe were discovered in
circumstances which show that they were votive offerings. Sometimes the
sacred symbol was set up on a socketed pedestal (Fig. 9). Moreover,
in more recent excavations a curious "tomb" was found (Figs. 10 and 11)
which was double-axe shaped in plan and was evidently the repository of
a giant emblem (Fig. 12. See plate, p. 42).
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Knossos. Plan of Tomb of Double Axes, showing
position in which relics were found.
(_From "Archaeologia," by kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries
and Sir Arthur Evans._)]
Long before Dr. Evans' excavations in Crete the great German
archaeologist Schliemann, during his researches at Mycenae on the
mainland, unearthed from one of the graves an ox-head of gold plate,
with a double axe between the upright horns. The double axe was also
the sign of the Zeus worshipped at Labraunda in Caria, a country to the
north-east of Crete, on the mainland of Asia Minor, where the implement
was known as the _labrys_.
The cult of the bull was also much in evidence in the palace remains.
Schliemann, in excavating the site of Tiryns in 1884, came across an
extraordinary wall-painting depicting a man holding one horn of a great
bull whilst he leaps over its back, the animal meanwhile charging at
full speed. Several examples of such scenes have since been discovered,
painted upon walls, engraved on gems, or stamped on seal-impressions.
Amongst the debris of one of the rooms in the palace at Knossos was
found a painting of a scene in which two girls are engaged in dodging
the charge of a bull, whilst a boy, who has evidently just left hold of
its horns, turns a somersault over its back.
Near the main north entrance to the palace was brought to light a large
plaster relief of a bull's head, no doubt originally forming part of
the complete beast. This relief was a masterpiece of Minoan art. It was
of life-size and beautifully coloured, and particular attention had
been given to the modelling and colour of the eye, the fierce stare of
which, in conjunction with the open mouth, conveys a fine effect of
frenzied excitement.
These are only a few examples, amongst many, which go to demonstrate
that the sport of "bull-leaping"--or ταυροκαθαψια [Greek:
taurokathapsia], as it was called by the Greeks--was beloved of the
Minoans and was probably practised in the precincts of the palace.
In the light of these discoveries Dr. Evans concludes that the palace
of Knossos was the Labyrinth, or House of the Labrys, which gave rise
to the classic legend, the idea of the Minotaur originating in the
practice of training captives to participate in the dangerous sport
of bull-leaping. (_Tauros_ = bull, hence _Minotaur_ = Bull of Minos.)
We will refer further to the etymology of "labyrinth" in a later
chapter. The palace was certainly of sufficient complexity to render
it difficult for the uninitiated to find their way about it, but the
plan of its remains exhibits no resemblance to a designed labyrinth of
the conventional type. There is, however, a suggestion of the latter in
the meander pattern painted on one of the walls, to which reference has
been made above. The notion as to the Labyrinth having been a prison
from which escape was impossible may also have some connection with
two deep pits beneath the palace, whose function was possibly that of
dungeons for prisoners.
In considering the origin of the legend, we must remember that a period
of several centuries elapsed between the destruction of the Knossian
buildings and the first written account of the Labyrinth, and must take
into account the probability that the people who in later ages became
the dominant race in Crete would be likely to make ample use of their
imagination in formulating an explanation of the vast and complicated
ruins of the burnt city, with their mysterious frescoes and enigmatic
symbols.
It may also be borne in mind that the excavations in Crete have by
no means reached a final stage, and that, although no architectural
remains of a plan conforming to the usual conception of a formal
labyrinth are yet forthcoming, there is a possibility that something of
the kind may yet turn up, though indeed the chance seems very remote.
Even as this book is going to press appears an article in _The Times_
by Sir Arthur Evans announcing yet further enthralling discoveries; he
finds abundant signs of a great earthquake, causing ruin over the whole
Knossian area, about 1600 B.C., also evidence--including portable
altars and huge ox-skulls--indicating an expiatory sacrifice recalling
Homer's words, "in bulls doth the Earthshaker delight"; and finally, on
a floor-level about thirty feet down, the opening of an artificial cave
with three rough steps leading down to what was apparently the lair of
some great beast. "But here, perhaps," says Sir Arthur, "it is better
for imagination to draw rein."
CHAPTER VII
THE ETRUSCAN OR ITALIAN LABYRINTH
In addition to the Egyptian and Cretan labyrinths, a few other
structures are referred to as being in the same category, but not until
a fairly late period.
Pliny (died A.D. 79) mentions one built by Smilis of Aegina, after the
Egyptian model, on the island of Lemnos, and says that it was renowned
for the beauty of its 150 columns and that remains of it existed in
his time. He also mentions one at Samos, said to have been built by
Theodorus, and says that "all of these buildings are covered with
arched roofs of polished stone." No other details concerning these
edifices have come down to us, but Pliny quotes from Varro (116-27
B.C.) a detailed description of a very extraordinary tomb at Clusium
(the modern Chiusi), said to be that of the great Etruscan general
Lars Porsena. This is the only Etruscan tomb described by the ancient
writers, and is mentioned by Pliny solely because it was alleged to
contain a subterranean labyrinth. It must have been a most elaborate,
not to say extravagant, monument. Even Pliny feels some qualms about
accepting responsibility for the description, and therefore makes it
clear that he is simply quoting from information received.
"It is but right that I should mention it," he says, "in order to show
that the vanity displayed by foreign princes, great though it is, has
been surpassed. But in view of the exceedingly fabulous nature of the
story I shall use the words given by M. Varro himself in his account of
it: 'Porsena was buried below the city of Clusium in the place where
he had built a square monument of dressed stones. Each side was three
hundred feet in length and fifty in height, and beneath the base there
was an inextricable labyrinth, into which, if anybody entered without a
clue of thread, he could never discover his way out. Above this square
building there stand five pyramids, one at each corner and one in the
centre, seventy-five feet broad at the base and one hundred and fifty
feet high. These pyramids so taper in shape that upon the top of all of
them together there is supported a brazen globe, and upon that again
a petasus[3] from which bells are suspended by chains. These make a
tinkling sound when blown about by the wind, as was done in bygone
times at Dodona. Upon this globe there are four more pyramids, each a
hundred feet in height, and above them is a platform on which are five
more pyramids.' The height of the latter, Varro is ashamed to add, but,
according to the Etruscan stories, it was equal to that of the rest of
the building. What utter madness is this, to attempt to seek glory at
a great cost which can never be of use to anyone; not to mention the
drain upon the resources of the country. And all to the end that the
artist may receive the greater share of the praise!"
[3] A sort of low-crowned round hat with a broad brim.
There have been many discussions as to the possibility of a monument
of this nature having existed, and various reconstructions have been
attempted, notably one (Fig. 13), based on Varro's account, by a
celebrated French scholar of a century ago, M. Quatremère de Quincy.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Tomb of Lars Porsena at Clusium.
Conjectural restoration by Quatremère de Quincy after Varro's
description.]
One enthusiast, a certain Father Angelo Cortenovis, even wrote a
treatise to prove that the whole contrivance was nothing more nor less
than a huge electrical machine!
Most writers on the subject have been inclined to look upon Varro's
description as at best a gross exaggeration, but Professor Müller gave
it as his opinion that the labyrinth described did actually exist,
and that the upper part, though no doubt highly embellished in the
description, was not the mere offspring of fancy. He thought it quite
probable that there was a square basement of regular masonry supporting
five pyramids as recounted by Varro, but that the latter described the
upper part from hearsay. He drew attention to the fact that a tomb
somewhat of this nature is still in existence on the Appian Way at
Albano, the pyramids being represented in this case by cones. It is
commonly called the Tomb of the Horatii and Curiatii.
In the early part of last century a British traveller, G. Dennis, made
a study of the antiquities of Etruria and gave particular attention to
the remarkable rock-cut labyrinths of which that province furnishes
several examples.
He pointed out that the possession of a labyrinth was the
distinguishing feature of Porsena's tomb which alone caused Pliny to
mention it. The expression "Sub Clusio" used by Pliny, he says, led
subsequent writers to infer that the subterranean passages beneath
Chiusi were intended, but such an arrangement would be at variance
with the general sepulchral practice of the Etruscans, and the tomb of
Porsena must be looked for outside the city walls. Dennis then goes on
to describe the great cemetery that had recently been discovered in
the hill called Poggio Gajella, about three miles to the north-east
of Chiusi. His sketch of the principal "storey" of this labyrinthine
excavation is shown in Fig. 14.
Here again we may note that the design of the passages, although
perhaps puzzling to a stranger, especially with imperfect illumination,
in no respect approaches the traditional "labyrinth" pattern. That
the conventional form was not unknown to the Etruscans, however, is
shown by the occurrence of a design of this type on a vase found at
Tragliatella which we shall mention later.
It is, of course, possible that the tomb of Porsena was erected on the
hill above this labyrinth, but we have not much evidence on the point.
If the tomb possessed a labyrinth, no doubt the latter would have been
something of this type. Dennis also mentions various other labyrinths
of this nature in Etruria--for example, one near Volterra, "a long
passage cut in the rock, six feet wide but only three high, so that you
must travel on all-fours. From time to time the passage widens into
chambers, yet not high enough to permit you to stand upright, or it
meets the passages of similar character opening in various directions
and extending into the heart of the hill, how far no one can say. In
short, this is a perfect labyrinth in which, without a clue, one might
very soon be lost."
He also mentions one at San Pietro, Toscanella, "in the cliffs below
the Madonna dell' Olivo, about half a mile from the town. Here a long,
sewer-like passage leads into a spacious chamber of irregular form,
with two massive columns supporting its ceiling and a rude pilaster on
the wall behind. But the peculiarity of the tomb lies in a _cuniculus_
or passage cut in the rock, just large enough for a man to creep
through on all-fours, which, entering the wall on one side after a long
gyration and sundry branchings, now blocked with earth, opens in the
opposite wall of the tomb."
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Poggio Cajella. Labyrinthine Cemetery. (Dennis)]
These Etruscan labyrinths were all of a sepulchral character, and one
is naturally reminded of the catacombs of Rome, Paris, and Naples, to
which, however, the term "labyrinth" is not customarily applied. Strabo
uses the word in reference to a catacomb near Nauplia, which he calls
the Labyrinth of the Cyclops. In Pliny's time the word would appear to
have been used to denote a winding path following a more or less formal
design of intricate pattern, but not necessarily connected with
sepulchral purposes.
When speaking of the Labyrinth of Crete he says, "We must not compare
this to what we see traced upon our _mosaic pavements_ or to the _mazes
formed in the fields_ for the entertainment of children, and thus
suppose it to be a narrow path along which we may walk for many miles
together, but we must picture to ourselves an edifice with many doors
and galleries which mislead the visitor...." This passage shows that
the term "labyrinth" had come to have a fairly broad significance. It
had long been used in a metaphorical sense, even as we find Plato, over
four centuries earlier, employing it to describe an elaborate argument.
We also find it applied by extension to other objects, such as traps
for fish, to judge by a certain passage in the works of Theocritus.
The only buildings to which the ancient writers applied the term,
however, were those to which we have already referred.
Of the two phrases which we have italicised in the above quotation from
Pliny, the second is of interest in connection with a matter we shall
deal with later on, whilst the former brings us to the subject of our
next chapter.
CHAPTER VIII
THE LABYRINTH IN ANCIENT ART
There has been considerable speculation as to how the typical labyrinth
form first came into existence. It became stereotyped long before the
Christian era and retained its character for many centuries.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Bronze Double Axe from Tomb of the Double Axes.
(From _Archæologia_, by kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries
and Sir Arthur Evans)
(_see page 33_)]
[Illustration: Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18. Early Egyptian Seals and Plaques.
(British Museum)]
The coins of Knossos furnish us with abundant examples of it, and, from
the fact that in certain of the earlier specimens the corresponding
figure is a simple repeated meander, it has been supposed that the
typical labyrinth design arose by elaboration of the meander. The
resemblance between this form and the very widespread and primitive
sign known as the _fylfot_ or _svastika_ has also attracted some
attention. It is a somewhat long step, however, from a loose
combination of meanders like that shown in, say, Fig. 20, to the
compact conventional labyrinth of Fig. 30. The adoption of the former
design may possibly have been inspired by the fresco on one of the
walls of the Minoan palace, to which we have made reference in Chapter
VI (Fig. 8), portions of which may have been visible among the ruins
for several generations. There does not appear to be any evidence that
the complex meander pattern of the fresco was an allusion on the part
of the Minoans to an actual constructional labyrinth; it may quite
well have been a purely ornamental conception, without any symbolical
significance. Meander designs were used by the Minoans at a much
earlier date than this, one example, though of simpler character,
having been found in the older palace, and others, either snake-like or
of a squarish nature, on ivory seals unearthed at other Minoan sites
(Zakro and Hagia Triada). Similar designs exist on certain Egyptian
"button-seals" of an approximately contemporary period--from the VIth
Dynasty onwards--and Sir Arthur Evans has expressed the opinion that
these will possibly prove to constitute the source of the Labyrinth in
Art. Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18 show specimens of early Egyptian seals and
plaques of this character in the British Museum. Professor Flinders
Petrie very kindly drew the writer's attention to a steatite plaque
in his collection at University College, London, which is somewhat
similar to one of those mentioned above, but of rather more elaborate
design (Fig. 19). The labyrinthine pattern on this is surmounted by a
representation, in the peculiar "linear" fashion often adopted by early
Egyptian artists, of two seated human figures facing one another, the
knees being drawn up. Professor Petrie acquired the plaque at Memphis.
He considers that it dates from a period round about 3000 B.C., and
points out that if the broken lines be completed there would appear to
be five false turns to be avoided before reaching the centre.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Early Egyptian Plaque or Amulet. (Prof.
Petrie's Collection, University College, London.)]
In discussing the designs on these seals and plaques, Sir A. Evans
alludes to a possible connection with two of the hieroglyphs of the
period, which are of the nature of simple square meanders of a kind
extensively employed in ancient ornament. One of them (_mer_) is the
sign used for indicating irrigated land. The other (_aha_) is a
simplified form of a more elaborate sign representing the plan of a
palace court, a figure to which one of the Minoan signs bears a close
resemblance.
The Knossian coins shown in Figs. 20 to 31 are from the British Museum
collection and are reproduced by the courtesy of the Keeper of the
Coins and Medals Department, who supplied the writer with plaster casts
for the purpose. They date, of course, from times greatly posterior to
those of the Minoan civilisation, from times when the culture of Greece
had long replaced that of the Mycenaeans, or whatever similar race it
was that succeeded the Minoans (see Appendix IV, i.).
Figs. 20, 21, and 22 show silver coins dating from about 500 to
430 B.C. They portray on one side the Minotaur and on the other a
symmetrical meander pattern which, it needs very little imagination to
see, has reference to the labyrinth in which the monster was alleged to
dwell.
Fig. 23 shows a silver coin of a rather later date, representing on
its obverse a female head which is thought to be that of Demeter or
Persephone, and on the reverse a meander-labyrinth containing a star at
its centre.
Fig. 24 shows a similar obverse, but on the reverse we see a bull's
head surrounded by a simple meander frame.
Fig. 25, the obverse of which is likewise adorned with a female
head, gives on the reverse the design of a square labyrinth of the
conventional type that thereafter predominates.
Fig. 26 shows a bronze coin having on one side the head of Apollo and
on the other a labyrinth with a star.
The four coins last described date from a period between 430 and 350
B.C. The next (Fig. 27) is rather later in date and shows on its
obverse the head of Hera and on the reverse a square labyrinth together
with an arrow-head and thunderbolts and the Greek characters ΚΝΩΣΙΩΝ
[Greek: KNÔSIÔN].
[Illustration: Figs. 20 to 25. Coins of Knossos. (British Museum)]
The bronze coin of about 220 B.C., shown in Fig. 28, bears on its
obverse the figure of Europa seated on a bull, with two dolphins below,
and on the reverse a square labyrinth, the Knossian superscription
being again evident.
The remaining three figures represent silver coins of the two
succeeding centuries, but not later than 67 B.C.
Fig. 29 exhibits on one side the head of Pallas, and on the reverse a
little square labyrinth placed beside an owl standing upon a prostrate
amphora.
In Fig. 30 the obverse is occupied by the head of Apollo, the reverse
by a labyrinth of circular shape, but conforming to the conventional
plan.
The head on the coin shown in Fig. 31 may be intended for that of Minos
or Zeus. On the reverse is a square labyrinth.
Labyrinthine designs are also found on certain Lydian, Phrygian, and
Ionian coins.
It will be noticed that when once the labyrinth pattern has been
definitely conventionalised it remains very constant in principle,
whether its general conformation be rectangular or circular. Starting
from the exterior, the "path" runs inwards a short distance, turns so
as to run parallel with the outer wall until nearly a full circuit
has been completed, then doubles back on itself and runs round in
the opposite direction, doubles upon itself again, and so on until
it finally comes to a stop in a blind end, having traversed all of
the space within the outer walls without covering any part twice and
without forming any branches or loops.
Obviously there is no "puzzle" about this kind of labyrinth; one has
simply to follow the one path, either to penetrate to the inner goal or
to escape thence to the exterior.
A labyrinth of precisely this type was discovered traced on the surface
of a crimson-painted pillar in the peristyle of the building known
as the House of Lucretius, in the excavated portion of Pompeii (Fig.
32). It was evidently scratched with a nail or stylus by some idler
of 2000 years ago (Pompeii was overwhelmed by Vesuvius in A.D. 79) and
is accompanied by the words "LABYRINTHUS. HIC HABITAT MINOTAURUS,"
possibly in waggish reference to the owner or occupier of the premises.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--_Graffito_ at Pompeii. (Museo Borbonico.)]
Another house has, in consequence of its mosaic and pictorial
references to the Cretan Labyrinth, received the name of the Casa del
Labirinto or House of the Labyrinth. One mosaic discovered therein
depicts Theseus and the Minotaur struggling on the ground, watched by a
group of affrighted maidens.
[Illustration: Figs. 26 to 31. Coins of Knossos. (British Museum)]
The Romans excelled in the art of designing and executing mosaic
pavements, abundant remains of which have been preserved. These were
of various kinds. There was the _pavimentum sectile_, composed of
pieces of marble of various sizes, shapes, and colours arranged in
uniform sets, so as to form when put together an ornamental pattern;
the _pavimentum tessellatum_, in which the pieces of marble, though
variously coloured, were all of the same size and shape, generally
small squares; the _pavimentum vermiculatum,_ composed of very small
pieces of coloured marble of irregular shape so arranged as to
portray objects in their natural shapes and colours; and finally the
_pavimentum scalpturatum_, in which the design was engraved or inlaid.
_Opus alexandrinum_ is a variant of _sectile_.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Mosaic at Salzburg. (Kreuzer.)]
Several Roman pavements embodying labyrinthine devices, and in some
cases commemorating the victory of Theseus over the Minotaur, or other
exploits of the hero, have come to light from time to time, not only on
the continent of Europe but also in England; they are usually executed
in _opus alexandrinum_.
Fig. 33 shows in outline a beautiful specimen, 18 ft. long and 15 ft.
broad, discovered at Salzburg, in Austria. It bears the device of a
labyrinth, with, at the centre, a representation of Theseus about to
give the fatal blow to the Minotaur.
On the left side we see Theseus and Ariadne joining hands over the
altar. In the upper panel Theseus appears to be putting Ariadne
ashore, and to the right we see the disconsolate maiden deserted by her
lover, presumably on the Isle of Naxos.
A labyrinth of the type shown also occurs on a Roman mosaic which was
unearthed in the churchyard at Caerleon-on-Usk. It was in a poor state
of preservation, but sufficient remains to show that the labyrinth, of
a design similar to that of the Salzburg specimen, is surrounded by
scrolls proceeding from two vases (Fig. 34).
A very fine specimen of this type of labyrinth was discovered in 1904
beneath a ploughed field at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Another, of which details are not to hand, is said to have been found
in Northamptonshire.
In 1790 a pavement, about eighteen feet by twelve, was unearthed at
Aix, near Marseilles. It portrayed the combat between Theseus and
the Minotaur, within a framed square, the remainder of the mosaic
consisting of a complicated interlaced meander representing the
labyrinth.
In Fig. 35 is reproduced from A. de Caumont's "Abécédaire
d'Archéologie" a rough sketch of the Roman baths at Verdes
(Loir-et-Cher), showing a pavement with a labyrinth mosaic.
A pavement found in 1830 at Cormerod, in the Canton of Friburg,
Switzerland, is shown in Fig. 36. A few years afterwards another was
brought to light in the neighbouring Canton of Vaud, from beneath the
ruins of the ancient town of Orbe.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. Mosaic at Caerleon, Mon. (O. Morgan, in Proc.
Mon. and Caerleon Ant. Ass'n, 1866)]
[Illustration: Fig. 36. Mosaic at Cormerod, Switzerland. (Mitt. Ant.
Ges. Zurich, XVI.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Roman Baths at Verdes, Loir-et-Cher, showing
Labyrinth Mosaic. (From De Caumont's "Abécédaire.")]
A splendid mosaic labyrinth of Roman times was found some forty or
fifty years ago on a family tomb in the ancient necropolis of Susa,
Tunis (_Hadrumetum_). It was afterwards destroyed by looters, but a
careful drawing of it was fortunately made on its first discovery
(Fig. 37). The whole mosaic measured about seventeen feet by ten, and
contained a very finely executed labyrinth of four paths, like the
Harpham and Caerleon examples mentioned above, the central space
being occupied by the Minotaur, who is shown in an attitude of defeat.
Sailing towards the labyrinth was a boat containing figures which
presumably represented Theseus and his companions. The design was
accompanied by the words "HIC INCLUSUS VITAM PERDIT."
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Mosaic at Susa, Tunis. (C. R. Acad.
Inscriptions, Paris.)]
Another well-preserved mosaic of this character was discovered in
1884 at Brindisi, and placed in the municipal museum of that town. It
measures 17 ft. by 10 ft. 6 in., and shows within a square labyrinth
Theseus in the act of clubbing the Minotaur, who has fallen on his
knees. Around the labyrinth are various perches with birds thereon,
perhaps in allusion to the automatic birds reputed to have been made by
Daedalus (_cf._ Fig. 36).
We shall examine other mosaic and pavement labyrinths when we come to
consider the question of the use of this symbol by the Church.
Apart from the designs on Knossian coins, Greek art does not appear to
have left us any definite representations of the labyrinths, although
with the Romans, who acquired the idea at a later date, it was a
favourite _motif_.
We cannot, however, ignore the suggestion that has been made that
certain structures discovered in the ruins of Tiryns and Epidaurus,
two cities in that part of ancient Greece known as the Argolid, are
architectural labyrinths, used for ritual purposes. The foundations
of the _tholos_, or rotunda, of the sanctuary of Aesculapius at
Epidaurus, which was excavated by P. Kabbadias, Director of the
Greek Archaeological Society, in the 'eighties, do certainly suggest
something of the kind. They consist of concentric circular walls, the
three innermost being connected by a radial wall, separated by narrow
spaces which intercommunicate by an opening or doorway in each wall,
forming in plan a figure somewhat in the style of the "Pigs in Clover"
toy mentioned in a later chapter. When the peculiar nature of the upper
part of the building is considered, however, it seems very reasonable
to suppose that these walls, with their passages, were designed only
with a view to the requirements of the superstructure which they had to
support.
As for the slightly similar concentric foundations unearthed by German
excavators at Tiryns in 1912, the analogy is too imperfect to afford
reliable grounds for the statement in question.
Greek ceramic art, on the other hand, furnishes us with very many
allusions to the Theseus-Minotaur myth, and also with a profusion of
frets and meanders, which are thought in some cases to be symbolical of
the labyrinth.
Consider, for instance, the "_kylix_" or bowl in the British Museum
which is shown in Fig. 38. (A similar bowl is preserved in Harrow
School Museum.) On it are represented most of the exploits of the hero
up to his Knossian adventure. All who are familiar with the legend
will recognise at a glance Periphetes the Club-bearer, Sinis the
Pine-bender, the Wild Sow of Krommyon, Kerkyon the Wrestler, Procrustes
of the Standard Bed, and other gentlefolk that Theseus successively
encountered and appropriately dealt with on his initial journey to
Athens. In the centre of the bowl is shown the adventure of the
Labyrinth, the hero being seen in the act of despatching the monster
at the very door of his lair. The meander on the door-post has been
thought to symbolise the Labyrinth, but there is more reason to suppose
that it is purely decorative.
The Minotaur exploit is also shown on the smaller bowl shown in Fig. 39.
In the previous chapter we have already referred to an Etruscan vase
found at Tragliatella. This was very roughly decorated with incised
figures, representing amongst other things a circular labyrinth of
the traditional type and some horsemen who are thought to be engaged
either in the attack on Troy or in the game known as the _Lusus
Trojae_ or Game of Troy. That there can be no doubt about the artist's
identification of the labyrinth in some way with the celebrated city in
question is clear from the word _Truia_ scratched within it (Fig. 133).
Representations of the labyrinth were sometimes engraved on ancient
gems, a fine specimen of which is figured in P. A. Maffei's "Gemme
Antiche" (Fig. 40), published in 1707. The Minotaur in this case
is shown as a centaur. A similar representation appears on a
sixteenth-century bronze plaquette of Italian workmanship exhibited in
the Plaquette Room at the British Museum (Fig. 41. See plate, p. 60).
[Illustration: Figs. 38, 39. Greek Kylices shewing Exploits of Theseus.
(British Museum)]
Before leaving the subject of the Labyrinth in ancient art we must
take notice of a reference in an ancient manuscript which tends to show
that the symbol figured on the robes of Roman Emperors. This manuscript
was discovered by A. F. Ozanam in the Laurentian Library at Florence.
It is entitled "Graphia Aurea Urbis Romae" and contains, under the
heading "De diarodino imperatoris," the following passage:
_Habeat et in diarodino laberinthum fabrefactum ex auro et margaritis,
in quo sit Minotaurus, digitum ad os tenens ex smaragdo factus, quia
sicut non valet quis laberinthum scrutare, ita non debet consilium
dominatoris propalare._
"Let there be represented on it (the Emperor's robe) a labyrinth of
gold and pearls, in which is the Minotaur, made of emerald, holding his
finger to his mouth, thus signifying that, just as none may know the
secret of the labyrinth, so none may reveal the monarch's counsels."
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Labyrinth engraved on an ancient gem.
(Maffei.)]
It has been pointed out by Mr. A. B. Cook that in the Fitzwilliam
Museum at Cambridge is a painting by Bartolommeo Veneto (1502-1530)
representing an unknown man who wears on his breast a labyrinth
resembling that described above.
CHAPTER IX
CHURCH LABYRINTHS
The consideration of labyrinths worked in Roman mosaic pavements leads
us on to a very interesting development of the subject which deserves a
chapter to itself, namely, the Labyrinth in the Church.
Probably the oldest known example of this nature is that in the ancient
basilica of _Reparatus_ at Orléansville (Algeria), an edifice which
is believed to date from the fourth century A.D. In the pavement
near the north-west entrance of the church is the design shown in
outline in Fig. 42. It measures about 8 ft. in diameter and shows
great resemblance to the Roman pavement found at Harpham and the
tomb-mosaic at Susa. At the centre is a _jeu-de-lettres_ on the
words SANCTA ECLESIA, which may be read in any direction, except
diagonally, commencing at the centre. But for the employment of these
words the labyrinth in question might well have been conceived to
be a Roman relic utilised by the builders of the church to ornament
their pavement. Such pavement-labyrinths, however, with or without
central figures or other embellishments, and of various dimensions and
composition, are found in many of the old churches of France and Italy.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Labyrinth in Church of Reparatus,
Orléansville, Algeria. (Prevost.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Labyrinth in Lucca Cathedral. (Durand.)]
They seem to have been constructed chiefly during the twelfth century,
and although several of them have been destroyed many fine examples
still remain. Some are formed on the walls instead of the pavements,
and in such cases are of smaller dimensions.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Labyrinth in S. Michele, Pavia. (Ciampini.)]
On the whole, too, those in the Italian churches are much smaller
than the French specimens. On the wall of Lucca Cathedral (Fig. 43)
is one of a diameter of only 1 ft. 7-1/2 in. It formerly enclosed at
the centre a representation of Theseus and the Minotaur, but owing to
the friction of many generations of tracing fingers this has become
effaced. Opposite the "entrance" is the inscription:
HIC QUEM CRETICUS EDIT
DAEDALUS EST LABERINTHUS,
DE QUO NULLUS VADERE
QUIVIT QUI FUIT INTUS,
NI THESEUS GRATIS ADRIANE
STAMINE JUTUS.
A similar small labyrinth, with a central Theseus-Minotaur design,
is to be found on the wall of the church of San Michele Maggiore at
Pavia (Fig. 44). It is thought to be of tenth-century construction.
This is one of the few cases where the Minotaur is represented with a
human head and a beast's body--as a sort of Centaur, in fact. It is
accompanied by the words "TESEUS INTRAVIT MONSTRUMQUE BIFORME NECAVIT."
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Labyrinth in S. Maria-di-Trastavera, Rome.
(Durand)]
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Labyrinth in S. Vitale, Ravenna. (Durand)]
Of about the same period was the example in the church of San Savino at
Piacenza. It is described by P. M. Campi in his "Ecclesiastical History
of Piacenza" (1651), under the year A.D. 903. The signs of the Zodiac
were placed in juxtaposition to it. The accompanying legend in this
case consisted of four hexameters, to the effect that the labyrinth
represented the world we live in, broad at the entrance, but narrow at
the exit, so that he who is ensnared by the joys of this world, and
weighed down by his vices, can regain the doctrine of life only with
difficulty.
HVNC MVNDVM TIPICE LABERINTHVS DENOTAT ISTE:
INTRANTI LARGUS, REDEUNTI SET NIMIS ARTVS
SIC MVNDO CAPTVS, VICIORVM MOLLE GRAVATVS
VIX VALET AD VITE DOCTRINAM QVISQVE REDIRE.
In the Cathedral of Cremona, which, like Pavia and Piacenza, is on the
banks of the River Po, is a mutilated mosaic of early date--possibly
eighth or ninth century--showing part of an interlaced pattern which
was evidently intended to refer to the Cretan Labyrinth, as it was
placed close to two figures in fighting attitudes and armed with swords
and shields, the right-hand figure having the head of a beast and the
label "CENTAVRVS." (There was apparently little distinction between a
Minotaur and a Centaur in the minds of some mediaeval artists.)
A rather larger specimen, 5 ft. in diameter, may be seen in the church
of Sta. Maria-in-Aquiro, Rome. It is composed of bands of porphyry
and yellow and green marble, surrounding a central plate of porphyry,
and is similar in design to that at Lucca. Another church in the same
city, Sta. Maria-di-Trastavera, has a labyrinth composed of variously
coloured marbles worked in the floor. It is 11 ft. across and was
probably constructed about 1190 A.D. (Fig. 45). It is now somewhat
mutilated, but was originally a most beautiful example. The fact that
the inner paths consist of a series of concentric rings rather suggests
that it has at some time been repaired without regard to the original
design; unless we accept the hypothesis of M. Durand that they bore a
symbolic reference to the various degrees of beatitude by which the
soul approaches heaven, as figured by Dante. Fig. 46 shows another old
Italian specimen. It is nearly 11-1/2 ft. in diameter and is to be
found in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral. (Gailhabaud.)]
Designs of this nature were widely employed by the mediaeval church
builders in France, and, although many of them were destroyed at the
Revolution and at other times, several fine examples still exist. They
seem to have been mostly built at a rather later date than those
already described. The largest now remaining is that in Chartres
Cathedral (Fig. 47). It is formed of blue and white stones and is about
40 ft. in diameter. The French poet Bouthrays, in his "Histoire de
Chartres" (1624), describes it in a set of Latin verses. A fine sketch
of it appears in the "Album" of the thirteenth-century architect,
Villard de Honnecourt. In a ninth-century French manuscript, formerly
belonging to the Abbey of St.-Germain-des-Prés, there is a sort of
frontispiece consisting of a labyrinth of similar type, with a funny
little horned Minotaur at the centre, seated, hands on knees, on a kind
of throne.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Labyrinth in Amiens Cathedral. (Gailhabaud.)]
The Chartres labyrinth formerly went by the name of "La Lieue,"
an expression which would ordinarily be rendered as "the league."
The French league, however, was about 2282 yards, a much greater
length than the total extent of the path in any of the existing
pavement-labyrinths, that at Chartres, for example, having a length
of only about 150 yards. Possibly the term had some etymological
connection with the old Gaulish measure _leuca_, _leuga_ or _leuva_,
which was 1500 paces.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Labyrinth in Parish Church, St. Quentin.
(Gailhabaud).]
In other cases the labyrinth was known as a "_Chemin de Jérusalem_,"
"_daedale_," or "_meandre_," terms which need no explanation. The
centre was called "_ciel_" or "_Jérusalem_." The labyrinth formerly in
the nave of Amiens Cathedral was larger than that at Chartres, being 42
ft. in diameter (Fig. 48). It was constructed in 1288 and was destroyed
in 1825. In plan it was similar to that at the entrance to the parish
church of St. Quentin (Fig. 49). The latter, however, is only 34-1/2
ft. in diameter.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.
Bronze Plaquette, Italian, XVIth Century. (British Museum)]
[Illustration: Fig. 50. Labyrinth in Rheims Cathedral. (Gailhabaud)]
Rheims Cathedral formerly possessed a fine design of this class (Fig.
50). It was laid down in 1240 and was composed of blue stones
or marbles. It was destroyed in 1779 by order of a certain Canon
Jacquemart, who objected to the noise made by children and others in
tracing its course during the progress of divine service.
The labyrinths of Rheims, Chartres, and Amiens possessed in common a
feature which has given rise to much discussion, namely, a figure or
figures at the centre representing, it is believed, the architects of
the edifices.
That of Amiens is preserved in Amiens Museum and consists of an
octagonal grey marble slab (Fig. 51) with a central cross, between the
limbs of which are arranged figures representing Bishop Evrard and the
three architects, Robert de Luzarches, Thomas de Cormont and his son
Regnault, together with four angels. A long inscription accompanied it,
relating to the foundation of the Cathedral.
There is a very fine labyrinth in the chapter-house of Bayeux Cathedral
(Fig. 52). It measures 12 ft. across and is composed of circles of
tiles ornamented with shields, griffins and fleur-de-lis, separated by
bands of small, plain, black tiles.
Sens Cathedral formerly possessed a circular labyrinth (Fig. 53), 30
ft. in diameter and formed of incised lines filled in with lead, but
it was destroyed in 1769. A similar specimen in Auxerre Cathedral was
demolished about 1690.
In _The Builder_ for May 12, 1916, appeared a diagram accompanied by a
note from a firm of publishers who stated that they had received the
sketch from one of their travellers who was then serving on the Arras
front. "He informs us," they state, "that it is not a puzzle, but a
plan of the labyrinth under the cathedral. He found the prints in a
ruin in the vicinity, a house which appears to have been occupied by a
librarian from what he saw among the débris." The sketch in question is
of an octagonal pattern resembling that of the St. Quentin labyrinth,
and represents the pavement-labyrinth that formerly existed in the now
ruined cathedral, not, of course, a system of subterranean passages,
as the correspondent evidently inferred. It was about 34-1/2 ft.
in diameter and was composed of small blue and yellow squares. The
destruction of this labyrinth cannot be debited to the account of the
aggressors in the Great War, as it was carried out during the French
Revolution.
[Illustration: FIG. 53.--Labyrinth in Sens Cathedral. (Gailhabaud.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 51. Amiens. Central Plate of Labyrinth.
(Gailhabaud)]
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Labyrinth in Bayeux Cathedral. (Amé)]
A labyrinth of rather striking design (Fig. 54) was formerly in the
pavement of the old Abbey of St. Bertin, an edifice which has long
been a picturesque ruin, in the lower part of the town of St. Omer. A
description of it was first published nearly a century ago by Emmanuel
Wallet (or Vallet). Our figure, which accords with his notes, differs
slightly from that which has usually accompanied the references of
subsequent writers--many of whom, by the way, erroneously speak of it
as being in the cathedral, which is in the upper part of the town,
and at some distance from St. Bertin. Most illustrations of the
labyrinth in question show the path as crossing itself at one point, an
arrangement which is most unlikely to have been adopted. Wallet based
his description on a manuscript which, judging by the watermark in the
paper, he attributed to a former English student at the college in the
vicinity.
[Illustration: FIG. 54.--Labyrinth in Abbey of St. Bertin, St. Omer.
(Wallet.)]
This labyrinth was apparently destroyed at about the same time as that
at Rheims, and for a similar reason.
In the cathedral there is no pavement-labyrinth, although it may
possibly have possessed one in former times, but beneath the organ, at
the west end of the nave, is a curiously engraved slab which is worth
mentioning in this connection, for it represents a sort of "chemin de
Jérusalem," though not indeed of the usual type. It shows, around a
large circle, mountains, rivers, towns, roads, and animals, together
with the word IhERVSALEM, whilst the interior of the circle is divided
into three horizontal compartments, in each of which are placed various
objects indistinguishable through wear. The slab was very much worn
when described by Wallet and has possibly been replaced by now.
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--Labyrinth in Poitiers Cathedral. (Auber.)]
A queer type of labyrinth was formerly represented in the Cathedral of
Poitiers. It perished long ago, but for some time subsequently there
remained on the wall of the north aisle a sketch of it (Fig. 55),
which, however, gave no clue to the dimensions of the original. It
will be seen that the construction is such that he who traces the path
eventually emerges--like the poet of the "Rubaiyat"--by that same door
at which he entered; he will have encountered no "stops," but he may
have "looped the loop" an indefinite number of times.
In the old abbey of Toussaints, Châlons-sur-Marne, which was destroyed
in 1544, there was a series of tiles each bearing a small labyrinth
of the conventional Cretan type (Fig. 56. See plate, p. 74).
Pavement-tiles with labyrinths were also found in the Abbaye de Pont
l'Abbé (Finistère).
A pavement labyrinth has been described as existing in the floor of
the guard chamber of the Abbey of St. Stephen at Caen. Dawson Turner,
in his "Tour in Normandy," thus refers to it: "The floor is laid with
tiles, each near five inches square, baked almost to vitrification.
Eight rows of these tiles, running east to west, are charged with
different coats of arms, said to be those of the families who attended
Duke William in his invasion of England. The intervals between these
rows are filled up with a kind of tessellated pavement, the middle
whereof represents a maze or labyrinth, about ten feet in diameter, and
so artfully contrived that, were we to suppose a man following all the
intricate meanders of the volutes, he could not travel less than a mile
before he got from one end to the other. The remainder of the floor is
inlaid with small squares of different colours, placed alternately and
formed into draught or chess boards, for the amusement of the soldiers
while on guard." The pavement was destroyed in 1802.
It has frequently been stated that a pavement labyrinth existed in a
church at Aix near Marseilles, but probably this is due to confusion
with the Roman pavement already referred to.
The only examples recorded as having existed in Germany were situated
in two churches at Cologne, but these have long since disappeared.
In view of the widespread occurrence of these devices in mediaeval
churches it would be surprising if the idea were not sometimes utilised
by modern architects attempting to reproduce the spirit of the old
buildings, and in fact this was done in the case of the prize plans
submitted[4] by the English architects Clutton and Burges for the
Church of Notre-Dame de la Treille at Lille. Burges designed for the
nave a "Chemin de Jérusalem" of a wonderful pattern, the topography
of "Jerusalem" being based upon the account in the "Ecclesiastical
History" of the Venerable Bede (V. ch. 16). A good modern example, 20
ft. square, may be seen in the pavement of Ely Cathedral, near the west
door (Fig. 57). It was constructed by Sir Gilbert Scott during his
restorations in 1870. Some other modern specimens will be mentioned
presently.
[4] These plans, although awarded the prize, were not adopted,
the designs actually carried out being some by a native
architect who obtained tenth place in the competition.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--Labyrinth in Ely Cathedral. (W. H. M.)]
As to the function and meaning of the old church labyrinths, various
opinions have been held. Some authorities have thought that they were
merely introduced as a symbol of the perplexities and intricacies
which beset the Christian's path. Others considered them to typify the
entangling nature of sin or of any deviation from the rectilinear path
of Christian duty. It has often been asserted, though on what evidence
is not clear, that the larger examples were used for the performance of
miniature pilgrimages in substitution for the long and tedious journeys
formerly laid upon penitents. Some colour is lent to this supposition
by the name "Chemin de Jérusalem." In the days of the first crusades it
was a common practice for the confessor to send the peccant members of
his flock either to fight against the infidel, or, after the victory of
Geoffrey of Bouillon, to visit the Holy Sepulchre. As enthusiasm for
the crusades declined, shorter pilgrimages were substituted, usually to
the shrine of some saint, such as Our Lady of Loretto, or St. Thomas of
Canterbury, and it is quite possible that, at a time when the soul had
passed out of the crusades and the Church's authority was on the ebb, a
journey on the knees around the labyrinth's sinuosities was prescribed
as an alternative to these pilgrimages. Perhaps this type of penance
was from the first imposed on those who, through weakness or any other
reason, were unable to undertake long travels.
In the case of the wall labyrinths, of course, the journey would be
less arduous still, being performed by the index finger.
Whether such practices ever obtained or not, most writers who have had
occasion to mention church labyrinths during the past century have
adopted, more or less without question, the view that not only were the
labyrinths used in this way, but that they were in fact designed for
the purpose.
This view seems to rest chiefly on a statement by J. B. F. Géruzez in
his "Description of the City of Rheims" (1817), to the effect that
the labyrinth which formerly lay in the cathedral was in origin an
object of devotion, being the emblem of the interior of the Temple of
Jerusalem, but Géruzez quotes no authority for his assertion. Another
explanation, based upon the occurrence of the figures of the architects
or founders in certain of the designs, is that the labyrinth was a sort
of masonic seal, signifying that the pious aim of the builder had been
to raise to the glory of God a structure to vie with the splendours
of the traditional Labyrinth. It is also said that in some cases the
"Chemins" were used for processional purposes.
Some writers have held that the labyrinth was inserted in the church as
typifying the Christian's life or the devious course of those who yield
to temptation. Some have thought that it represented the path from the
house of Pilate to Calvary, pointing out that Chateaubriand, in his
"Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem," mentioned two hours as the period
which he took to repeat Christ's journey, and that the same time would
be taken in traversing the average pavement labyrinth on the knees.
The use of the labyrinth as a simile for the Christian's life is shown
in a stone inscription in the Museum at Lyons:
HOC SPECVLO · SPECVLARE LEGENS · QVOD SIS MORITVRVS:
QVOD CINIS IMMOLVTVM QVOD VERMIBVS ESCA FVTVRVS:
SED TAMEN VT SEMPER VIVAS · MALE VIVERE VITA:
XPM QVESO ROGA · SIT VT IN XPO MEA VITA:
ME CAPVT APRIL' · EX HOC RAPVIT LABERINTO:
PREBITVM · DOCEO VERSV MÃ FVNERA QÑTO:
STEPHANVS · FECIT OC.
Whether this inscription was ever attached to a labyrinthine design is
not known.
It is strange if, amongst all the great mass of mediaeval
ecclesiastical literature, there is actually no indication of the use
or significance of these monuments in the service of the Church; but
no light appears to be forthcoming from this source, and certainly the
writings of the chief authorities of these times give no support to any
of the theories mentioned above.
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--Labyrinth in Church at Bourn, Cambs. (W. H.
M.)]
It is noteworthy that in none of the known examples do any
distinctively Christian emblems occur, and that, amongst all the myriad
inscriptions, paintings, and carvings of the early Christians, in the
catacombs of Rome and elsewhere, the labyrinth never once figures.
So far as these islands are concerned the practice of placing
labyrinths in churches does not seem to have become common.
In the "Architectural Dictionary" (1867) mention is made of one
formerly existing in Canterbury Cathedral, but no particulars are given.
On the floor below the tower of the church at Bourn, Cambridgeshire,
is a maze (Fig. 58) worked in black and red tiles, the centre being
occupied by the font, the step of which forms the terminus of the path.
From the fact that an intermediate portion of the path is concealed
beneath the base of the font it is plain that the position of the
latter is an after-thought, and from the design of the maze, no less
than from the character of the tiles of which it is composed, the work
would appear to be of comparatively modern date. The modern specimen at
Ely has already been mentioned.
There is also a labyrinth, in this case engraved on the floor of the
church porch, at Alkborough, Lincolnshire, but this is a modern replica
of the turf maze in the locality--a point which brings us to the
subject of our next chapter.
CHAPTER X
TURF LABYRINTHS
We have just remarked that the custom of placing labyrinth designs in
churches does not appear to have become general on this side of the
English Channel. We have in England, however, a class of survivals
peculiar to this country which may be regarded as the equivalent of the
former. These are the _turf mazes_ which are to be found in various
counties, usually under some local name, such as "Mizmaze," "Julian's
Bower," "Troy Town," or "Shepherd's Race."
One of the best-preserved examples is that at Alkborough, or
Aukborough, a pretty village on the east side of the Trent falls, where
the Ouse and Trent join to form the Humber. Crowning the hill is a
square earthwork called the Countess Close, supposed to be the remains
of a Roman Camp, and possibly the site of the ancient Aquis. On the
side of the hill is a basin-shaped depression, in the turf of which is
cut, to a depth of about 6 in., a labyrinth known as "Julian's Bower,"
or "Gilling Bore," about 40 ft. in diameter. Our illustration (Fig.
59) is reproduced from a drawing kindly supplied by the Rev. G. Yorke,
Vicar of Alkborough. The configuration of the maze is exactly the same
as in a figure published about a century ago in a little book called
"Terra Incognita of Lincolnshire," by Miss S. Hatfield.
In recent years it has been several times cleared out and trimmed up
at the expense of Mr. J. Goulton Constable, J.P., F.S.A., of Walcot
Hall, who is lord of the manor. Mr. Constable also caused the design of
the maze to be cut in the stone floor of the church porch, the grooves
being filled with cement, when the church was restored in 1887.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.--"Julian's Bower," Alkborough, Lincs. (From a
litho. supplied by Rev. G. Yorke.)]
In Saxon and Norman times, from about A.D. 1080 to 1220, there was
a small monastic grange in the neighbourhood, an offshoot of a
Benedictine Monastery at Spalding. Its site is now occupied by a
farm-house belonging to Magdalene College, Cambridge. The proximity
of the maze to an ancient ecclesiastical site is not peculiar to this
particular specimen, as we find a similar juxtaposition in the case of
many of the other earth-mazes.
A correspondent, "J. F.," writing to _Notes and Queries_ about the
Alkborough Julian's Bower in 1866, says that he has lively impressions
of the oft-repeated pleasure derived from the feat of "running it in
and out," in company with others, sixty years previously, and of seeing
the villagers playing May-eve games about it, "under an indefinite
persuasion of something unseen and unknown co-operating with them." If
this last-quoted phrase is anything more than a whim of retrospective
old age it affords an interesting fragment of material for the student
of "folk-memory." There is a description of this maze, under the name
of Gillian's Bore, in the Diary, written between 1671 and 1704, of
Abraham de la Pryme, "the Yorkshire Antiquary." He mentions at the same
time one situated at Appleby, about six miles away, towards Brigg.
This, he says, is called "Troy's Walls." He describes them both as
Roman games and says "they are nothing but great labarinths cut upon
the ground with a hill cast up round them for the spectators to sit
round about on to behold the sport." The Appleby maze was placed close
to the Roman road that runs through there, and has long since perished.
No trace of it remained when Allen's "History of Lincolnshire" was
published in 1834.
There is a turf labyrinth of a design similar to that at Alkborough
in a secluded romantic spot on land forming part of the estate of the
Hulse family, to the rear of their beautiful country seat, Breamore
House, Hants. It is known as the Mizmaze, and consists of a grassy
path 3 ft. in width, the overall diameter being 87 ft. The "goal" in
the centre is 18 ft. in diameter, and forms a low mound. Every curved
portion of the path is slightly inclined towards the centre of the
maze, as if to afford a firmer footing to runners. When the writer
visited it in July 1920 the grooves were rather overgrown, but the maze
receives periodical attention from its owners, and is in no present
danger of becoming obliterated. It lies in that sparsely populated
corner of Hampshire which protrudes into Wiltshire, between Salisbury
and Cranborne Chase, and is somewhat difficult to discover without
directions, as it is on a hilltop, and is surrounded by a thick copse,
with many other wooded hilltops in the neighbourhood. In the few
references that have been made to it by writers, it has been variously
described as being situated at Breamore, at Rockbourne, Hants, and
at Wickdown Hill, Wilts. It is remote from the villages, but is best
approached from Breamore (pronounced _Bremmer_ or _Brimmer_), which is
on the main road from Fordingbridge to Salisbury. From this village to
Breamore House is a pleasant twenty-minutes' walk, and thence through
the beautifully wooded and gently rolling grounds of the estate to
the Mizmaze, a delightful half-hour's stroll. It is advisable to seek
precise directions before setting out, because the path through the
woods disappears after a while in a meadow, and the copse in which the
maze is embedded appears at first impenetrable, having a narrow opening
on one side only, on the side remote from the direction of approach.
A local tradition says that a man could run from the maze to Gallows
Hill, more than half a mile distant, and back again, while another ran
round the maze.
A charming little sketch of this maze, by Heywood Sumner, accompanies a
reference in Williams-Freeman's "Field Archaeology in Hants."
[Illustration: Fig. 56. Labyrinths on Tiles, Toussaints Abbey,
Châlons-sur-Marne. (Amé)
(_see page 65_)]
[Illustration: Fig. 60. Turf Labyrinth at Wing, Rutland. (Photo, W. J.
Stocks. By permission of Rev. E. A. Irons)]
Near Wing, in Rutland, a few miles to the north-east of Uppingham,
there is preserved a maze of very similar design (Fig. 60). It is
maintained in good condition and is still the object of periodical
visits by the village folk on certain holidays. Just to the south of it
is a flat-topped bowl-shaped tumulus, over 70 ft. in diameter and 4
ft. high. It may be that the frequent association of turf mazes with
ancient earthworks of various kinds is something more than accidental,
but we do not seem to have sufficient evidence to establish a necessary
connection between the two things.
Lyddington, another Rutland village, has also been mentioned as
possessing a turf maze. A writer in the _Rutland Magazine_ in 1907,
for instance, says, in speaking of Priestly Hill, which overlooks the
village on the east, "at one time there was a turf maze on its slope,
where, as our old people tell us, their grandparents, when children,
used to play." The writer in question, however, does not make it clear
whether he is really quoting an oral tradition of the locality or is
basing his statement on the brief mention of Lyddington as a reputed
maze-site which appears in Trollope's 1858 memoir. It is at any rate
very difficult to trace any reliable evidence of such a maze, and it
seems not unlikely that Trollope's reference, which is quite devoid of
detail, may have had its origin in a misinterpretation of the elaborate
series of ancient trenches situated in a field to the north-east of
the church. These trenches have been identified as the "fish-stews"
belonging to the old manor-house of the Bishops of Lincoln.
The similarity between the designs of the turf mazes mentioned above
and those of some of the French pavement labyrinths, that in Chartres
Cathedral for example, cannot fail to be noticed.
At Boughton Green, in Northamptonshire, about half a mile from the
village of Boughton and near the ruined church of St. John the Baptist,
was, until recently, a turf maze of like design but having the
innermost convolutions of purely spiral form (Fig. 61). It was 37 ft.
in diameter and was called the "Shepherd Ring" or "Shepherd's Race."
The "treading" of it was formerly a great feature of the three days'
fair in June, an event dating from a charter by Edward III. in 1353.
In a "Guide-book to Northampton" by G. N. Wetton, published in 1849,
the maze is spoken of as being in a neglected condition. In a later
book, however, a novel named "The Washingtons," written by the Rev. J.
N. Simpkinson in 1860, occurs the following passage: "He had just been
treading the 'Shepherd's Labyrinth,' a complicated spiral maze traced
there upon the turf; and was boasting of his skill, how dexterously and
truly he could pursue its windings without a single false step, and how
with a little more practice he would wager to go through it blindfold."
[Illustration: FIG. 61.--"Shepherd's Race," Boughton Green, Northants.
(After Trollope.)]
Another novel, "The Last of the Climbing Boys," by George Elson,
contains a reference to it, in which it is spoken of as being "An
attraction which was the origin of the fair"--a statement which it
would be interesting to verify if possible.
Unfortunately, this famous relic was destroyed by some of our soldiers
in training during the Great War; trenches were driven right across it,
and practically all traces of it are now obliterated.
There was formerly a specimen of somewhat similar design on Ripon
Common, Yorkshire, but this was ploughed up in 1827. One of identical
pattern at Asenby, in the same county, was preserved until recent
times. According to Mr. A. H. Allcroft ("Earthwork of England," 1908),
it was sunk in a hollow at the top of a hillock called "The Fairies'
Hill," and is in a ruinous condition, being quite unknown to most of
the villagers, although persons still living (in 1908) relate that they
have often trodden it on a summer's evening and knelt at the centre "to
hear the fairies singing."
The counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire seem to have been
particularly rich in records of these devices, for in addition to
those already mentioned we read of one on the wold overlooking Louth,
one at Horncastle, a dozen miles to the south-west of Louth, one in
Holderness, between Marfleet and Paul, about four miles from Hull,
and another at Egton, near Whitby, where the late Canon Greenwell in
1872 saw traces of it near the main road to the north of the village.
"July Park," or "St. Julian's," near Goathland, is also said to have
possessed a specimen, a fact which probably accounts for the name of
the place. The Horncastle maze is referred to by Dr. Stukeley, a noted
eighteenth-century antiquary, as a "Julian's Bower" which is "much
talked of." He also mentions the Alkborough specimen and others, coming
to the conclusion that they were ancient British relics, having been
constructed as places of exercise, or _cursus_, for the soldiery of
those times. He observes, somewhat contemptuously, that "lovers of
antiquity, especially of the inferior classes, always speak of 'em with
great pleasure, as if there was something extraordinary in the thing,
though they cannot tell what."
The Louth "Gelyan Bower" is mentioned in a record of 1544, "To nych
mason for making at gelyan bower a new crose, iijs." In an old hostelry
in Mercer Row, Louth, stood for some centuries a boulder of dolerite
called the "Blue Stone," which is stated to have formerly occupied the
centre of the maze. Trees planted at the maze served as a landmark to
ships out at sea.
The Horncastle example occupied a site to the south-west of the town
still known as the Julian Bower Close. It has long been effaced by the
agriculturist, and numerous coins, fibulæ, and other Roman remains
which have been turned up on the spot have lent colour to the theory,
still maintained in the current county directory, that the maze was a
Roman work. The question whether this, or any other turf maze in this
country, is a relic of Roman times we will discuss presently.
The maze near Hull was dodecagonal in outline, 40 ft. across, and
formed of grass paths 14 in. wide. Its plan was much like that of the
Alkborough maze, but the paths were straight instead of curved. It was
called "The Walls of Troy." A coloured illustration of it was given in
Ackermann's "Repository of Arts" in 1815.
Although, as we have seen, Lincolnshire furnishes us with records of
more of these labyrinths than any other county, there is no conclusive
evidence that they were in fact more numerous there than elsewhere.
The reason for our comparative wealth of information concerning their
existence in that part of the country may be due to the fact that Dr.
Edward Trollope, who first made a serious study of these antiquities,
and whose paper in the _Archaeological Journal_ for 1858 has been
a fount of inspiration to subsequent writers on the subject, was
Archdeacon of Stow, afterwards Bishop of Nottingham.
Turf labyrinths were formerly of general occurrence throughout the
country, for, in addition to those we have already described, we find
remains of them in counties so widely separated as Kent and Cumberland.
They are also recorded as having existed in Wales and Scotland.
CHAPTER XI
TURF LABYRINTHS (_continued_)