The Knidos Labyrinth

The Discovery

© Brigitte van Baren

 

Only a few years ago a labyrinth inscription was found on a block of black marble, which lies on the ground to the West of the Corinthian temple at Knidos in the Southwest of Turkey. The size of the labyrinth can be estimated to measure about 21 cm. A small hole in the circular center of the labyrinth indicates that it was constructed with the help of an engraving tool. Except the circular center the labyrinth has the seven paths of the classical type with the central cross. Above the labyrinth is an inscription in Greek: KYRIE BOETHIE (Lord help). The other carvings on the block, such as the Christian cross, palm trees, fruits, the letters Alpha and Omega allow to date the labyrinth to the 6th and 7th centuries AC.

Source material: Caerdroia 33 (July 2003), Jeff Saward

 

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The Locality

Knidos in the Aegean Sea

Here some information from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia ... Link >

 

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The Construction

The walls 18.0 m x 17.8 m	The path 237 m long	Drawing

Here the drawing as a PDF-file >

 

To make a walkable labyrinth of the type Knidos you can construct it with 5 different centers and the central cross. The center of the inner circle center is situated beside the entrance axis. The curv radiuses are connected together without a sharp bend. The diameter of the center is the same as the square built over the 4 points.
The dimensions of the labyrinth and all the measures in the drawing are scalable. If you want for instance to halve the width, you have to halve all the other measures too. In other words: You have to multiply all the measures by the factor 0.5.
To lay out the labyrinth with simple tools the diagonals and the angular distances are stated. So you can locate the centers of the circular arcs by measuring from two different points. By the same way you can construct a right angle.
If you want to have the first way in pointing rightwards you must mirror the drawing.

The Realisation

Here you can see some examples:

© mymaze	© Jürgen Hohmuth www.zeitort.de	© mymaze
Rosenbachpark Würzburg	Schloss Honhardt	Benediktushof

The Carving

© Brigitte van Baren

There is also a classical labyrinth with a larger circular center (from the 7th century) on the way to the completely circular, Medieval labyrinth 300 - 500 years later.

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