4.84 The Labyrinth at Knossos
In Italy they gained a firm footing, as we may infer not only
from the literary allusions to the game of
'Troy1,' but also from the many Roman
mosaics that represent Theseus and his
foe in a labyrinthine frame2.
Finally the Labyrinth was taken over
from paganism by Christianity. At
Orleansville in Algeria the Christian
basilica, founded in 324 A.D., had among
other mosaics a Labyrinth, the centre of
Fig 348; which was occupied by the words SANCTA
ECCLESIA repeated in a complicated form3.
One of the state robes of the Christian emperors prior to the ninth
bic-</veM
CkETlCVS
GDIT-DEDi
Lvs-EST-
LaBeriniv
o • NvLLvi-
S'vader
e-^vivit
WI-Fvit
INTvS-
Nl*ThesE
VS* 6 RAT
IS-^DRIAN
6- STAMI
NEIVTVS
Fig- 349-
century was coloured a fiery red and adorned with a Labyrinth
of gold and pearls, in which was a Minotaur of emerald holding a
finger to his lips4. A picture by Bartolommeo Veneto (1502—1530),
Leinnos (?) with its 150 columns attributed to Smilis Rhoikos and Theodoros (id.ib. 36. 90,
where Hirt's cj. Samiits for codd. Lemnius certainly suits the clause : architecti fecere
Zmilis et Rhoecus et Theodoras indigenae), the amazing Labyrinth at Clusium constructed
as a tomb for himself by Porsenna (id. ib. 36. 91—93 citing Varro, cp. Isid. orig. 15. 2. 36:
see Durm Baukunst d. Etrusk!1 p. 140 ff.), were all buildings and merely attest the fact
that the name attached itself to any complicated structure.
1 Supra p. 476. 2 Supra p. 477 n. 1.
3 F. Prevost in the Rev. Arch. 1847—1848 ii. 664, 800 ff. pi. 78.
4 A. F. Ozanam Doaiments ine'dits pour sei"vir d VHistoire Litteraire de VItalie Paris
[850 pp. 92, 178 citing the Graphia aureae urbis Romae (cod. Laurent, plut. lxxxix infer.
no. 41): De diarodino imperatoris et laberintho aureo facto in eo. Unde diarodino utitur
ad imitandum divini ignis effigiem, qui semper ad alta extollitur, et quia per sanguinem
In Italy they gained a firm footing, as we may infer not only
from the literary allusions to the game of
'Troy1,' but also from the many Roman
mosaics that represent Theseus and his
foe in a labyrinthine frame2.
Finally the Labyrinth was taken over
from paganism by Christianity. At
Orleansville in Algeria the Christian
basilica, founded in 324 A.D., had among
other mosaics a Labyrinth, the centre of
Fig 348; which was occupied by the words SANCTA
ECCLESIA repeated in a complicated form3.
One of the state robes of the Christian emperors prior to the ninth
bic-</veM
CkETlCVS
GDIT-DEDi
Lvs-EST-
LaBeriniv
o • NvLLvi-
S'vader
e-^vivit
WI-Fvit
INTvS-
Nl*ThesE
VS* 6 RAT
IS-^DRIAN
6- STAMI
NEIVTVS
Fig- 349-
century was coloured a fiery red and adorned with a Labyrinth
of gold and pearls, in which was a Minotaur of emerald holding a
finger to his lips4. A picture by Bartolommeo Veneto (1502—1530),
Leinnos (?) with its 150 columns attributed to Smilis Rhoikos and Theodoros (id.ib. 36. 90,
where Hirt's cj. Samiits for codd. Lemnius certainly suits the clause : architecti fecere
Zmilis et Rhoecus et Theodoras indigenae), the amazing Labyrinth at Clusium constructed
as a tomb for himself by Porsenna (id. ib. 36. 91—93 citing Varro, cp. Isid. orig. 15. 2. 36:
see Durm Baukunst d. Etrusk!1 p. 140 ff.), were all buildings and merely attest the fact
that the name attached itself to any complicated structure.
1 Supra p. 476. 2 Supra p. 477 n. 1.
3 F. Prevost in the Rev. Arch. 1847—1848 ii. 664, 800 ff. pi. 78.
4 A. F. Ozanam Doaiments ine'dits pour sei"vir d VHistoire Litteraire de VItalie Paris
[850 pp. 92, 178 citing the Graphia aureae urbis Romae (cod. Laurent, plut. lxxxix infer.
no. 41): De diarodino imperatoris et laberintho aureo facto in eo. Unde diarodino utitur
ad imitandum divini ignis effigiem, qui semper ad alta extollitur, et quia per sanguinem