Mazes and Labyrinths: A General Account of Their History and DevelopmentMatthews, W. H.
History
Mazes and Labyrinths: A General Account of Their History and Development
Matthews, W. H.
Labyrinths; Maze gardens
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:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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