CONTENTS

PAGES

PREFACE

vii-viii

CONTENTS

ix-xiv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

xv-xviii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The Lure of the Labyrinth--Difficulties of Definition--The Subject and Object of this Book--The Lore of the Labyrinth--Some Neglected British Monuments--Destructive Dogmatism: a Plea for Caution

1-5

CHAPTER II

THE EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH

(i) Accounts of the Ancient Writers

Enormous Edifices of Egypt--Herodotus: his Account of the Labyrinth, its Vastness and Complexity, and its Lake--Strabo's Description--The Sacred Crocodiles--Accounts of Diodorus, Pomponius Mela, and Pliny

6-10

CHAPTER III

THE EGYPTIAN LABYRINTH (continued)

(ii) Accounts of Later Explorers

Decay of the Labyrinth--Travels of Lucas and Pococke--French and Prussian Expeditions--Researches of Flinders Petrie--Speculations regarding Original Plan--Purpose and Date of Construction

11--16

p. x

CHAPTER IV

THE CRETAN LABYRINTH

(i) The Story of Theseus and the Minotaur

Plutarch's Life of Theseus; the Cretan Exploit--The Athenian Tribute--The Labyrinth of Daedalus--The Clue of Ariadne--The Fight with the Minotaur--The Crane Dance--Tragedies of the Hero's Return--Other Accounts of the Legend--Speculations concerning Minos and Daedalus

17-22

CHAPTER V

THE CRETAN LABYRINTH (continued)

(ii) The Caverns of Gortyna--Statements by Later Classic Writers--Tournefort's Voyage--Visits of Pococke and Savary--Cockerell's Diary--Travels of Capt. Spratt--Connection of Gortyna Caverns with Traditional Labyrinth very improbable.

23-28

CHAPTER VI

THE CRETAN LABYRINTH (continued)

(iii) Knossos

Explorations of Sir Arthur Evans--Momentous Discoveries--Unearthing of the Palaces--Their Antiquity--Description of the Great Palace--The Maze on the Wall--The Hall of the Double Axes--The Cult of the Bull--Schliemann's Researches--The Sport of Bull-Leaping--Possible Identity of the Palace with the Labyrinth

29-36

CHAPTER VII

THE ETRUSCAN OR ITALIAN LABYRINTH

Other Labyrinths mentioned by Pliny--Varro's Description of the Etruscan Labyrinth; the tomb of Lars Porsena--Speculations regarding it--Travels of Dennis--Labyrinthine Caverns in Etruria; Volterra and Toscanella--Extended use of the term "Labyrinth" by Strabo and Pliny--Reference to Mazes formed in Fields for Amusement

37-41

p. xi

CHAPTER VIII

THE LABYRINTH IN ANCIENT ART

The Meander and other Rudimentary Forms--Seal-impressions--Coins of Knossos--"Unicursal" Nature of the Knossian Design--Graffito of Pompeii--The Casa del Labirinto--Roman Mosaic Pavements--The Tholos of Epidaurus--Labyrinthine Structure at Tiryns--Greek Pottery--Etruscan Vase--The Labyrinth on Gems and Robes

42-53

CHAPTER IX

CHURCH LABYRINTHS

Algeria, Orléansville--Italy: Lucca, Pavia, Piacenza, Cremona, Rome and Ravenna--France: Chartres, St. Quentin, Amiens, Rheims, Bayeux, Sens, Auxerre, Arras, St. Omer, Poitiers, Chalons, Pont l’Abbé, Caen and Aix--Modern examples: Lille, Ely, Bourn and Alkborough--Meaning of Church Labyrinths--Lack of Support for Accepted Theory

54-70

CHAPTER X

TURF LABYRINTHS

Local Names--The Alkborough "Julian's Bower"--Juxtaposition to Ancient Ecclesiastical Site--A Fragment of Folk-lore--De la Pryme's Diary--The Breamore Mizmaze--Romantic Situation--The Wing Maze--The Boughton Green Shepherd's Race--Its Literary References--A Victim of the Great War--Mazes of Ripon and Asenby--The Song of the Fairies--Other Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Mazes--Stukeley on Julian's Bowers--Wide Distribution of British Turf Mazes

71-78

CHAPTER XI

TURF LABYRINTHS (continued)

The Winchester Mizmaze--The Vanished Mazes of Dorset: Leigh, Pimperne, Dorchester and Bere Regis--Aubrey's Notes on Wiltshire and Cotswold Mazes--The Saffron Walden Maze--The Comberton "Mazles"--The p. xii Hilton Maze and its Obelisk--The Cumberland "Walls of Troy": Burgh and Rockcliffe--The Nottingham Mazes: Sneinton and Clifton--The Somerton "Troy-town"--Records of Old Mazes at Guildford, the Malverns, and in Kent--"Julaber's Barrow"

79-91

CHAPTER XII

THE ORIGIN OF TURF MAZES

An old Welsh Custom--"Troy" or "Turnings"?--Dr. Trollope on the Ecclesiastical Origin of Turf Mazes--The Welsh Figure--Criticism of the Ecclesiastical View--"Treading the Maze" in Tudor Times--Shakespearean References--Alchemy and the Labyrinth of Solomon--Figure in a Greek Monastery--Heraldic Labyrinths--The Question of the Roman Origin of Turf Mazes

92-99

CHAPTER XIII

THE FLORAL LABYRINTH AND THE DWARF-SHRUB MAZE

The Dwarf Box--Its use by Tudor and Roman Gardeners--Floral Labyrinths by De Vries--Some Quaint Horticultural Books: Parkinson, Estienne, Hill, and Lawson--Designs of Islip and Commelyn--"Queen Mary's Bower"

100-109

CHAPTER XIV

THE TOPIARY LABYRINTH, OR HEDGE MAZE

Topiary work of the Romans--Pliny's "Hippodromus"--Dubious Mediaeval References--Rosamond's Bower--Early French "Daedales"--Mazes painted by Holbein and Tintoretto--Du Cerceau's Sketches--Elizabethan Mazes: Theobalds and Hatfield--Versailles and other Famous Labyrinths of France--Some German Designs--Belgian, Spanish, Italian and Dutch Mazes--William III and his Gardeners

110-127

CHAPTER XV

THE TOPIARY LABYRINTH, OR HEDGE MAZE (continued)

Hampton Court: the Maze and the Little Maze--Other English Mazes of the Period--Batty Langley and Stephen Switzer--Allegorical Labyrinth of Anhalt--A Wimbledon Maze--The Mazes of Westminster and Southwark

128-136

p. xiii

CHAPTER XVI

THE TOPIARY LABYRINTH, OR HEDGE MAZE (continued)

Latter-day Developments

Decline of the Hedge-Maze Vogue--Mazes in "Pleasure Gardens": North London, Smith London--Modern Mazes in Essex, Suffolk, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, and Gloucestershire--Some Modern Continental Mazes--The Case For and Against the Hedge Maze

137-146

CHAPTER XVII

STONE LABYRINTHS AND ROCK ENGRAVINGS

The Stone Labyrinths of Finland--Their Local Traditions and Nomenclature--Their Antiquity--Aubrey's Acute Observation--Some Maze-like Rock Engravings in England, Ireland, and Brittany--A Curious Discovery in Arizona and a Spanish Manuscript--American Indians and the Cretan Labyrinth--Another Indian Pictograph--Zulu Mazes--Distribution of Labyrinth Cult

147-155

CHAPTER XVIII

THE DANCE OR GAME OF TROY

"Troy" in Labyrinth Names--An old French Reference--The Vase of Tragliatella--Virgil's Account of the Troy Game--The Delian Crane-Dance--Knossos and Troy--Ariadne's Dance--Spring-Rites--"Sympathetic Magic"--Sword and Morris Dances--Troy-dances in Mediaeval Germany and in Modern Serbia--Preservation of the English Traditions

156-163

CHAPTER XIX

THE BOWER OF "FAIR ROSAMOND"

"Fair Rosamond," Henry, and Eleanor--The Dagger or the Bowl--History of the Legend--Accounts of Brompton and Higden--Delone's Ballad--Rosamond in Verse and Prose--Her Epitaph--A Question of Taste--Late Remains of the Bower--A Modern Play--Rosamond's Alleged Portrait

164-169

p. xiv

CHAPTER XX

MAZE ETYMOLOGY

The Question of Definition again--Bowers and Julian-Bowers--What was a Bower and who was Julian?--The Labyrinth and the Double Axe--Chaucer and the Maze--Metaphorical Labyrinths--The Labyrinth in Scientific Nomenclature--The Meanings of "Maze"--Troy-towns and the New Troy

170-181

CHAPTER XXI

LABYRINTH DESIGN AND THE SOLUTION OF MAZES

The Need of a Definition--Practical Limitations--Classification of Mazes and Labyrinths--Unicursal and Multicursal, Compact and Diffuse Types--Modes of Branching--Straight-line Diagrams--Speculations on the Knossian Figure--Hints on Maze Design--Principles of Maze Solution--A Word on Mnemonics--Harris at Hampton Court

182-192

CHAPTER XXII

THE LABYRINTH IN LITERATURE

Romance, Mystery, and Allegory--Labyrinthine Book Titles--Some Literary Monstrosities--Spiritual and Theological Labyrinths--Love, Labyrinths, and Anonymity--The Labyrinth in Modern Book Titles--Emblems--Melancholy Meditations in the Maze

193-200

CHAPTER XXIII

MISCELLANEA AND CONCLUSION

A Maze Collector--The Labyrinth in Queer Places--The Maze on Paper and on the Sands--Mirror Mazes--A Temporary Hedge Maze--Maze Toys--A Verbal Labyrinth--The Maze in Place-names--A Plea for the Preservation of some Ancient Monuments

201-213

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX

215-235

INDEX

237-254