473 LABYRINTHS. 



not distinguishing them, generally speak but of one, and conse- 

 quently with great confusion and disagreement. 



They tell us the la!>yrinth of Egypt stood in the Heracleotic nome, 

 near the city of Crocodiles, or Arsinoe, a little above the lake 

 Mccris. Pliny places it in the lake, and says, it was built by 

 Petesuccus, or Tithoes, one of the demi-gods, four thousand six hun. 

 dred years before his time ; but that Demoteles would have it to be 

 the palace of Motherudes ; Lyceas, the sepulchre of Moeris ; and 

 others the temple of the Sun. It is recorded by Manetho, that Lacha. 

 res or Labares the successor of Sesostris, built a labyrinth for hia 

 monument. An.l Diodorus writes, that Mende. , or Marus made 

 another for the samepurpose, which was not so considerable on 

 account of its magnitude, as for the artificial contrivance of it ; 

 but this seems to be adifferent building from that described by him 

 a little after ; which is, 'in all probability, the same with the labyrinth 

 of Herodotus ; for they both agree in the situation. They say it 

 was the work of twelve kings, among whom Egypt was at one 

 time divided ; and that they built it at their common charge. 



This structure seems to have been designed as a pantheon, or 

 universal temple of all the Egyptian deities, which were separately 

 worshipped in the provinces. It was also the place of the general 

 assembly of the magistracy of the whole nation, for those of all the 

 provinces or nomes met here to feast and sacrifice, and to judge 

 causes of great consequence. For this reason, every nome had a 

 hall or palace appropriated to it ; the whole edifice containing, ac- 

 cording to Herodotus, twelve ; Egypt bting then divided into so 

 many kingdoms. But Pliny makes the number of these palaces 

 sixteen, and Strabo, as it seems, twenty-seven. Herodotus tells 

 us, that the halls were vaulted, and had an equal number or doors 

 opposite to one another, six opening to the north, and six to the 

 south, all encompassed with the same wall ; that there were three 

 thousand chambers in this edifice, fifteen hundred in the upper part, 

 and as many underground ; and that he viewed every room in the 

 upper part, but was not permitted, by those who kept the palace, to 

 go into the subterraneous part, because the .sepulchres of the holy 

 crocodiles, and of the kings who built the labyrinth were there. 

 He reports, that what he saw seemed to surpass the art of man; so 

 many exits by various passages, and infinite returns, afforded a 

 thousand occasions of wonder. He passed from a spacious hall to 

 a chamber) from thence to a private cabinet ; then again into other 



