184 



UNICURSAL PROBLEMS 



[CH. IX 



vaults and passages*- Such a building might be termed a 

 labyrinth, but it is not what is now usually understood by the 

 word. The above rules would enable anyone to traverse the 

 whole of any structure of this kind. I do not know if there 

 are any accounts or descriptions of Rosamund's Bower other 

 than those by Drayton, Bromton, and Knyghton: in the 

 opinion of some, these imply that the bower was merely a 

 house, the passages in which were confusing and ill-arranged. 



Another class of ancient mazes consisted of a tortuous path 

 confined to a small area of ground and leading to a tree or 

 shrine in the centre f. This is a maze in which there is no 

 chance of taking a wrong turning; but, as the whole area 

 can be occupied by the windings of one path, the distance 

 to be traversed from the entrance to the centre may be 

 considerable, even though the piece of ground covered by the 

 maze is but small. 



gure l. 



Figure ii. 



The traditional form of the labyrinth constructed for the 

 Minotaur is a specimen of this class. It was delineated on 

 the reverses of the coins of Cnossus, specimens of which are 

 not uncommon ; one form of it is indicated in the accompanying 

 diagram (figure i). The design really is the same as that 



* For instance, see the descriptions of the labyrinth at Lake Moeris given 

 by Herodotus, bk. ii, c. 148; Strabo, bk. xvii, e. 1, art. 37; Diodorus, bk. i, 

 cc. 61, 66; and Pliny, Hist. Nat., bk. xxxvi, c. 13, arts. 84 — 89. On these and 

 other references see A. Wiedemann, Herodots zweites Buck, Leipzig, 1890, 

 p. 522 et teq. See also Virgil, Aeneid, bk. v, o. v, 588; Ovid, Met., bk. viii, c. 5, 

 159; Strabo, bk. viii, c. 6. 



+ On ancient and medieval labyrinths — particularly of this kind — see an 

 article by Mr B. Trollope in The Archaeological Journal, 1858, vol. xv, pp. 216 — 

 235, from which muoh of the historical information given above is derived. 



