The labyrinth: Building, myth, and symbol

The focus of this paper is the labyrinth, something that can refer to three different entities: 1) a real building, since several labyrinths are mentioned in Egypt, Greece, Miletus and Italy by ancient authors and inscriptions, 2) an imaginary building, that is the building consisting of numerous halls connected by intricate and tortuous passages in which, according to the myth, the Cretan Minotaur was held, and 3) a widespread metaphor and symbol, a unique configuration with certain well-defined and rigid characteristics attested across the Mediterranean and beyond, from pre-history to the present day. The earliest evidence for each of the main values given to the “labyrinth” are reviewed, from the Mycenaean until the Hellenistic and Roman Times. The diachronic perspective is emphasized in order to outline transformation processes. Finally, this paper walks the demarcation line between the two points of view from which the labyrinth can be approached - the physical and the metaphysical - in order to clarify how and when it achieved a material presence and came to occupy a specific place in our mind.