Labyrinth
The Labyrinth was the maze built by Daedalus beneath Knossos to contain the Minotaur — its name became the word for any complex, confusing structure.
The Meaning of Labyrinth
Daedalus designed the Labyrinth so cunningly that even he could barely escape it. The word may derive from labrys, the Minoan double-axe symbol found throughout Knossos. The Labyrinth had one entrance but branched endlessly within. No one who entered could find the way out — until Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of thread to unwind as he went. The concept of the labyrinth persisted through medieval cathedral floor labyrinths (for contemplative walking) to modern hedge mazes and metaphorical uses.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The medical term "labyrinthitis" (inner ear inflammation) takes its name from this maze — the inner ear's structure was called a labyrinth by anatomists.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Labyrinthine
💭 conceptLanguage and complexity
An English adjective meaning extremely complex, convoluted, or maze-like, derived from the Labyrinth built by Daedalus to imprison the Minotaur beneath the palace of Knossos
Minotaur
💭 conceptMythology and architecture
The bull-headed monster imprisoned in the Labyrinth of Crete, whose myth gave English the concept of the labyrinth as a place of confusion and entrapment
Labyrinth of Knossos
🏛 placearchitecture, mystery
The legendary maze built by Daedalus to contain the Minotaur, possibly inspired by the elaborate palace at Knossos with its hundreds of interconnecting rooms.
Labyrinth
🏛 placeThe great maze built by Daedalus
An impossibly complex maze built beneath the palace of Knossos on Crete by the master craftsman Daedalus. The Labyrinth imprisoned the Minotaur at its center.
Knossos
🏛 placePalace of Minos and the Labyrinth
Knossos was the vast Bronze Age palace complex in Crete — seat of King Minos and the mythological site of the Labyrinth.
Cyclopean
💭 conceptLanguage and architecture
An English adjective meaning immense or massive, particularly applied to ancient stonework of enormous blocks, named after the Cyclopes who were believed to have built the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns
Golden Bough
💭 conceptArtefact
A magical branch of gold that granted the living safe passage into and out of the underworld
Hydra
💭 conceptLanguage and problem-solving
An English word for a persistent, multi-faceted problem that generates new difficulties when any part of it is addressed, derived from the Lernaean Hydra slain by Heracles
Acropolis
💭 conceptArchitecture and civic life
An English word for a fortified hilltop citadel, derived from the Greek akropolis meaning "high city," most famously the limestone plateau in Athens crowned by the Parthenon
Theseus and the Minotaur
💭 conceptNarrative
The Athenian hero's descent into the Labyrinth to slay the bull-headed monster and liberate Athens from its blood tribute
God of Messengers
💭 conceptMessages, travel, boundaries, commerce, thieves
Hermes serves as divine messenger and psychopomp, escorting both words and souls between worlds.
Oedipus Complex
💭 conceptPsychoanalysis and psychology
A Freudian psychoanalytic concept describing a child's unconscious desire for the parent of the opposite sex, named after the mythological king who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother