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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I help

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<v Speaker 1>you drift off one fact at a time. I'm your host,

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<v Speaker 1>Benjamin Boster, and today's episode is about labyrinths in Greek mythology.

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<v Speaker 1>The labyrinth is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built

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<v Speaker 1>by the mythological artificer Dedalus for Team Minus of creed

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<v Speaker 1>at Nassus. Its function was to hold a minotaur, the

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<v Speaker 1>monster eventually killed by the hero Theseus. Didalus had so

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<v Speaker 1>cunningly made the labyrinth that he could barely escape it

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<v Speaker 1>after he built it. Although early cretent coins occasionally exhibit

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<v Speaker 1>branching multiicursal patterns, the single pass unit cursal's seven course

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<v Speaker 1>classical design without branching or dead ends became associated with

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<v Speaker 1>the labyrinths on coins as early as four hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>thirty BC, and similar non branching patterns became widely used

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<v Speaker 1>as visual representations of the labyrinth, even though both logical

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<v Speaker 1>and literary descriptions make it clear that the minotaur was

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<v Speaker 1>trapped in a complex branching maze. Even as the designs

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<v Speaker 1>became more elaborate, visual depictions of the mythological labyrinths from

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<v Speaker 1>the Roman era until the Renaissance are almost invariably unicursal

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<v Speaker 1>branching mazes were reintroduced only when hedge mazes became popular

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<v Speaker 1>during the Renaissance. In English, the term labyrinth is generally

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<v Speaker 1>synonymous with maize as a result of the long history

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<v Speaker 1>of unicursal representation of the mythological labyrinth. However, many contemporary

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<v Speaker 1>scholars and enthusiasts observe a distinction between the two. In

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<v Speaker 1>this specialized usage, maize refers to a complex, branching, multiicursal

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<v Speaker 1>puzzle with choices of path and direction, while a unicursal

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<v Speaker 1>labyrinth has only a single path to the center. A

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<v Speaker 1>labyrinth in this sense has an unambiguous route to the

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<v Speaker 1>center and back and presents no navigational challenge. Unicursal labyrinths

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<v Speaker 1>appeared as designs on pottery or basketry, as body art,

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<v Speaker 1>and an etchings on walls of caves or churches created

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<v Speaker 1>many primarily decorative unicursal designs on walls and floors in

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<v Speaker 1>tile or mosaic. Many labyrinths set in floors or on

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<v Speaker 1>the ground are large enough that the path can be walked.

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<v Speaker 1>Unicursal patterns have been used historically both in group ritual

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<v Speaker 1>and for private meditation, and are increasingly found for therapeutic

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<v Speaker 1>use in hospitals and hospices. Labyrinth is a word of

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<v Speaker 1>pre Greek origin whose derivation and meaning are uncertain. Maximilian

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<v Speaker 1>Mayer suggested in eighteen ninety two that labyrinthus might derive

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<v Speaker 1>from labras, a Lydian word for double bladed acts. Arthur Evans,

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<v Speaker 1>who excavated the Minoan palace of Nassus in crete early

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<v Speaker 1>in the twentieth century, suggested that the ruins there inspired

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<v Speaker 1>the story of the labyrinth, and since the double axe

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<v Speaker 1>motif appears in the palace ruins, he asserted that labyrinths

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<v Speaker 1>could be understood to mean the house of the double axe.

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<v Speaker 1>The same symbol, however, was discovered in other palaces in crete.

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<v Speaker 1>Nilsen observed that in crete the double axe is not

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<v Speaker 1>a weapon and always accompanies goddesses or women, and not

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<v Speaker 1>a male god. Pliny's Natural History gives four examples of

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<v Speaker 1>ancient labyrinths, the Cretan labyrinths, an Egyptian labyrinth, a Lemnian labyrinth,

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<v Speaker 1>and an Italian labyrinth. These are all complex undergrounds structures,

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<v Speaker 1>and this appears to have been the standard classical understanding

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<v Speaker 1>of the word. When the Bronze age side at Nassis

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<v Speaker 1>was excavated by archaeologist Arthur Evans, the complexity of the

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<v Speaker 1>architecture prompted him to suggest that the palace had been

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<v Speaker 1>the Labyrinths of Dedalus. Evans found various bold motifs, including

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<v Speaker 1>an image of a man leaping over the horns of

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<v Speaker 1>a bull, as well as depictions of labras carved into

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<v Speaker 1>the walls. On the strength of a passage in the Iliad,

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<v Speaker 1>it has been suggested that the palace was the site

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<v Speaker 1>of a dancing ground made by Ariadne by the craftsman Dedalus,

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<v Speaker 1>where young men and women of the age of those

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<v Speaker 1>sent to creed as prey for the minotaur would dance together.

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<v Speaker 1>By extension and popular legend, the palace is associated with

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<v Speaker 1>the myths of the minotaur. In the two thousands, archaeologists

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<v Speaker 1>explored other potential sites of the labyrinth. Oxford University geographer

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<v Speaker 1>Nicholas Howarth believes that evans hypothesis that the Palace of

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<v Speaker 1>Nassus is also the Labyrinth must be treated skeptically. Howarth

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<v Speaker 1>and his team conducted a surge of an underground complex

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<v Speaker 1>known as the Scotano cave, but concluded that it was

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<v Speaker 1>formed naturally. Another contender is a series of tunnels at Gorton,

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<v Speaker 1>accessed by a narrow crack, but expanding into interlinking caverns.

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<v Speaker 1>Unlike the Scordino Cave, these caverns have smooth walls and columns,

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<v Speaker 1>and appear to have been at least part human made.

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<v Speaker 1>This psy corresponds to a labyrinth symbol on a sixteenth

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<v Speaker 1>century map of Creed and a book of maps in

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<v Speaker 1>the Library of christ Church, Oxford. A map of the

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<v Speaker 1>caves themselves was produced by the French in eighteen twenty one.

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<v Speaker 1>Howurs investigation was shown on a documentary produced for the

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<v Speaker 1>National Geographic Channel. In book two of his histories, Herodotus

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<v Speaker 1>applies the term labyrinth to a building complex in Egypt,

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<v Speaker 1>near the place called the City of Crocodiles that he

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<v Speaker 1>considered to surpass the pyramids. The structure, which may have

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<v Speaker 1>been a collection of funerary temples such as are commonly

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<v Speaker 1>found near Egyptian pyramids, was destroyed in antiquity and can

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<v Speaker 1>only be partially reconstructed. During the nineteenth century, the remains

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<v Speaker 1>of this ancient Egyptian structure were discovered at Hawera and

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<v Speaker 1>Fayumawasis by Flinders Petrie at the foot of the pyramid

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<v Speaker 1>of the twelfth dynasty pharaoh Ammanin had the Third reigned

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<v Speaker 1>circa eighteen sixty b C. To circa eighteen fourteen b C.

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<v Speaker 1>Plenty of the Elder's Natural History lists the legendary Smilus,

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<v Speaker 1>reputed to be a contemporary of Diedalus, together with the

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<v Speaker 1>historical mid sixth century BC architects and sculptors Rocus and Theodorus,

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<v Speaker 1>as two of the makers of the Lemnian labyrinth. According

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<v Speaker 1>to Pliny, the tomb of Lars Porsena contained an underground maze.

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<v Speaker 1>Plenty's description of the exposed portion of the tomb is intractable. Plenty,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems clear, had not observed this structure himself, but

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<v Speaker 1>is quoting historian and Roman antiquarian Vara. A design essentially

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<v Speaker 1>identical to the seven course classical pattern appears in the

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<v Speaker 1>Tonoho Dasho culture of the Sonoran Desert. It features Eoe

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<v Speaker 1>the man in the maze. The Tonoho Dshan pattern has

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<v Speaker 1>two distinct differences from the classical It is radial in design,

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<v Speaker 1>and the entrance is at the top, where classical labyrinths

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<v Speaker 1>have the entrance at the bottom. The earliest appearances cannot

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<v Speaker 1>be dated securely. The oldest is commonly dated to the

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<v Speaker 1>seventeenth century. Unsubstantiated claims have been made for the early

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<v Speaker 1>appearance of labyrinth figures in India, such as a prehistoric

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<v Speaker 1>petroglyph on a river bank in Goa purportedly dating to

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<v Speaker 1>circle twenty five hundred BC. Other examples have been found

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<v Speaker 1>among cave art in northern India and on a Dolman

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<v Speaker 1>shrine in Thenlgri Mountains, but are difficult to date accurately.

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<v Speaker 1>Securely datable examples begin to appear only around two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty b C. Early labyrinths in India typically follow

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<v Speaker 1>the classical pattern or a local variant of it. Some

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<v Speaker 1>have been described as plans of forts or cities. Labyrinths

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<v Speaker 1>appear in Indian manuscripts from the seventeenth century onward. They

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<v Speaker 1>are often called Chakravuha in reference to an impregnable battle

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<v Speaker 1>formation described in the ancient mah Bahata epic. Lanka. The

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<v Speaker 1>capital city of mesek Ravana is described as a labyrinth

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteen ten translation of Alberuni's India by the

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<v Speaker 1>White Sea. Notably in the Solovetsky Islands, there have been

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<v Speaker 1>preserved more than thirty stone labyrinths. The most remarkable monument

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<v Speaker 1>is the stone labyrinth of Bolshoi Zaatsky Island, a group

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<v Speaker 1>of some thirteen stone labyrinths on point four square kilometer

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<v Speaker 1>area of one small island. Local archeologists have speculated that

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<v Speaker 1>these labyrinths may be two thousand to three thousand years old.

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<v Speaker 1>The most researchers remain dubious. The seven course classical or

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<v Speaker 1>Cretan pattern, known from Cretan coins, circle of four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>to two hundred b c appears in several examples from antiquity,

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<v Speaker 1>some perhaps as early as the Late Stone Age or

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<v Speaker 1>early Bronze Age. Roman floor mosaics typically unite four copies

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<v Speaker 1>of the classical labyrinth or a similar pattern, and are

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<v Speaker 1>linked around the center, squared off as the medium requires,

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<v Speaker 1>but still recognizable. An image of the minotaur or an

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<v Speaker 1>allusion to the legend of the minotaur appears at the

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<v Speaker 1>center of many of these mosaic labyrinths. The four axis

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<v Speaker 1>medieval patterns may have developed from the Roman model, but

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<v Speaker 1>are more varied in how the four quadrants of the

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<v Speaker 1>design are traced down. The minotaur or other danger is

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<v Speaker 1>retained in the center of several medieval examples. The Shartra pattern,

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<v Speaker 1>named for its appearance in the Shartra Cathedral, is a

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<v Speaker 1>most common medieval design. It appears in manuscripts as early

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<v Speaker 1>as the ninth century. When the early humanist Benso de

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<v Speaker 1>Lessandria visited Verona before thirteen ten, he noted the labyrinthum,

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<v Speaker 1>which is now called the Arena. Perhaps he was seen

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<v Speaker 1>the cubicle beneath the arena's missing floor. The full flowering

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<v Speaker 1>of the medieval labyrinth came about from the twelfth through

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<v Speaker 1>fourteenth centuries with the grand pavement labyrinths of the Gothic cathedrals,

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<v Speaker 1>notably Chartre, Reronce and Amiens in northern France. Thembolism or

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<v Speaker 1>purpose behind these is unclear and may have varied from

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<v Speaker 1>one installation to the next. Descriptions survive of French clerics

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<v Speaker 1>performing a ritual Easter dance along the paths on Easter Sunday.

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<v Speaker 1>Some labyrinths may have originated as allusions to the Holy City,

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<v Speaker 1>and some modern writers have theorized that prayers and devotions

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<v Speaker 1>may have accompanied their parambulations of their intricate paths. Although

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<v Speaker 1>some books in particular guide books suggest that the mazes

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<v Speaker 1>on cathedral floors served as substitutes for pilgrimage paths. The

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<v Speaker 1>earliest attested use of the phrase path to Jerusalem dates

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<v Speaker 1>to the late eighteenth century, when it was used to

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<v Speaker 1>describe mazes at Ronz and Saint Omer. The accompanying ritual

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<v Speaker 1>depicted in Romantic illustrations as involving pilgrims following the maize

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<v Speaker 1>on their knees, while praying may have been practiced as

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<v Speaker 1>schartra during the seventeenth century. The cathedral labyrinths are sought

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<v Speaker 1>to be the inspiration for the many turf mazes in

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<v Speaker 1>the UK, such as survive at wing Hild in Opera

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<v Speaker 1>and saffron Walden. Over the same general periods, some five

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<v Speaker 1>hundred or more non ecclesiastical labyrinths were constructed in Scandinavia.

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<v Speaker 1>These labyrinths, generally in coastal areas, are marked out with stones,

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<v Speaker 1>most often in the simple seven or eleven course classical forms.

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<v Speaker 1>They often have names which translate as Troy Town. They

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<v Speaker 1>are thought to have been constructed by fishing communities. Trapping

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<v Speaker 1>malevolent rolls or winds in the labyrinth coils might ensure

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<v Speaker 1>a safe fishing expedition. There are also stone labyrinths on

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<v Speaker 1>the Isle of Scilly, although none is known to date

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<v Speaker 1>from before the nineteenth century. There are examples of labyrinths

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<v Speaker 1>and many disparate cultures. The symbol has appeared in various

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<v Speaker 1>forms and media petroglyphs, classic form, medieval form, pavement, turf

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<v Speaker 1>and basketry at some time throughout most parts of the world,

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<v Speaker 1>from native North and South America to Australia, Java, India

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<v Speaker 1>and Nepal. Starting in the late twentieth century, there has

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<v Speaker 1>been a resurgence of interest in labyrinths and a revival

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<v Speaker 1>in labyrinths building of both universal and multicursal patterns. Approximately

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<v Speaker 1>six thousand labyrinths have been registered with the Worldwide Labyrinth Locator.

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<v Speaker 1>These are located around the world in private properties, libraries, schools,

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<v Speaker 1>gardens and recreational areas, as well as famous temples and cathedrals.

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Wallingers created a set of two hundred and seventy

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<v Speaker 1>enamel plaques of unicursal labyrinth designs, one for every tube

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<v Speaker 1>station in the London Underground to mark the one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fiftieth anniversary of the Underground. The plaques were installed

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<v Speaker 1>over a sixteen month period in twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen,

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<v Speaker 1>and each is numbered according to its position in the

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<v Speaker 1>route taken by the contestants and the two thousand nine

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<v Speaker 1>Guinness World Record Tube Challenge. Prehistoric labyrinths may have served

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<v Speaker 1>as traps for malevolent spirits or as paths for ritual dances.

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<v Speaker 1>Many Roman and Christian labyrinths appear at the entrances of buildings,

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<v Speaker 1>suggesting that they may have served a similar apotrophic purpose,

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<v Speaker 1>and their cross cultural study of signs and symbols patterns

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<v Speaker 1>that can act. Karl Schuster and Edmund Carpenter present various

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<v Speaker 1>forms of the labyrinth and suggest various possible meanings, including

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<v Speaker 1>not only a sacred path to the home of a

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<v Speaker 1>sacred ancestor, but also perhaps a representation of the ancestor

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<v Speaker 1>him or herself. Many New World Indians who make the

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<v Speaker 1>labyrinths regarded as a sacred symbol, a beneficial ancestor a deity.

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<v Speaker 1>In this they may be preserving its original meaning, the

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<v Speaker 1>ultimate ancestor here evoked by two continuous lines joining its

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<v Speaker 1>twelve primary joints. Schuster also observes a common theme of

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<v Speaker 1>the labyrinths being a refuge for a trickster. In India,

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<v Speaker 1>the demon Ravenna has dominion over labyrinths. The trickster Jnaha

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<v Speaker 1>lives in a labyrinth, according to Sumatron Bottocks and Europeans

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<v Speaker 1>say it is the home of a rogue. One can

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<v Speaker 1>think of labyrinths as symbolic of pilgrimage people walking the

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<v Speaker 1>path ascend towards salvation or enlightenment. Mystical teachings and traditions

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<v Speaker 1>across sentries suggests that they may also be understood as

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<v Speaker 1>coded maps of the spiritual path. Labyrinth walking is a

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<v Speaker 1>form of active meditation in which one navigates the labyrinths

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<v Speaker 1>for meditative or therapeutic purposes. Modern labyrinths have been built

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<v Speaker 1>in places of rehabilitation, such as prisons and hospitals, to

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<v Speaker 1>be used in this way. While this activity is often

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<v Speaker 1>connected with a religious practice, it has been introduced into

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<v Speaker 1>medical settings for spiritual and secular usage alike. Some phaith

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<v Speaker 1>based researchers have claimed that labyrinth walking can help calm

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<v Speaker 1>the mind and guide people through internal growth, while secular

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<v Speaker 1>studies regarding its effectiveness and reducing stress are still ongoing.

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<v Speaker 1>Labyrinths have on various occasions been used in Christian tradition

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<v Speaker 1>as a part of worship. The earliest known example is

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<v Speaker 1>from a fourth century pavement of the basilica of Saint

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<v Speaker 1>Reparatus at Orleansville, Algeria. Was the words sunct Ecclesia at

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<v Speaker 1>the center, though it is unclear how it might have

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<v Speaker 1>been used in worship in medieval times. Labyrinths began to

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<v Speaker 1>appear on church walls and floors around one thousand a d.

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<v Speaker 1>The most famous medieval labyrinths, with great influence on later practice,

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<v Speaker 1>was created in Shartra Cathedral. The use of labyrinths has

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<v Speaker 1>recently been revived in some contexts of Christian worship. Many

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<v Speaker 1>churches in Europe and North America have constructed permanent, typically

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<v Speaker 1>unicursal labyrinths or employed temporary ones e g. Painted on

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<v Speaker 1>canvas or outlined with candles. For example, a labyrinth was

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<v Speaker 1>set upon the floor of Saint Paul's Cathedral for a

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<v Speaker 1>week in March two thousand. Labyrinths and mazes have been

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<v Speaker 1>embraced by the video game industry, and countless video games

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<v Speaker 1>include such a feature. For example, the nineteen ninety four

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<v Speaker 1>video game Maraison features many maze like passages. The player

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<v Speaker 1>must navigate a number of film, game and music creations

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<v Speaker 1>feature labyrinths. For instance, the avant garde multi screen film

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<v Speaker 1>In the Labyrinth presents a search for meaning in a

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<v Speaker 1>symbolic modern labyrinth. The well received two thousand six film

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<v Speaker 1>Pans Labyrinth draws heavily upon Labyrinth's legend for symbolism. A

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<v Speaker 1>magical labyrinth appears in the third episode, and the horns

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<v Speaker 1>of a Dilemma of the Librarians. The cold classic film

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<v Speaker 1>by Jim Henson Labyrinth nineteen eighty six. Film features an

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<v Speaker 1>enormous other worldly maids which a young woman must traverse

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<v Speaker 1>to save her younger brother. The Argentine writer Porte Luis

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<v Speaker 1>Borges was entranced with the idea of the labyrinth and

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<v Speaker 1>used it extensively in his short stories, such as The

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<v Speaker 1>House of Astyrion in the oliph His use of it

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<v Speaker 1>has inspired other authors. Additionally, Roger Zelsny's fantasy series The

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<v Speaker 1>Chronicles of Amber features a labyrinth called the Pattern, which

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<v Speaker 1>grants those who walk at the power to move between

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<v Speaker 1>parallel worlds. In Rick reardon series Percy Jackson and the Olympians,

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<v Speaker 1>the events of the fourth novel, The Battle of the Labyrinth,

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<v Speaker 1>predominantly take place within the Labyrinth of Diedalus, which has

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<v Speaker 1>followed the Heart of the West to settle beneath the

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<v Speaker 1>United States. Ursula. Gwynn used an underground labyrinth in the

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<v Speaker 1>second book of her Earth Sea series, The Tombs of Attwin,

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<v Speaker 1>in which the series hero ged is captured by the

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<v Speaker 1>book's protagonist Tenor on his trip to the Cargish Empire.

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<v Speaker 1>The spiritual power of the Nameless Ones is vested, at

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<v Speaker 1>least in part, in the labyrinths. Australian author Sarah Douglas

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<v Speaker 1>incorporated some labyrinthine ideas in her series The Troy Game,

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<v Speaker 1>in which the labyrinth on Crete is one of several

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<v Speaker 1>in the ancient world created with the cities as a

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<v Speaker 1>source of magical power. Lawrence Durrell's The Dark Labyrinth depicts

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<v Speaker 1>travelers trapped underground and creed because the labyrinth can serve

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<v Speaker 1>as a metaphor for situations that are difficult to be

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<v Speaker 1>extricated from. Octaviopause titled his book on Mexican identity The

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<v Speaker 1>Labyrinth of Solitude, describing the Mexican condition as orphaned and

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<v Speaker 1>lost