#the labyrinth of the Minotaur

[prokopetz]

I know the unicursal (i.e., non-branching) labyrinth is a visual art thing and doesn't at all match the description of the mythological Labyrinth, but sometimes I picture some sort of ancient Greek SCP thing with very speedy stonemasons constantly lengthening the path in order to contain a very, very slow Minotaur.

[some-faulty-wiring]

[weepingwidar]

Todd Bienvenu (American, 1980) - Untitled (n.d.)

[h0ndayot4]

RONAN LYNCH — the bull-headed boy, the two-headed calf

call down the hawk - maggie stiefvater / minotaur, bronze sculpture (1990) — pedro requejo novoa / the minotaur (painting) - wikipedia excerpt / the minotaur, oil on canvas (1885) -  george frederic watts / the elektra complex — joan tierney / call down the hawk — maggie stiefvater / frankenstein — mary shelley / greywarren — maggie stiefvater / house of asterion — jorge luis borges / the dream thieves — maggie stiefvater / labyrinthus hic habitat minotaurus [fig.32. - graffito at pompeii. (museo borbonico.)] — mazes and labyrinths: a general account of their history and developments / call down the hawk — maggie stiefvater / house of asterion — jorge luis borges / greywaren — maggie stiefvater / the two-headed calf — laura gilpin / greywaren — maggie stiefvater 

[jamgraphicdesign]

Tragedies of the Labyrinth

Icarus & the Minotaur

[arthur-lesters-right-arm]

Arthur the typa guy to get put in a labyrinth

[smile-files]

o ariadne, accomplice to the minotaur's murder; your scarlet string is his blood in your hands... and yet theseus, forsaking sand and sail, is the only creature dead to you

(objectober 2024 day 18: maze)

maze generated on https://www.mazegenerator.net

[elysiuminfra]

asterion and the moth

[orkazh-arts]

Bonding with the half-brother 🐮🧶✨

Or, Ariadne and Asterion (the Minotaur) spend some quality time together because f*ck Theseus 💅😌✨

[community-gardenss]

do you ever ever think about icarus and his proximity to asterion? because depending on the myth (one where daedalus' imprisonment comes after the labyrinths construction rather than after theseus' escape) and how you interpret it you could extrapolate them growing up in the labyrinth at the same time.

basically what I'm saying is there's a missed opportunity to explore the dynamic between ariadne, icarus, and asterion as the children of the labyrinth. with ariadne being its keeper and icarus and asterion being it's prisoners. the potential for some sort of comradery between an isolated icarus and a young lonely asterion. the familial guilt and love between asterion and ariadne. the tension in the power dynamic between ariadne and icarus. do you understand my vision.

[aliciavance4228]

Let's talk a little bit about the Labyrinth

There's no secret that a lot of people out there (rightfully) mock Theseus for his low intellectual skills and memory issues. However, one argument I've often seen being brought into discussion is the difference between a labyrinth and maze, oftenly used in order make fun of the idiot even more:

However, there are a few aspects to be taken into account:

a) The Labyrinth was supposed to be a prison for the Minotaur as well. Assuming that escaping from it would've been so easy then the Labyrinth would've no longer been a prison for him to begin with.

b) There were ten people sacrificed to him anually. You cannot tell me that at least one of them wouldn't have been smart enough to figure out how to get out if the Labyrinth in question would've been just a "long, guided path".

c) The Labyrinth was designed by Daedalus, who is supposed to be clever enough to come up with something puzzling and head-scratching.

Then I found this fragment written by Diodorus Siculus:

"After the death of this king the Egyptians regained the control of their government and placed on the throne a native king, Mendes, whom some call Marrus. 2 So far as war is concerned this ruler did not accomplish anything at all, but he did build himself a tomb known as the Labyrinth, which was not so remarkable for its size as it was impossible to imitate in respect to its ingenious design; for a man who enters it cannot easily find his way out, unless he gets a guide who is thoroughly acquainted with the structure. 3 And some say that Daedalus, visiting Egypt and admiring the skill shown in the building, also constructed for Minos, the king of Crete, a labyrinth like the one in Egypt, in which was kept, as the myth relates, the beast called Minotaur. 4 However, the labyrinth in Crete has entirely disappeared, whether it be that some ruler razed it to the ground or that time effaced the work, but the one in Egypt has stood intact in its entire structure down to our lifetime."

To resume everything, Daedalus' Labyrinth was inspired by the Labyrinth of Egypt, a complex labyrinthine structure that once stood near the foot of the Pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara. Now, that labyrinth was eventually destroyed and nowdays can be only partially reconstructed, but we still have have ancient descriptions of it:

Herodotus was the very first person to describe it in Histoires, Book II:

"It has twelve courts covered in, with gates facing one another, six upon the North side and six upon the South, joining on one to another, and the same wall surrounds them all outside; and there are in it two kinds of chambers, the one kind below the ground and the other above upon these, three thousand in number, of each kind fifteen hundred. The upper set of chambers we ourselves saw;… but the chambers underground we heard about only… For the passages through the chambers, and the goings this way and that way through the courts, which were admirably adorned, afforded endless matter for marvel, as we went through from a court to the chambers beyond it, and from the chambers to colonnades, and from the colonnades to other rooms, and then from the chambers again to other courts. Over the whole of these is a roof made of stone like the walls; and the walls are covered with figures carved upon them, each court being surrounded with pillars of white stone fitted together most perfectly; and at the end of the labyrinth, by the corner of it, there is a pyramid of forty fathoms, upon which large figures are carved, and to this there is a way made under ground. Such is this labyrinth."

Next we have Starbo's account:

"...Before the entrances there lie what might be called hidden chambers which are long and many in number and have paths running through one another which twist and turn, so that no one can enter or leave any court without a guide."

Finally, Pliny the Elder described it as a “bewildering maze of paths” in the Natural History Book.

Later in the 17th Century Athanasius Kircher tried to produce the very first pictoral reconstructions of the labyrinth, based of Herodotus' description:

While it is uncertain why was the temple called a Labyrinth, there's a high chance that it was considered one simply because it was huge and complex enough to get lost inside it, when in reality it could've been intentionally designed as a maze where one had to find their own way through it. And if Daedalus' own work was more-or-less a faithful copy of the Labyrinth of Egypt then in this case Theseus needing Ariadne's help wasn't plain stupidity but Daedalus' brilliant mind.

[klaus-littlestwolf]

Elijah M. Moodboard

Minotaur Elijah M.

[illustratus]

The House of Asterion by Piero Vettori

[theartisticendeavor]

Art by Caterina Gerbasi

[dragon-crime]

Taurlu is very fun to draw. I maaaaayyy have another one in the works already :v

@gurlu

[threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat]

Titan Takedown combat in a labyrinth with fog of war pls and thank you