Table of
Contents
Psychological Meanderings
Archaic Precedents
The Classical Conflict
The Christian Trial
and Rebirth
The Humanist
Reinterpretation
Love and War in the
Modern Era
The Final Dance
The Mandala and Conclusion
Bibliography
The Labyrinth:
An Incomplete History
by Heather Proctor
"And drawn on by my
eager desire, anxious to behold the great abundance of the varied and strange forms
created by the artificer Nature, having wandered for some distance among the overhanging
rocks, I came to the mouth of a huge cavern before which for a time I remained stupefied,
not having been aware of its existence, my back bent to an arch, my left hand clutching my
knee, while with the right I made a shade for my lowered and contracted eyebrows; and I
was bending continually first one way and then another in order to see whether I could
discern anything inside, though this was rendered impossible by the intense darkness
within. And after remaining there for a time, suddenly there were awakened within me
two emotions, fear and desire, fear of the dark threatening cavern, desire to see whether
there might be any marvelous thing therein."
- Leonardo da Vinci
Into the Labyrinth
The ancient Greek myth of the Cretan Labyrinth is central to any discussion concerning the labyrinth symbol and therefore must be presented prior to any examination of the topic. The myth essentially begins with the Minoan King Minos of the island of Crete having asked the god, Poseidon, for a sign confirming his right to rule, specifically in the form of a sacrificial animal. Minos’s answer came instantaneously in the form of a radiant white bull that emerged from the sea. However, rather than sacrificing the animal as was intended, the king decided to keep it for himself.
Angered, Poseidon caused the king’s wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull to such a degree that she wanted to mate with it. This act was made possible through an invention of Daedalus, an alleged Athenian murderer who had been granted asylum by King Minos due to his technical genius. His invention, essentially a cow suit consisting of a wooden frame covered by a cowhide, made it possible for the queen and the bull to mate. The resultant child, the Minotaur, was half-man and half-bull.
Minos, who was unaware that Daedalus had assisted the queen in her mission, had Daedalus design a remarkable structure in which to house the beast. Thus, the Cretan Labyrinth was created. The Labyrinth has been described as "a prison, hiding place, and temple at the same time - a far-flung system of convoluted passages that led to the midpoint, the den of the monster" (Jaskolski, 17).
Following the death, in Athens, of King Minos’s son, a practice ensued which required seven Athenian youths and seven Athenian maidens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur every nine years.