A term labyrinth is typically utilized interchangeably by owning maze, however the maze occurs as tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage, by having options of path & counsel, when one-path ("unicursal") labyrinth has lone one, Eulerian path to the centre. The labyrinth has an unambiguous across-route to the centre & back & is non designed to become hard to navigate.

Ancient labyrinths
Labyrinth occurs as word of pre-Greek ("Pelasgian") origin absorbed by classical Greek, & is apparently related labrys, a word for the archaic iconic "double axe", using -inthos connoting "place" (when around "Corinth"). A complex palace of Knossos in Crete is usually implicated, though a actual dancing-ground, depicted within frescoed system at Knossos, has non been discovered. Something was existence shown to visitant as a labyrinth at Knossos in the First century AD (Philostratos, De vita Apollonii Tyanei iv.34, noted inorth Kerenyi, p 101 n. 171)

A oldest known examples of the labyrinth project come little elementary petroglyphs (incised stones) perhaps dating back 3000 years. These spiralling labyrinth-pattern petroglyphs come incurred around many web pages through the world, from either Syria to Ireland.

Greek mythology did non recall, still, that within Crete there was the Lady world health organization presided across a Labyrinth. The tablet inscribed within Linear B found at Knossos records a gift "to all the gods honey; to the mistress of the labyrinth honey." All a gods together receive when much honey as the Mistress of the Labyrinth alone. "She must have been a Great Goddess", Kerenyi observes (Kerenyi 1976 p 91).

That the Cretan labyrinth got been a dancing-ground & was work Ariadne rather than for Minos was remembered by Homer in Iliad xviii.590–593 where, in the pattern that Hephaestus inscribed on Achilles' shield, 1 incident pictured was the dancing-ground "like the one that Daedalus designed in the spacious town of Knossos for Ariadne of the lovely locks". Possibly a labyrinth dance was depicted on the shield, in which "youths and marriageable maidens were dancing on it with their hands on one another's wrists... circling as smoothly on their accomplished feet as the wheel of a potter...and there they ran in lines to meet each other."

A labyrinth is the referent in the familiar Greek system of the endlessly going meander, to give the "Greek key" its most common modern title. In the 3rd century BC coins from Knossos come however stricken by using a labyrinth symbol. A predominant labyrinth form when you took this cycle is a elementary 7-circuit style called the authoritative labyrinth (illustration).

A term labyrinth come to exist as applied to any unicursal maze, whether of the particular round shape (illustration) or even rendered when square. At the center, a decisive turn brought of these retired once again. In the Socratic dialogue that Plato produced as Euthydemus, Socrates describes the mazy line of the logical argument: "So, the present-contemporary notion of a labyrinth as a place in which a single may lose 1's way must become placed aside. These are a confusing path, tough to watch while forgoing the thread, however, provided of these is non devoured at the center, it leads certainly, despite twists & turns, back to the beginning." (Kerenyi p 91).

In Antiquity the more complicated labyrinth pattern familiar from medieval examples was already developed. In Roman floor mosaics the simple classical labyrinth is framed in the meander border pattern, squared off as the medium requires, but still recognisable. Often an image of a bull-man, a minotaur, appears in the centre of these mosaic labyrinths. Roman meander patterns gradually developed in complexity towards the four-fold shape that is now familiarly known as the medieval form. The labyrinth retains its connection with death and a triumphant return: At Hadrumentum in North Africa, a Roman family tomb has a fourfold labyrinth mosaic floor, with a dying Minotaur in the center and a mosaic inscription: HICINCLUSUS.VITAMPERDIT "Enclosed on this text, he loses life" (Kerenyi, fig.31).

The full flowering of the medieval labyrinth design came about during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries with the grand pavement labyrinths of the gothic cathedrals, most notably Chartres and Amiens in Northern France and Siena in Tuscany. It is this version of the design that is thought to be the inspiration for the many secular turf labyrinths in the UK, such as survive at Wing, Rutland, Hilton, Cambridgeshire, the Alkborough Turf Maze, and at Saffron Walden in Essex.

Over the same period some 500 or more non-ecclesiastical labyrinths were constructed in Scandinavia. These labyrinths, generally in coastal areas, are marked out with stones most often in the simple classical form. They are thought to have been constructed by early fishing communities, to trap malevolent trolls/winds in the labyrinth's coils in order to ensure a safe fishing expedition. There are also stone labyrinths on the Isles of Scilly, although none of them are known to date back as far as the Scandinavian ones.

There are remarkable examples of the labyrinth shape from a whole range of ancient and disparate cultures. The symbol has appeared in all forms and media (petroglyphs, classic-form, medieval-form, pavement, turf and basketry) at some time, throughout most parts of the world, from Java, Native North and South America, Australia, India and Nepal.

Modern labyrinths

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the labyrinth symbol, which has inspired a revival in labyrinth building notably at Willen Park, Milton Keynes; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; Tapton Park, Chesterfield; and the Labyrinthe de Harbor 16 in Montreal.

Countless computer games depict mazes and labyrinths.

Modern interpretations of the Greek labyrinth
In modern imagery, the labyrinth is often confused with the maze, in which one may become lost.

The myth of the labyrinth has in recent times transformed into a stage play by Ilinka Crvenkovska in which exploring notions of a man's ability to control his own fate, Theseus in an act of suicide is killed by the Minotaur only to be killed himself by the horrified towns people.

The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges was entranced with the idea of the labyrinth, and used it extensively throughout his short stories. His modern literary use of the labyrinth has inspired a great many other authors in their own works (e.g. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves).

Cultural meanings

Cultural meaning and interpretation of the labyrinth as a symbol is quite interesting. Shortly put, prehistoric labyrinths serve either as traps for malevolent spirits or as defined paths for ritual dances. During Medieval times the labyrinth symbolized a hard path to the God with a clearly defined center (God) and one entrance (birth). Starting from the Renaissance labyrinths lose their central point: the person in the labyrinth is its center, a reflection of humanistic teachings. At last, nowadays the labyrinths moved into higher layers of reality, the Internet with its hypertext feature being a good example (the symbol of labyrinth merges with a symbol of book). Mazes often play a major role in modern computer games, e.g. the Lara Croft series.