labyrinthus
labyrinthus, a labyrinth, building with winding passages
- a labyrinth, a building with many winding passages; e. g. that built by Psammetichus on Lake Moeris, in Middle Egypt, and containing 3000 chambers, Mel. 1, 9, 5; Plin. 36, 13, 19, § 84; but esp. that built by Daedalus, near Cnossus, in Crete, id. 36, 13, 19, § 85; Sen. Ep. 44, 6; Ov. M. 8, 159; Juv. 1, 53; Verg. A. 5, 588.—
- B Trop., a maze, tangle, bewildering intricacy: inextricabilis negotii, Sid. Ep. 2, 5.—
- II Hence,
- A lăbyrinthēus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to a labyrinth, labyrinthine: flexus, Cat. 64, 114.—
- B lăbyrinthĭcus, a, um, adj., of a labyrinth, labyrinthine, intricate: viae, Sid. Ep. 9, 13: quaestionum insolubilitas, id. ib. 11, 4.
labor: unde laborintus quasi labor intus
ingreditur, sed ei specus est labirintus
[minotaurus ] inclusus laberinto tam clamore quam mugitu ingemuisse describitur
itaque Dedali seculi ingenium, qui Theseum de ~o filo eduxit previo
velut Dedalini ~i [v. l. Dedali in laberintho ]
unde etiam ille ~us oritur, ut in subjecto idem sit et significans et significatum
res que in ceco hactenus †retrusa [l. retruse ] laberyntho delitebant, in lucem nobis effunde
anima ‥ ~is intricata est
circumplectentibus dialecticorum, laberintis rethorumque, sillogismis eloquencie leporum illitteratos seu simplices fallentibus
laborum ejus inextricabiles ~os singillatim evolvere non fuit consilium
licet inexplicabili quodam laberintho negotii quidem mihi satis insoliti me nuper inplicaverit
bellum quod adversus Christum et ecclesiam exercet, ulterius pregravat et ei videtur inextricabilis laberinthus
laboris iterati laberintum incum
ad subeundum tam laboriosi et horridi itineris laberinthum
sollicitari cum Martha ‥ et transire de Marie otio ad quemdam anime ~um
in laqueos heresis et laberinta cadent
ipsum [sc. Petrum de Gavastone ] permiserunt altius extolli ‥ ut in laborintum celerius a sullimi caderet dampnatorum
Henricus Quintus tunc cecidit in laborinthum
sane periculosum est in curia mori, nec leviter ascendet ad eminentiam perfectorum, qui se castrensibus alligavit vinculis, et curialem incidit ~um
qui vos de fornace curarum curialium, quasi de gravi ~o ‥ revocavit
J. de G. ‥ se subtrahit a consiliis regis et curialis laberinto
Ad cujus loca pervidenda, quæ hic exponere curavimus, signa Labyrinthorum apposita Lector inveniet.
- , λαβύρινθος, a labyrinth, building with winding passages.—Esp., that built by Daedalus, near Gnossus, in Crete, V., O., Iu.
LABYRINTHUS(λαβύρινθος). This is by some set down as the corruption of an Egyptian word meaning the building at the entrance of a reservoir (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs), by others derived from a king Lamaris or Labaris (whose name, however, should perhaps be Maris or Moeris), but it is more probably an older form of the word λαύρα, a passage. This older form became stereotyped as the proper name for a building with a maze of such passages, while the later form, λαῦραι, is particularly applied to the passages of a mine. Accordingly the labyrinth was a large and complicated subterranean building, with numerous chambers and intricate passages, like those of a mine. Hence the cavern near Nauplia was called a labyrinth (Strabo, 8. p. 369). And all the structures to which the ancients apply the name labyrinth are described as entirely or partially under ground.
Pliny (Plin. Nat.36.84) notes four.
1. As the earliest, largest, and most famous, that of Egypt, described by Herodotus (Hdt. 2.148), near lake Moeris, and 100 stadia, as Strabo states, from Arsinoë (Strabo, 17. p. 811). The remains have been found 11 1/2 miles from the pyramid of Hawara, in the province of Faioum. Herodotus ascribes its construction to the dodecarchs (about 650 B.C.); and Mela (1.9) to Psammetichus alone. Other and more correct accounts refer its first construction to a much earlier period (Plin. l. c.; Diod. Sic. 1.61, 89). It is very likely, however, that additions were made at various times. The names of more than one king have been found there, the oldest that of Amunmhe III., who is placed in the 12th Dynasty, about 1960 B.C. This labyrinth is described as having 3,000 chambers, 1500 under ground and the same number above, and the whole was surrounded by a wall. It was divided into courts, each of which was surrounded by colonnades of white marble. At the time of Diodorus and of Pliny it was still extant; the remains now serve only to show the exact position and size corresponding with the stadium of length given by Strabo. Herodotus, who saw the upper part of the labyrinth and went through it, was not permitted to enter the subterranean part, and he was told that the kings, by whom the labyrinth had been built, and the sacred crocodiles, were buried there. Pliny's theory that it was divided into a number of halls or buildings corresponding to the number of nomes, and the consequent theory that it was a place of assembly for the nomes, do not agree with the account of Herodotus; and the number of nomes too varied greatly at different times: nor is there any better foundation for the idea, alluded to also by Pliny, that the plan had something to do with the solar system. It is unnecessary to imagine more than that it was monumental, and a monument of more than one king of Egypt.
2. Pliny gives as second the Cretan labyrinth (cf. Diod. Sic. l. c.), which was said to have been built by Daedalus near Cnosus, after the model of the Egyptian, but very much smaller. (For further legendary accounts, see Verg. A. 6.27, 5.588-Z2; Ov. Met. 8.159; Apollod. 3.15; and Dict. Biog. under Daedalus.) Most modern writers treat the Cretan labyrinth as a purely mythical or poetical creation, following Höck, who lays stress on the fact, that no ancient writer describes it as an eye-witness, and that neither the Homeric poems nor Herodotus mention it. That it was designedly built after any Egyptian pattern is improbable, but sufficient groundwork for the legends can be found in the rock-excavations existing in Crete. Admiral Spratt (Travels and Researches in Crete, 2.42) points out that the subterranean passages in limestone rock near Gortyn correspond to the ancient description of the labyrinth--tortuous alleys which occupied two hours to pass through. They were plainly, as might be seen by the marks of tools, ancient quarries, and had been used by the Christians in recent times as places of refuge. We can understand from this why Claudian (Sext. Cons. Hon. 634) speaks of Gortyn as the site of the labyrinth. Admiral Spratt found also the entrances of subterranean passages, apparently sepulchral, in the rocks near Cnosus. These were too much blocked up to explore, but there seems no reason why in ancient times they should not have been as extensive as the caverns at Gortyn, and so have given rise to the myths connected with Cnosus.
3. A third labyrinth, the construction of which belongs to a more historical age, was that in the island of Lemnos. It was begun by Smilis, an Aeginetan architect, and completed by Rhoecus and Theodorus of Samos about the time of the first Olympiad. It was in construction similar to the Egyptian, but had as a special feature one hundred and fifty columns. Remains of it were still extant in the time of Pliny. Some have conjectured that it was intended as a temple of the Cabeiri.
It may be mentioned here that the labyrinth said on the authority of Pliny (Plin. Nat.34.83) to have been built by the same Theodorus at Samos, has probably been created by a misplaced comma. The passage should be read: Theodorus, qui labyrinthum fecit, Sami ipse se ex aere fudit.
4. Pliny (Plin. Nat.36.91) classes as a labyrinth the tomb of Porsena at Clusium, a description of which he quotes from Varro--a monument in masonry, 300 feet square and 50 feet high, beneath which is a labyrinth, quo si quis introierit sine glomere lini exitum invenire nequeat. It had above it five pyramids of astonishing height. Niebuhr altogether discredits it; but though, with Pliny, we may think the dimensions exaggerated, it may be permitted to ask whether there is not too great a tendency to treat as pure fictions the statements of ancient writers. Dennis in his latest edition (Cities of Etruria, 2. p. 349) gives an interesting description of recent explorations in a tumulus at Poggio Gajella, three miles north of Chiusi. These are extensive sepulchral remains; in fact, it is described as like a city of tombs, with a network of small streets and alleys bearing the Egyptian character, which is so suggestive in Etruscan remains; and further a labyrinth of low, narrow passages in the heart of the mound. There seems really no valid reason for asserting the impossibility of some such great sepulchral building as Varro describes having once existed as a superstructure. It is possible that Varro himself found only a part standing, and that the huge size of the pyramids at the corners may be a somewhat exaggerated account given him as a tradition by the people of the district. This is surely a safer view than, with Niebuhr, to accuse so sober a writer as Varro of giving us tales from the Arabian Nights.
The garden labyrinth, or maze, is purely modern; but Pliny (l. c.) speaks of the word as applied to an intricate pattern drawn on the pavement or scratched on the ground in a boyish game; and to this may be referred the rude drawing, given in the Museo Borbonico, which was scratched on a pilaster at Pompeii, and is somewhat similar to the modern idea of a labyrinth.
[L.S] [G.E.M](Λαβύρινθος). A name given to a species of structure full of intricate passages and windings, so that when once entered, it is next to impossible for an individual to extricate himself without the assistance of a guide. The origin of the term will be considered at the close of the article. There were four very famous labyrinths among the ancients—one in Egypt near the Lake Moeris, another in Crete, a third at Lemnos, and a fourth near Clusium in Italy. (1) The Egyptian. This was situated in Lower Egypt, near Lake Moeris, and in the vicinity of Arsinoë or Crocodilopolis. The accounts which the ancient writers give of it are very different from each other. Herodotus, who saw the structure itself, assigns to it twelve courts (Herod.ii. 148). Pliny , whose description is much more highly coloured and marvellous than the former's, makes the number sixteen (Pliny H. N. xxxvi. 19); while Strabo, who, like Herodotus, beheld the very structure, gives the number of courts as twenty-seven. The following imperfect sketch, drawn from these different sources, may give some idea of the magnitude and nature of this singular structure: A large edifice, divided, most probably, into twelve separate palaces, stretched along with a succession of splendid apartments, spacious halls, etc., the whole adorned with columns, gigantic statues, richly carved hieroglyphics, and every other appendage of Egyptian art. With the northern side of the structure were connected six courts, and the same number with the southern. These were open places surrounded by lofty walls, and paved with large slabs of stone. Around these courts ran a vast number of the most intricate passages, lower than the corresponding parts of the main building; and around all these again was thrown a large wall, affording only one entrance into the Labyrinth; while at the other end, where the Labyrinth terminated, was a pyramid forty fathoms high, with large figures carved on it, and a subterraneous way leading within. According to Herodotus, the whole structure contained 3000 chambers, 1500 above ground, and as many below. The historian informs us that he went through all the rooms above the surface of the earth, but that he was not allowed by the Egyptians who kept the place to examine the subterraneous apartments, because in these were the bodies of the sacred crocodiles and of the kings who had built the Labyrinth. “The upper part, however,” remarks the historian, “which I carefully viewed, seems to surpass the art of men; for the passages through the buildings and the variety of windings afforded me a thousand occasions of wonder, as I passed from a hall to a chamber, and from the chamber to other buildings, and from chambers into halls. All the roofs and walls within are of stone, but the walls are further adorned with figures of sculpture. The halls are surrounded with pillars of white stone, very closely fitted.”
According to Herodotus, the Labyrinth was built by twelve kings, who at one time reigned over Egypt, and it was intended as a public monument of their common reign (Herod.ii. 148). Others make it to have been constructed by Psammetichus alone, who was one of the twelve; others again, by Ismandes or Petosuchis. Mannert assigns it to Memnon. Opinions are also divided as to the object of this singular structure. Some regard it as a burial-place for the kings and sacred crocodiles, an opinion very prevalent among the ancients. Others view it as a kind of Egyptian Pantheon. Others, again, make it to have been a place of assembly for the deputies sent by each of the twelve nomes of Egypt; while another class think that the Egyptian Mysteries were celebrated here. According to Galterer, however, the Labyrinth was an architectural symbolical representation of the zodiac and the course of the sun through the same. The twelve palaces are the twelve zodiacal signs; the one half of the building above ground and the other below is a symbol of the course of the sun above and below the horizon.
As regards the name Labyrinth itself, much diversity of opinion exists. By a sort of antiphrasis it was formerly derived ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ λαβεῖν θύραν, from its difficulty of egress; but very probably from λαύρα (λάϝρα), “a passage-way;” the termination being found in such words as μήρινθος, ὑάκινθος. Others, finding in Manetho that an Egyptian king, named Lachares or Labaris, had erected the structure in question, make the term equivalent to “the abode of Labaris.” Brugsch regards it as the corruption of an Egyptian word meaning “the building at the entrance to a reservoir” (Egypt under the Pharaohs).
The position of the Egyptian Labyrinth is clearly indicated by the words of Herodotus, “a little above the Lake Moeris.” It is now certain that the remains of the Labyrinth must be sought for near Sakkara in the district called Fayûm. Vast piles of rubbish are here to be seen, and the destruction is supposed to be owing to the Arabs, who may have thought that treasures were concealed under ground here. The ruins were first carefully explored, and an imperfect idea of their original plan made out by the Prussian expedition of 1843, of which Prof. Lepsius was the head. More recent expeditions are those of Mr. Petrie, to whose work the reader is referred (Hawâra, Biahma, and Arsinoë [1889]).
(2) For an account of the Cretan and Etrurian labyrinths, consult the articles Porsena and Theseus respectively.