Daedalus Labyrinth walkthrough. Labyrinth as a cult dance

Medieval scientists considered Daedalus' labyrinth to be the most complex labyrinth ever created.
According to legend, Daedalus created this labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur in it.
Daedalus very cleverly used psychological factors of behavior that the probability of escaping from the labyrinth is practically zero.

If the passages of this labyrinth were a meter wide, and the walls were 30 centimeters thick, the only path leading out of it would be more than a kilometer long. Most likely, any person would rather die of hunger or thirst before finding a way out.

For my long history The Cretan labyrinth was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and in 1380 BC it was destroyed and completely abandoned, until the English archaeologist A. Evans discovered a mysterious hieroglyphic letter in the Oxford Museum. The letter spoke of an ancient labyrinth. In 1900, an archaeologist arrived in Crete and began excavations.

Arthur Evans carried out excavations for almost 30 years and unearthed not a city, but a palace equal in area to the entire city. This was the famous Knossos labyrinth, which was a structure with a total area of 22 thousand square meters. square meters, which had at least 5-6 above-ground levels-floors connected by passages and stairs, and whole line underground crypts. The Cretan labyrinth turned out to be not an invention of the ancients, but a real miracle of architecture, in which there was something incomprehensible to the mind.

The labyrinth is real Myth, this is a story about heroes and events that historical science does not recognize them as real, but considers them as symbols.

We believe that at the heart of any myth, any image, any symbolic narrative lies reality, even if not always historical. Myth accurately describes psychological reality: human experiences, mental processes and forms are hidden behind symbols that have been passed down from generation to generation and have finally reached us so that we can unravel them, remove the veil from them and see them again hidden meaning, realized their deep essence.

The myth of the Labyrinth is one of the oldest, and, I dare say, it is similar to the myths of all ancient civilizations, which say that the labyrinth is a difficult and unclear path, on whose complex and winding paths it is easy to get lost. Sometimes the story of this myth is woven into the plot of an extraordinary man, about a hero or mythical character who overcomes a labyrinth and finds the key to solving a riddle presented to him in the form of a path.

When we talk about labyrinths, we immediately remember the most famous of them, about which evidence has been preserved in Greek mythology- in a simple and accessible form, close to a children's fairy tale: the labyrinth of the island of Crete. I don't want to talk about it in the same simplified way as it is done in famous legends, we will open its deeper layers and analyze archaeological finds, made in Crete to understand what the Cretans worshiped and what the labyrinth really was for them. And we will see how this story will take on a complex symbolic form, and it will no longer seem so childish to us.

Knossos Labyrinth

Here's his story. When Ares-Dionysus, the god of primordial times, is very ancient god, descended to earth, nothing had yet been created, nothing had yet taken shape, there was only darkness, darkness. But, according to legend, Ares-Dionysus was given a weapon from heaven, Labrys, and it was with this tool, with this weapon, that he created the world.

Labyrinth of Daedalus

Ares-Dionysus began to walk in the middle of the darkness, describing circle after circle. (This is quite interesting, because modern science discovered that when we find ourselves in the dark in an unfamiliar room or trying to leave some spacious but unlit place, we most often begin to walk in circles; the same thing happens when we get lost or wander through the forest. We gave such a comparison because from the very beginning we want to emphasize that the symbolism of the labyrinth is associated with certain atavisms inherent in humans.)

And so Ares-Dionysus began to walk in a circle, cutting through the darkness and cutting furrows with his axe. The road that he cut, which became brighter with every step, is called the “labyrinth,” that is, “the path cut by Labrys.”

When Ares-Dionysus, cutting through the darkness, reached the very center, the goal of his path, he suddenly saw that he no longer had the ax that he had at the beginning. His ax turned into pure light - he held in his hands a flame, fire, a torch, which brightly illuminated everything around, for God performed a double miracle: with one edge of the ax he cut through the darkness outside, and with the other - his inner darkness. In the same way that he created light outside, he created light within himself; just as he cut the outer path, he cut the inner path. And when Ares-Dionysus reached the center of the labyrinth, he reached end point his path: he reached the light, achieved inner perfection.

This is the symbolism Cretan myth about the labyrinth, the oldest that has come down to us. We know later legends much better.

The most famous of them is the myth of the mysterious labyrinth created by Daedalus, an amazing architect and inventor from ancient Crete, whose name is now always associated with a labyrinth, a confusing path.

The name Daedalus, or Dactyl as it is sometimes called, is ancient language Greek means “He who creates”, “He who works with his hands, builds”. Daedalus is a symbol of the builder, but not just the creator of the complex of parks and palaces, which was the labyrinth of King Minos, but the builder in more in a deep sense words, perhaps similar to the symbolism of the very first deity, who built the Labyrinth of Light in the darkness.

The Labyrinth of Daedalus was neither an underground structure nor something dark and twisting; This was huge complex houses, palaces and parks, designed in such a way that whoever entered it could not find a way out. The point is not that Daedalus's labyrinth was terrible, but that it was impossible to escape from it.

Daedalus built this labyrinth for the Cretan king Minos, almost legendary character, whose name allows us to get acquainted with the very ancient traditions of all the peoples of that era.

Minos lived in a fairytale palace, and he had a wife, Pasiphae, because of whom all the drama associated with the labyrinth played out.

However, as he says greek myth, it so happened that Minos’s wife fell hopelessly in love with a white bull, dreamed only of him and wanted only him. Not knowing how to approach him, she asked Daedalus, the great builder, to build a huge bronze cow, beautiful and attractive, so that the bull would feel attracted, while Pasiphae would hide inside her.

And then a real tragedy unfolds: Daedalus creates a cow, Pasiphae hides in it, the bull approaches the cow, and from this strange union of a woman and a bull, a half-bull, half-man appears - the Minotaur. This monster, this monster settled in the center of the labyrinth, which at the same moment turned from a complex of parks and palaces into a gloomy place inspiring fear and sadness, into an eternal reminder of the misfortune of the king of Crete.

Some ancient legends, in addition to the Cretan ones, preserved a less simplified interpretation of the tragedy of Pasiphae and the White Bull.

For example, in the legends of pre-Columbian America and India there are references to the fact that millions of years ago, at a certain stage of human evolution, people lost their way and mixed with animals, and because of this perversion and violation of the laws of nature, real monsters appeared on earth, hybrids that are difficult to even describe. They inspired fear not only because, like the Minotaur, they possessed evil temper; they bore the mark of shame from a union that should never have taken place, from a secret that should not have been revealed until all these events were erased from the memory of mankind.

So, the connection of Pasiphae with the Bull and the birth of the Minotaur is related to the ancient races and to those ancient events that at a certain moment were erased from people’s memory.

On the other hand, the monster, the Minotaur, is a blind, amorphous matter without reason or purpose that lurks in the center of the labyrinth, awaiting sacrifice from its benefactor.

Years pass, the legend continues, and the Minotaur in his labyrinth truly turns into something terrifying. The king of Crete, having defeated the Athenians in the war, imposes a terrible tribute on them: every nine years they must send seven young men and seven innocent girls as sacrifices to the Minotaur. When the deadline for paying the third tribute comes, a hero with all the virtues, Theseus, rebels against it in Athens. He makes a promise to himself not to accept rule of the city until he frees it from the scourge, until he kills the Minotaur.

In simple and naive stories, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a sword, sometimes with a dagger. But in the most ancient narratives, as well as in images on ancient Attic vases, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a double-bladed axe. And again the hero, having made his way through the labyrinth, having reached the center, performs a miracle with the help of Labrys, a double axe.

We have to solve one more riddle: Ariadne gives Theseus not a ball, but a spindle with threads. And, penetrating into the depths of the labyrinth, Theseus unwinds it. But the hero returns to the exit, picking up the thread and rewinding it again, and from the labyrinth he actually takes out a ball - a perfectly round ball. This symbol also cannot be called new. The spindle with which Theseus goes into the labyrinth symbolizes his imperfection inner world, which he must “unfold”, that is, pass a series of tests. The ball that he creates by picking up the thread is the perfection that he achieved by putting the Minotaur to death, which means passing the tests and emerging from the labyrinth.

There were many labyrinths, just like Theseus. They are also available in Spain. All along the way to Santiago de Compostella and throughout Galicia there is an endless variety of ancient images labyrinths on the stone that call the pilgrim to take the path to Santiago and walk this road, and they directly indicate to us that in their symbolic and spiritual meaning this path is a labyrinth.

In England, the famous Tintagel Castle, where, according to legend, King Arthur was born, also has its own labyrinths.

We also find them in India, where they were a symbol of reflection, concentration, and turning to the true center.

IN Ancient Egypt In the ancient city of Abydos, founded almost in the predynastic period, there was a labyrinth, which was a round temple. In its galleries, ceremonies were held to commemorate time, evolution, and the endless roads that man traveled before reaching the center, which meant meeting the true man.

According to the history of Egypt, the labyrinth of Abydos was, apparently, only a very small part of the huge labyrinth described by Herodotus, who considered the Egyptian labyrinth so colossal, amazing and unimaginable that even Great Pyramid.

Today we can no longer see this labyrinth; we only have the testimony of Herodotus. For many centuries, for the peculiarities of his presentation, people called him the father of history, Herodotus the truthful, and gave many more similar names, but when not all of his descriptions were confirmed, we naturally decided that Herodotus was not always confident in his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of its descriptions that it is probably worth being patient and waiting in case archaeologists discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about.

There were many labyrinths in the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. One of the most famous, images of which are quite common, is the labyrinth laid out on the stone floor of the main cathedral in Chartres. It was created not for anyone to get lost in it, but for it to be followed: it was a kind of path of initiation, a path of accomplishment and a path of achievement that the candidate, the student, the one who aspired to be had to overcome. accepted into the Mysteries.

Indeed, it is extremely difficult to get lost in the labyrinth of Chartres: all its roads are purely symbolic, all turns and crossroads are visible. The most important thing here is to reach the center, a square stone on which the various constellations are marked with nails. For a person, this allegorically means to reach Heaven and become on a par with the deities.

It is very likely that all such myths of antiquity and all the symbolic labyrinths of Gothic cathedrals reflect not so much historical reality as much as psychological. And the psychological reality of the labyrinth is still alive today. If in ancient times they spoke of the initiatory labyrinth as a path through which a person could realize himself, today we must talk about a material and psychological labyrinth.

It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we encounter in life, how we live and how we express ourselves - all this is part of one labyrinth. The difficulty is different: those who found themselves in Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered a labyrinth; so are we in ours Everyday life We don’t realize that we are in a labyrinth that pulls a person into itself.

WITH psychological point From a perspective, the confusion of Theseus, who longed to kill the Minotaur, is of the same nature as the confusion of a man who is confused and frightened.

We are afraid because we don’t know something and we can’t do it; we are afraid because we don’t understand something and because of this we feel insecure. Our fear usually manifests itself in the fact that we cannot choose, we do not know where to go, what to devote our lives to; it manifests itself in eternal routine and mediocrity, exhausting and sad: we are ready to do anything, just not to make a decision and not show at least a little firmness.

Confusion is another disease that haunts us in the modern labyrinth of psychologically. This confusion arises because it is very difficult for us to decide who we are, where we came from and where we are going. These three questions are main reason our confusion, although they are so simple and ingenuous that they seem childish to us. Is there any meaning in our lives other than constant confusion? Why do we work and why do we study? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how to recognize it?

From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters or narrow corridors in it, traps constantly await us.

And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were to look for a way out of it empty-handed. Theseus takes two objects with him: an ax (or a sword, whichever you prefer) to kill the monster, and a spindle with thread, his ball, to find his way back.

According to legend, this labyrinth was built by Daedalus in order to imprison the Minotaur in it. Medieval scientists considered this labyrinth the most complex ever created.

Mathematical odds getting out of there is extremely small, Daedalus used psychological factors of behavior so cleverly that the likelihood of escaping from the labyrinth is practically zero.

Arthur Evans carried out excavations for almost 30 years and unearthed not a city, but a palace equal in area to the entire city. This was the famous Knossos labyrinth, which was a structure with a total area of 22 thousand square meters, which had at least 5-6 above-ground floors connected by passages and stairs, and a number of underground crypts. The Cretan labyrinth turned out to be not an invention of the ancients, but a real miracle of architecture, in which there was something incomprehensible to the mind.

The Labyrinth is a real Myth, it is a story about heroes and events that historical science does not recognize as real, but considers as symbols.

We believe that at the heart of any myth, any image, any symbolic narrative lies reality, even if not always historical. Myth accurately describes psychological reality: human experiences, mental processes and forms are hidden behind symbols that have been passed down from generation to generation and have finally reached us so that we can unravel them, lift the veil from them and again see their innermost meaning, realize their deep essence.

The myth of the Labyrinth is one of the oldest, and, I dare say, it is similar to the myths of all ancient civilizations, which say that the labyrinth is a difficult and unclear path, on whose complex and winding paths it is easy to get lost. Sometimes the plot of this myth is woven into the story of an extraordinary person, a hero or a mythical character who overcomes a labyrinth and finds the key to solving a riddle that appears before him in the form of a path.

When we talk about labyrinths, we immediately remember the most famous of them, about which evidence has been preserved in Greek mythology - in a simple and accessible form, close to a children's fairy tale: the labyrinth of the island of Crete. I don’t want to talk about it in the same simplified way as is done in well-known legends, we will open its deeper layers and analyze the archaeological finds made in Crete in order to understand what the Cretans worshiped and what the labyrinth really was for them. And we will see how this story will take on a complex symbolic form, and it will no longer seem so childish to us.

Knossos Labyrinth

Here's his story. When Ares-Dionysus, the god of primordial times, a very ancient god, descended to earth, nothing had yet been created, nothing had yet taken shape, there was only darkness, darkness. But, according to legend, Ares-Dionysus was given a weapon from heaven, Labrys, and it was with this tool, with this weapon, that he created the world.

Labyrinth of Daedalus

When Ares-Dionysus, cutting through the darkness, reached the very center, the goal of his path, he suddenly saw that he no longer had the ax that he had at the beginning. His ax turned into pure light - he held in his hands a flame, fire, a torch, which brightly illuminated everything around, for God performed a double miracle: with one edge of the ax he cut through the darkness outside, and with the other - his inner darkness. In the same way that he created light outside, he created light within himself; just as he cut the outer path, he cut the inner path. And when Ares-Dionysus reached the center of the labyrinth, he reached the end point of his path: he reached the light, achieved inner perfection.

This is the symbolism of the Cretan myth of the labyrinth, the oldest that has come down to us. We know later legends much better.

The name Daedalus, or Dactyl as it is sometimes called, in the ancient language of the Greeks means “He who creates,” “He who works with his hands, builds.” Daedalus is a symbol of the builder, but not just the creator of the complex of parks and palaces, which was the labyrinth of King Minos, but the builder in a deeper sense of the word, perhaps similar to the symbolism of the very first deity, who built the Labyrinth of Light in the darkness.

Daedalus built this labyrinth for the Cretan king Minos, an almost legendary character, whose name allows us to get acquainted with the very ancient traditions of all the peoples of that era.

Minos lived in a fairytale palace, and he had a wife, Pasiphae, because of whom all the drama associated with the labyrinth played out.

However, as the Greek myth says, it so happened that the wife of Minos fell hopelessly in love with a white bull, dreamed only of him and desired only him. Not knowing how to approach him, she asked Daedalus, the great builder, to build a huge bronze cow, beautiful and attractive, so that the bull would feel attracted, while Pasiphae would hide inside her.

Some ancient legends, in addition to the Cretan ones, preserved a less simplified interpretation of the tragedy of Pasiphae and the White Bull.

For example, in the legends of pre-Columbian America and India there are references to the fact that millions of years ago, at a certain stage of human evolution, people lost their way and mixed with animals, and because of this perversion and violation of the laws of nature, real monsters appeared on earth, hybrids that are difficult to even describe. They inspired fear not only because, like the Minotaur, they had an evil disposition; they bore the mark of shame from a union that should never have taken place, from a secret that should not have been revealed until all these events were erased from the memory of mankind.

So, the connection of Pasiphae with the Bull and the birth of the Minotaur is related to the ancient races and to those ancient events that at a certain moment were erased from people’s memory.

On the other hand, the monster, the Minotaur, is a blind, amorphous matter without reason or purpose that lurks in the center of the labyrinth, awaiting sacrifice from its benefactor.

We have to solve one more riddle: Ariadne gives Theseus not a ball, but a spindle with threads. And, penetrating into the depths of the labyrinth, Theseus unwinds it. But the hero returns to the exit, picking up the thread and rewinding it again, and from the labyrinth he actually takes out a ball - a perfectly round ball. This symbol also cannot be called new. The spindle with which Theseus goes into the labyrinth symbolizes the imperfection of his inner world, which he must “unfold,” that is, pass a series of tests. The ball that he creates by picking up the thread is the perfection that he achieved by putting the Minotaur to death, which means passing the tests and emerging from the labyrinth.

There were many labyrinths, just like Theseus. They are also available in Spain. Along the entire path to Santiago de Compostella and throughout Galicia, there are an infinite number of ancient images of labyrinths on stone that invite the pilgrim to take the path to Santiago and walk this road, and they directly indicate to us that in their symbolic and spiritual meaning this the path is a labyrinth.

In England, the famous Tintagel Castle, where, according to legend, King Arthur was born, also has its own labyrinths.

We also find them in India, where they were a symbol of reflection, concentration, and turning to the true center.

In Ancient Egypt, in the ancient city of Abydos, founded almost in the predynastic period, there was a labyrinth, which was a round temple. In its galleries, ceremonies were held to commemorate time, evolution, and the endless roads that man traveled before reaching the center, which meant meeting the true man.

According to the history of Egypt, the labyrinth of Abydos was apparently only a very small part of the huge labyrinth described by Herodotus, who considered the Egyptian labyrinth so colossal, amazing and unimaginable that even the Great Pyramid pales next to it.

It is very likely that all such myths of antiquity and all the symbolic labyrinths of Gothic cathedrals reflect not so much historical reality as psychological reality. And the psychological reality of the labyrinth is still alive today. If in ancient times they spoke of the initiatory labyrinth as a path through which a person could realize himself, today we must talk about a material and psychological labyrinth.

It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we encounter in life, how we live and how we express ourselves - all this is part of one labyrinth. The difficulty is different: those who found themselves in Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered a labyrinth; so in our daily life we do not realize that we are in a labyrinth that draws a person into itself.

From a psychological point of view, the confusion of Theseus, who longed to kill the Minotaur, is of the same nature as the confusion of a person who is confused and afraid.

Confusion is another disease that haunts us in the modern labyrinth on the psychological plane. This confusion arises because it is very difficult for us to decide who we are, where we came from and where we are going. These three questions are the main reason for our confusion, although they are so simple and ingenuous that they seem childish to us. Is there any meaning in our lives other than constant confusion? Why do we work and why do we study? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how to recognize it?

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September 23rd, 2013

Scientists rank the Cretan culture as one of the most mysterious in world history. Until the 30s of the XX century. practically nothing was known about it until the English archaeologist Arthur Evans made a discovery that became a real sensation, perhaps even greater than the excavations of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of the legendary Troy, also followed the trail of the ancient civilization, which was spread throughout the eastern coast of Greece and on the islands of the Aegean Sea with its center on the island of Crete. But the scientist never had time to begin excavations of cultural monuments, which were called “Crito-Mycenaean” (“Creto-Minoan”) - he died. But Evans managed to find something completely fantastic, which even Schliemann could not have imagined: the existence of a people and a state that were a thousand years older Ancient Greece. Having stuck a spade into the ground of Crete for the first time, Evans encountered a real island of mysteries.

All that was known about this once flourishing area was that which belonged to the realm of mythology. According to myths, Zeus the Thunderer himself was born here, and then his son Minos, one of the powerful rulers, reigned on Crete ancient world. The skilled craftsman Daedalus built a legendary labyrinth for the king, which later became the prototype of all future labyrinths.

Arthur Evans began with excavations near Knossos. After just a few hours, it was possible to talk about the first results, and two weeks later the amazed archaeologist stood in front of the remains of buildings that occupied an area of 2.5 hectares. On this huge rectangle was a structure whose walls were made of hollow bricks and whose flat roofs were supported by columns. But the chambers, halls and corridors of the Knossos Palace were located in such a bizarre order that visitors risked getting lost among the countless turns and chaotically placed rooms. It truly resembled a labyrinth, which gave Evans no hesitation to declare that he had found the palace of Minos, the father of Ariadne and Phaedra, the owner of the terrible bull-man Minotaur.

The archaeologist really discovered something amazing. It turns out that a people about whom nothing was known before was drowning in luxury and voluptuousness and, probably, at the peak of its development, reached that sybaritic “decadence”, which already concealed within itself the germs of decline and regression.

This capital must have seemed like a pearl of the sea, a precious diamond set in the blue of the sky, to sailors approaching the island. At least two great people - Ovid and Herodotus, who saw the Cretan palace in a more or less preserved form - described it in unusually enthusiastic tones. True, the Hellenes themselves already vaguely understood what a labyrinth was and what its purpose was. They only retold legends and beautiful legends, like the mythical “Ariadne’s thread”, which helped the princess’s lover Theseus get out of the labyrinth.

It is enough to look at the plan of the Palace of Knossos to be convinced that it was a grandiose building, superior to the Vatican, the Escorial, and Versailles. The labyrinth consisted of a central courtyard surrounded by many buildings, courtyards, a theater and the king's summer villa. The structure stands on a solid foundation and forms complex system temples, halls, rooms, corridors, passages and warehouses located on different levels and connected by countless stairs and passages. But this is by no means a disorderly jumble of buildings, but a single architectural concept, one huge palace-city, building-state, which has no analogues in the history of architecture. The richly decorated entrance to the palace was a majestic portico with a colonnade, the lower part of the wall of which was covered with paintings interspersed with frescoes with complex compositions.

Through the main portico the visitor entered the main hall, then the throne room and the exit hall. Along the floor of the corridor leading to this part of the palace there is a path made of limestone slabs, bordered by stripes of blue slate. A special passage led directly from the king’s chambers to the theater, to the royal box, where Minos passed, avoiding the curious glances of the crowd. Next came the queen's chambers, royal family, nobles and close associates of the sovereign.

The things found in the labyrinth confirm the idea of the richness of its furnishings. Objects and fragments of magnificent furniture have survived to this day, including tables with intricately made legs, decorated alabaster caskets, metal lamps, gold, silver and earthenware vases. Statues and figurines of gods have also been preserved, depicting sacred symbols, very common among the Aegeans. Other treasures were discovered in the storerooms, for example, swords with elegant inlay, men's belts with precious stones, gold reserves. There was especially a lot of all kinds of women's jewelry - necklaces, tiaras, bracelets, rings, earrings, perfume bottles, lipstick boxes, etc.

Evans also found storerooms filled with giant vessels (pithos) with wine, the total capacity of which, according to the archaeologist, was 80 thousand liters. This turned out to be the palace's supply of drink alone.

Scientists attributed the heyday of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture to 1600 BC. e. - the estimated time of life and reign of Minos, leader of the Cretan fleet and ruler of the seas. Civilization was already experiencing obvious signs of decline; it was being replaced by irrepressible luxury, and beauty was elevated to a cult. The frescoes depicted young men picking crocuses in the meadows and filling vases with them, and girls among lilies. In painting, which was previously subordinated certain forms, now a riotous sparkle of colors dominated, the dwelling served not only as an abode - it was designed to delight the eye; even in clothing they saw only a means of demonstrating sophistication and individual taste.

Is it any wonder that scientists who studied the nature of wall paintings and architectural features labyrinth, did you use the word “modern”? In fact, this palace, which was not inferior in size to Buckingham’s, had drainage channels, magnificent bathhouses, and even ventilation. A parallel with modernity also emerged in the images of people, which made it possible to judge their manners and Cretan fashion. If at the beginning of the Middle Minoan period women wore high, pointed headdresses and long, colorful dresses with a belt, a deep neckline and a high bodice, then their clothes acquired an even more sophisticated look. And when today we say that women, in imitation of men, wear short hair, then the Cretan ladies were with current point looked like superfashionable women, for they had even shorter hairstyles than their gentlemen.

On the walls of the Cretan labyrinth, other, deeper, and even philosophical subjects were discovered, revealing the Minoans’ idea of the universe. These are not just symbols, but the very life of matter, reflecting the rhythm of the cosmos, appearing in the ceramic ornament. All the paintings of Cretan buildings are permeated with the same attitude. In the center of these horizontally running drawings is a man, surrounded above by earth framed by flowers, and below by mountains. The figures resemble the image of the Mother Goddess, the patroness natural world. “Everything flows” - this thought of Heraclitus fully reflects the worldview of the Minoan civilization.

The builders showed considerable architectural skill and imagination in drawing up the very plan of the palace. They skillfully placed its individual parts, connecting large halls and temples into one whole, without neglecting the possibility of optimal lighting of the building. For this purpose, special passages and inner courtyards-wells were built in the labyrinth, through which light fell either on the stairs or directly into the halls, which thus received illumination on one side. The use of columns made it possible to increase the size of the rooms during the study, bringing them closer in area to the most extensive halls of modern palaces.

Nevertheless, a period came when this entire huge kingdom with a population of at least one hundred thousand people was destroyed for some reason. The first version of the death of Knossos was put forward by the same Arthur Evans. He proceeded from the fact that Crete is one of the most earthquake-prone areas in Europe, and therefore the scientist’s hypothesis boiled down to the fact that only the strongest earthquake was able to completely destroy the palace of Minos.

However, not all scientists share this hypothesis. The objections boil down to the following: let us assume that a natural disaster, including an earthquake or fire, is quite sufficient to destroy palace buildings. But for the destruction of the entire Cretan civilization - hardly.

For almost a century, historians have been searching for the answer to this question. And only these days, after regular excavations in Crete, new facts have surfaced that Once again experts were stumped. What exactly was the Labyrinth of Knossos? It turned out that some details and the general configuration of the ensemble give reason to assume a completely different purpose. Not a palace, but a kind of columbarium, that is, a sacred burial place for dead people - this is what the Knossos labyrinth could actually be. Firstly, the people in the frescoes are not shown in casual wear and not in a domestic setting. And all of them are not having fun. Not a single person smiles in any of the frescoes - the faces are depicted as emphatically stern and restrained. Refined and sophisticated women with open breasts are dressed in bluish dresses and aprons with mountain flowers embroidered on them. We can come to the conclusion that these are not court performers, but mourners. By the way, the priestesses of Ancient Egypt also bared their breasts during a funeral service, and Herodotus wrote about a similar sign of mourning among the Greeks.

The Knossos Labyrinth contained a fairly large room with stepped stands, which Evans' colleagues called the "court entertainment theater." On one of famous frescoes there is a picture of this “theater”. Nothing festive can be seen there either. Fourteen priestesses on a rectangular stage stand in ritual poses, they are dressed in blue dresses. In the stands there are women with white faces and men with brown paint on the face, which may mean a ritual that was in use during funeral services for the dead. In a word, it is quite possible that a funeral service is taking place here, for which the relatives of the deceased have gathered.

However, it must be emphasized once again that this is only a hypothesis that is awaiting confirmation, an attempt at a new reading of the history of the Knossos labyrinth. His mystery remains not fully solved to this day. Perhaps the main discoveries are yet to come, if there are specialists who are lucky enough to completely decipher the inscriptions, called “Cretan Linear B", and it is very likely that ancient civilization will appear in an even more amazing light.
What do we know about the labyrinth itself?

According to legend, this labyrinth was built by Daedalus in order to imprison the Minotaur in it. Medieval scientists considered this labyrinth the most complex ever created. The mathematical chances of getting out of there are extremely small; Daedalus used psychological factors of behavior so cleverly that the probability of escaping from the labyrinth is practically zero. If the passages of this labyrinth were a meter wide, and the walls were 30 centimeters thick, the only path leading out of it would be more than a kilometer long. Most likely, any person would rather die of hunger or thirst before finding a way out.

Over its long history, the Cretan labyrinth was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and in 1380 BC it was destroyed and abandoned completely, until the English archaeologist A. Evans discovered a mysterious hieroglyphic letter in the Oxford Museum. The letter spoke of an ancient labyrinth. In 1900, an archaeologist arrived in Crete and began excavations. Arthur Evans carried out excavations for almost 30 years and unearthed not a city, but a palace equal in area to the entire city. This was the famous Knossos labyrinth, which was a structure with a total area of 22 thousand square meters, which had at least 5-6 above-ground floors connected by passages and stairs, and a number of underground crypts. The Cretan labyrinth turned out to be not an invention of the ancients, but a real miracle of architecture, in which there was something incomprehensible to the mind.

The labyrinth is a real Myth, it is a story about heroes and events that historical science does not recognize as real, but considers as symbols. We believe that at the heart of any myth, any image, any symbolic narrative lies reality, even if not always historical. Myth accurately describes psychological reality: human experiences, mental processes and forms are hidden behind symbols that have been passed down from generation to generation and have finally reached us so that we can unravel them, lift the veil from them and again see their innermost meaning, realize their deep essence. The myth of the Labyrinth is one of the oldest, it is similar to the myths of all ancient civilizations, which say that a labyrinth is a difficult and unclear path, on whose complex and winding paths it is easy to get lost.

Sometimes the plot of this myth is woven into the story of an extraordinary person, a hero or a mythical character who overcomes a labyrinth and finds the key to solving a riddle that appears before him in the form of a path. When we talk about labyrinths, we immediately recall the most famous of them, about which evidence has been preserved in Greek mythology - in a simple and accessible form, close to a children's fairy tale: the labyrinth of the island of Crete. I don’t want to talk about it in the same simplified way as is done in well-known legends, we will open its deeper layers and analyze the archaeological finds made in Crete in order to understand what the Cretans worshiped and what the labyrinth really was for them. And we will see how this story will take on a complex symbolic form, and it will no longer seem so childish to us.

So, one of the ancient symbols of Crete, associated with its supreme deity, was a double-edged ax, which can be represented as two pairs of horns, one of which is directed upward, the other downward. This ax was associated with the sacred bull, the cult of which was widespread in Crete. It was called Labrys and, according to an older tradition, served as the instrument with which the god, who later received the name Ares-Dionysus from the Greeks, cut through the First Labyrinth. Here's his story. When Ares-Dionysus, the god of primordial times, a very ancient god, descended to earth, nothing had yet been created, nothing had yet taken shape, there was only darkness, darkness. But, according to legend, Ares-Dionysus was given a weapon from heaven, Labrys, and it was with this tool, with this weapon, that he created the world.

Ares-Dionysus began to walk in the middle of the darkness, describing circle after circle. (This is very interesting, because modern science has discovered that when we find ourselves in the dark in an unfamiliar room or trying to get out of some spacious but unlit place, we most often begin to walk in circles; the same happens when we get lost or wander through the forest We gave such a comparison because from the very beginning we want to emphasize that the symbolism of the labyrinth is associated with certain atavisms inherent in man.) And so Ares-Dionysus began to walk in a circle, cutting through the darkness and cutting furrows with his axe. The road that he cut, which became brighter with every step, is called the “labyrinth,” that is, “the path cut by Labrys.”

When Ares-Dionysus, cutting through the darkness, reached the very center, the goal of his path, he suddenly saw that he no longer had the ax that he had at the beginning. His ax turned into pure light - he held in his hands a flame, fire, a torch, which brightly illuminated everything around, for God performed a double miracle: with one edge of the ax he cut through the darkness outside, and with the other - his inner darkness. In the same way that he created light outside, he created light within himself; just as he cut the outer path, he cut the inner path. And when Ares-Dionysus reached the center of the labyrinth, he reached the end point of his path: he reached the light, achieved inner perfection.

This is the symbolism of the Cretan myth of the labyrinth, the oldest that has come down to us. We know later legends much better. The most famous of them is the myth of the mysterious labyrinth created by Daedalus, an amazing architect and inventor from ancient Crete, whose name is now always associated with a labyrinth, a confusing path. The name Daedalus, or Dactyl as it is sometimes called, in the ancient language of the Greeks means “He who creates,” “He who works with his hands, builds.” Daedalus is a symbol of a builder, but not just the creator of a complex of parks and palaces, which was the labyrinth of King Minos, but a builder in a deeper sense of the word, perhaps similar to the symbolism of the very first deity, who built the Labyrinth of Light in the darkness.

The Labyrinth of Daedalus was neither an underground structure nor something dark and twisting; it was a huge complex of houses, palaces and parks, designed in such a way that whoever entered it could not find a way out. The point is not that Daedalus's labyrinth was terrible, but that it was impossible to escape from it. Daedalus built this labyrinth for the Cretan king Minos, an almost legendary character, whose name allows us to get acquainted with the very ancient traditions of all the peoples of that era. Minos lived in a fairytale palace, and he had a wife, Pasiphae, because of whom all the drama associated with the labyrinth played out.

Wanting to become a king, Minos counted on the help of another powerful god, the ruler of the waters and oceans, Poseidon. In order for Minos to feel his support, Poseidon performed a miracle: he created a white bull from the waters and sea foam and presented it to Minos as a sign that he really was the king of Crete. However, as the Greek myth says, it so happened that the wife of Minos fell hopelessly in love with a white bull, dreamed only of him and desired only him. Not knowing how to approach him, she asked Daedalus, the great builder, to build a huge bronze cow, beautiful and attractive, so that the bull would feel attracted, while Pasiphae would hide inside her. And then a real tragedy unfolds: Daedalus creates a cow, Pasiphae hides in it, the bull approaches the cow, and from this strange union of a woman and a bull, a half-bull, half-man appears - the Minotaur.

This monster, this monster settled in the center of the labyrinth, which at the same moment turned from a complex of parks and palaces into a gloomy place inspiring fear and sadness, into an eternal reminder of the misfortune of the king of Crete. Some ancient legends, in addition to the Cretan ones, preserved a less simplified interpretation of the tragedy of Pasiphae and the White Bull. For example, in the legends of pre-Columbian America and India there are references to the fact that millions of years ago, at a certain stage of human evolution, people lost their way and mixed with animals, and because of this perversion and violation of the laws of nature, real monsters appeared on earth, hybrids that are difficult to even describe. They inspired fear not only because, like the Minotaur, they had an evil disposition; they bore the mark of shame from a union that should never have taken place, from a secret that should not have been revealed until all these events were erased from the memory of mankind.

So, the connection of Pasiphae with the Bull and the birth of the Minotaur is related to the ancient races and to those ancient events that at a certain moment were erased from people’s memory. On the other hand, the monster, the Minotaur, is a blind, amorphous matter without reason or purpose, which lurks in the center of the labyrinth, awaiting victims from its benefactor. Years pass, the legend continues, and the Minotaur in his labyrinth truly turns into something terrifying. The king of Crete, having defeated the Athenians in the war, imposes a terrible tribute on them: every nine years they must send seven young men and seven innocent girls as sacrifices to the Minotaur. When the deadline for paying the third tribute comes, a hero with all the virtues, Theseus, rebels against it in Athens. He makes a promise to himself not to accept rule of the city until he frees it from the scourge, until he kills the Minotaur.

Theseus himself enlists among the young men who are to become victims of the monster, goes to Crete, captivates the heart of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, and gets her to give him a ball of thread with which he can pass through the labyrinth and then, having killed the Minotaur, find the his way out. The ball played a very important role in this story. Theseus enters the labyrinth and, penetrating further into its complex and intricate corridors, unwinds the thread. Having reached the center, thanks to his colossal strength and will, he kills the Minotaur and finds a way out. In simple and naive stories, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a sword, sometimes with a dagger. But in the most ancient narratives, as well as in images on ancient Attic vases, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a double-bladed axe. And again the hero, having made his way through the labyrinth, having reached the center, performs a miracle with the help of Labrys, a double axe.

We have to solve one more riddle: Ariadne gives Theseus not a ball, but a spindle with threads. And, penetrating into the depths of the labyrinth, Theseus unwinds it. But the hero returns to the exit, picking up the thread and winding it again, and from the labyrinth he actually takes out a ball - a perfectly round ball. This symbol also cannot be called new. The spindle with which Theseus goes into the labyrinth symbolizes the imperfection of his inner world, which he must “unfold,” that is, pass a series of tests.

The ball that he creates by picking up the thread is the perfection that he achieved by putting the Minotaur to death, which means passing the tests and emerging from the labyrinth. There were many labyrinths, just like Theseus. They are also available in Spain. Along the entire path to Santiago de Compostella and throughout Galicia, there are an infinite number of ancient images of labyrinths on stone that invite the pilgrim to take the path to Santiago and walk this road, and they directly indicate to us that in their symbolic and spiritual meaning this the path is a labyrinth

In England, the famous Tintagel Castle, where, according to legend, King Arthur was born, also has its own labyrinths. We also find them in India, where they were a symbol of reflection, concentration, and turning to the true center. In Ancient Egypt, in the ancient city of Abydos, founded almost in the predynastic period, there was a labyrinth, which was a round temple. In its galleries, ceremonies were held to commemorate time, evolution, and the endless roads that man traveled before reaching the center, which meant meeting the true man. According to the history of Egypt, the labyrinth of Abydos was apparently only a very small part of the huge labyrinth described by Herodotus, who considered the Egyptian labyrinth so colossal, amazing and unimaginable that even the Great Pyramid pales next to it. Today we can no longer see this labyrinth; we only have the testimony of Herodotus. For many centuries, for the peculiarities of his presentation, people called him the father of history, Herodotus the truthful, and gave many more similar names, but when not all of his descriptions were confirmed, we naturally decided that Herodotus was not always confident in his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of its descriptions that it is probably worth being patient and waiting - suddenly archaeologists will discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about. There were many labyrinths in the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.

One of the most famous, images of which are quite common, is the labyrinth laid out on the stone floor of the main cathedral in Chartres. It was created not for anyone to get lost in it, but for it to be followed: it was a kind of path of initiation, a path of accomplishment and a path of achievement that the candidate, the student, the one who aspired to be had to overcome. accepted into the Mysteries. Indeed, it is extremely difficult to get lost in the labyrinth of Chartres: all its roads are purely symbolic, all turns and crossroads are visible. The most important thing here is to reach the center, a square stone on which the various constellations are marked with nails. For a person, this allegorically means to reach Heaven and become on a par with the deities. It is very likely that all such myths of antiquity and all the symbolic labyrinths of Gothic cathedrals reflect not so much historical reality as psychological reality. And the psychological reality of the labyrinth is still alive today. If in ancient times they spoke of the initiatory labyrinth as a path through which a person could realize himself, today we must talk about a material and psychological labyrinth. It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we encounter in life, how we live and how we express ourselves - all this is part of one labyrinth. The difficulty is different: those who found themselves in Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered a labyrinth; so in our daily life we do not realize that we are in a labyrinth that draws a person into itself.

From a psychological point of view, the confusion of Theseus, who longed to kill the Minotaur, is of the same nature as the confusion of a person who is confused and afraid. We are afraid because we don’t know something and we can’t do it; we are afraid because we don’t understand something and because of this we feel insecure. Our fear usually manifests itself in the fact that we cannot choose, we do not know where to go, what to devote our lives to; it manifests itself in eternal routine and mediocrity, exhausting and sad: we are ready to do anything, just not to make a decision and not show at least a little firmness. Confusion is another disease that haunts us in the modern labyrinth on the psychological plane. This confusion arises because it is very difficult for us to decide who we are, where we came from and where we are going. These three questions are the main reason for our confusion, although they are so simple and ingenuous that they seem childish to us. Is there any meaning in our lives other than constant confusion? Why do we work and why do we study? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how to recognize it? From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters or narrow corridors in it, traps constantly await us. And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were to look for a way out of it empty-handed. Theseus takes two objects with him: an ax (or a sword - as you prefer) to kill the monster, and a spindle with thread, his ball, to find his way back.

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Arthur Evans carried out excavations for almost 30 years and unearthed not a city, but a palace equal in area to the entire city. This was the famous Knossos labyrinth, which was a structure with a total area of 22 thousand square meters, which had at least 5-6 above-ground floors connected by passages and stairs, and a number of underground crypts. The Cretan labyrinth turned out to be not an invention of the ancients, but a real miracle of architecture, in which there was something incomprehensible to the mind.

The labyrinth is a real Myth, it is a story about heroes and events that historical science does not recognize as real, but considers as symbols.

We believe that at the heart of any myth, any image, any symbolic narrative lies reality, even if not always historical. Myth accurately describes psychological reality: human experiences, mental processes and forms are hidden behind symbols that have been passed down from generation to generation and have finally reached us so that we can unravel them, lift the veil from them and again see their innermost meaning, realize their deep essence.

The myth of the Labyrinth is one of the oldest, and, I dare say, it is similar to the myths of all ancient civilizations, which say that the labyrinth is a difficult and unclear path, on whose complex and winding paths it is easy to get lost. Sometimes the plot of this myth is woven into the story of an extraordinary person, a hero or a mythical character who overcomes a labyrinth and finds the key to solving a riddle that appears before him in the form of a path.

When we talk about labyrinths, we immediately recall the most famous of them, about which evidence has been preserved in Greek mythology - in a simple and accessible form, close to a children's fairy tale: the labyrinth of the island of Crete. I don’t want to talk about it in the same simplified way as is done in well-known legends, we will open its deeper layers and analyze the archaeological finds made in Crete in order to understand what the Cretans worshiped and what the labyrinth really was for them. And we will see how this story will take on a complex symbolic form, and it will no longer seem so childish to us.

Knossos Labyrinth

Labyrinth of Daedalus

When Ares-Dionysus, cutting through the darkness, reached the very center, the goal of his path, he suddenly saw that he no longer had the ax that he had at the beginning. His ax turned into pure light - he held in his hands a flame, fire, a torch, which brightly illuminated everything around, for God performed a double miracle: with one edge of the ax he cut through the darkness outside, and with the other - his inner darkness. In the same way that he created light outside, he created light within himself; just as he cut the outer path, he cut the inner path. And when Ares-Dionysus reached the center of the labyrinth, he reached the end point of his path: he reached the light, achieved inner perfection.

This is the symbolism of the Cretan myth of the labyrinth, the oldest that has come down to us. We know later legends much better.

The name Daedalus, or Dactyl as it is sometimes called, in the ancient language of the Greeks means “He who creates,” “He who works with his hands, builds.” Daedalus is a symbol of a builder, but not just the creator of a complex of parks and palaces, which was the labyrinth of King Minos, but a builder in a deeper sense of the word, perhaps similar to the symbolism of the very first deity, who built the Labyrinth of Light in the darkness.

Daedalus built this labyrinth for the Cretan king Minos, an almost legendary character, whose name allows us to get acquainted with the very ancient traditions of all the peoples of that era.

Minos lived in a fairytale palace, and he had a wife, Pasiphae, because of whom all the drama associated with the labyrinth played out.

Some ancient legends, in addition to the Cretan ones, preserved a less simplified interpretation of the tragedy of Pasiphae and the White Bull.

For example, in the legends of pre-Columbian America and India there are references to the fact that millions of years ago, at a certain stage of human evolution, people lost their way and mixed with animals, and because of this perversion and violation of the laws of nature, real monsters appeared on earth, hybrids that are difficult to even describe. They inspired fear not only because, like the Minotaur, they had an evil disposition; they bore the mark of shame from a union that should never have taken place, from a secret that should not have been revealed until all these events were erased from the memory of mankind.

So, the connection of Pasiphae with the Bull and the birth of the Minotaur is related to the ancient races and to those ancient events that at a certain moment were erased from people’s memory.

On the other hand, the monster, the Minotaur, is a blind, amorphous matter without reason or purpose, which lurks in the center of the labyrinth, awaiting victims from its benefactor.

We have to solve one more riddle: Ariadne gives Theseus not a ball, but a spindle with threads. And, penetrating into the depths of the labyrinth, Theseus unwinds it. But the hero returns to the exit, picking up the thread and winding it again, and from the labyrinth he actually takes out a ball - a perfectly round ball. This symbol also cannot be called new. The spindle with which Theseus goes into the labyrinth symbolizes the imperfection of his inner world, which he must “unfold,” that is, pass a series of tests. The ball that he creates by picking up the thread is the perfection that he achieved by putting the Minotaur to death, which means passing the tests and emerging from the labyrinth.

In England, the famous Tintagel Castle, where, according to legend, King Arthur was born, also has its own labyrinths.

We also find them in India, where they were a symbol of reflection, concentration, and turning to the true center.

Today we can no longer see this labyrinth; we only have the testimony of Herodotus. For many centuries, for the peculiarities of his presentation, people called him the father of history, Herodotus the truthful, and gave many more similar names, but when not all of his descriptions were confirmed, we naturally decided that Herodotus was not always confident in his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of its descriptions that it is probably worth being patient and waiting - suddenly archaeologists will discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about.

It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we encounter in life, how we live and how we express ourselves - all this is part of one labyrinth. The difficulty is different: those who found themselves in Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered a labyrinth; so in our daily life we do not realize that we are in a labyrinth that draws a person into itself.

From a psychological point of view, the confusion of Theseus, who longed to kill the Minotaur, is of the same nature as the confusion of a person who is confused and afraid.

From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters or narrow corridors in it, traps constantly await us.

And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were to look for a way out of it empty-handed. Theseus takes two objects with him: an ax (or a sword - as you prefer) to kill the monster, and a spindle with thread, his ball, to find his way back.

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According to ancient legends, thousands of years ago, there was a hopeless situation on the island. labyrinth of endless corridors and alleys, created by the architect Daedalus, where a terrible creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, called the Minotaur, was hiding. It was a product of evil, sent down to people as the fruit of unnatural love between the wife of King Minos, Pasiphae, and the bull sent by Poseidon to the ruler of the island. According to one version, this labyrinth was located in the dungeons of the Knossos Palace and was conceived by Daedalus at the behest of the king, in order to confuse the exits from it as much as possible, in such a way as to prevent the return of a person who got there and was given into the clutches of a bloodthirsty beast.

Having defeated the Athenians in a bloody war, Minos ordered them to pay a terrible tribute. Every 9 years they had to send 7 boys and 7 young girls to Crete as victims for the Minotaur, placed in the labyrinth. However, according to the prophecy, after the payment of the third tribute, a hero was destined to appear in Athens, capable of defeating the monster and saving the city from the terrible toll. Soon, a mountain appeared, and his name was Theseus. Due to his position, he was supposed to become the ruler of Athens, but having learned what he had to do, the young man decided not to vest himself with power until he had rid the city of the insatiable Minotaur.

Voluntarily enlisting in the ranks of the next victims, Theseus went to Crete along with other young people doomed to death. Once on the island, he charmed the beautiful Ariadne, daughter of Minos, and encouraged her to give her lover a ball of thread, with the help of which he could get out of the labyrinth without any extra effort. As a result, having gone to the very center of the puzzle entangled by Daedalus, thanks to his courage, dexterity and strength, he defeated the Minotaur and, following Aridna’s thread, left the beast’s lair, freeing subsequent generations from it.

Today, the labyrinth of Daedalus can only be seen on ancient Cretan coins and various souvenirs as symbolism, but its meaning can be found in the reflection of everyday life, which for each person also has its own form in the form of adversity and hardship, patience and choice the right way. These concepts underlie the myth itself, given that Theseus achieved his goal, also overcoming himself in many ways, overcoming fear and doubt, and by emerging from the labyrinth, he fulfilled his destiny. Of course, unlike the hero ancient greek legends, not every person initially knows about the purpose of his stay in this world, but the search for the right path and the right answer is precisely the meaning of any labyrinth.