Stefan Arteni

Ariadne and the Labyrinth

a visual essay

Minoan frescos,
Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece Solinvictus Press 2010
Bronze Age
labyrinth,
carved into
granite stone,
Armenteira, Meis,
Galicia, Spain
Rock-carving of a labyrinth, Tintagel, Cornwall, England
 A tablet inscribed in Linear B found at Knossos records a
gift "to all the gods honey; to the mistress of the labyrinth
honey." All the gods together receive as much honey as
the Mistress of the Labyrinth alone.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Labyrinth.html

The ruins of Minos' palace at Knossos have been found, but the labyrinth has not. The
enormous number of rooms, staircases and corridors in the palace has led
archaeologists to believe that the palace itself was the source of the labyrinth myth…
According to A. B. Cook, Minos and Minotaur are only different forms of the same
personage, representing the sun-god Zeus of the Cretans, who depicted the sun as a
bull. He and J. G. Frazer both explain Pasiphae's union with the bull as a sacred
ceremony, at which the queen of Knossos was wedded to a bull-formed god, just as
the wife of the Tyrant in Athens was wedded to Dionysus.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Minotaur.html
Ariadne ( ριάδνη, Αριάδνη) ("utterly pure," from a Cretan-Greek form for
arihagne) was a fertility goddess of Crete. Her name is merely an epithet, for she
was originally the "Mistress of the Labyrinth", both a prison with the dreaded
Minotaur at its center and a winding dance-ground.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Ariadne.html
Archaeologist Sandy McGillivray has been spellbound by the beauty of
Minoan art and architecture for 25 years.. ..
SANDY MCGILLIVRAY: One of the most telling and horrifying deposits
was a deposit recovered in the town of Knossos up along the royal road
and that was these cannibalized youths. The analysis of these bones
from this burnt destruction deposit strongly suggested they’d been
hacked up in order to take the flesh off in order to eat them. This
cannibalistic aspect of the Minoans is probably one of the things that was
recalled when the Greeks first arrived in Crete.
Secrets of the Dead, “Sinking Atlantis”,
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/transcripts/sinking-atlantis-transcript/91/
 The labyrinthine Knossos palace,
http://www.dilos.com/dilosimages/image/crete/knossos_plan.jpg
Clay
snake-goddess,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece
Snake-goddess,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece
Relief fresco
of the bull
from Knossos,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece
Clay female
figurine,
Old Palace Period,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece,
1700 BC
Circle dance, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece
Circle
dance,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete,
Greece
Gold signet ring, goddess and a ritual dance, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete,
New Palace Period, 1600-1450 BC
Double axe (labrys) symbol, Knossos palace, Crete
Basket-shaped vase
with double axes
symbols,
15th century BC,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece
Seal,
Mistress of the
animals
with double axe,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece
Seal with Minoan pantheon, http://www.hartzler.org/cc307/minoan/
Sarcophagus of Agia Triada
(1600 - 1450 BC) and details,
bull sacrifice,
Heraklion Archaeological
Museum, Crete, Greece
Sarcophagus of
Agia Triada
(1600 - 1450
BC), detail,
Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum, Crete,
Greece
 Sarcophagus of Agia Triada (1600 - 1450 BC), detail: priestess sacrificing a liquid
at an altar adorned with double axes, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece
Sarcophagus of Agia Triada
(1600 - 1450 BC),detail:
priestess sacrificing a liquid
at an altar adorned
with double axes,
Heraklion Archaeological
Museum, Crete, Greece
Clay model of shrine with horns, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece,
Palace Period, 1800-1700 BC
Minoan
bull's head
Minoan black stone
bull's head libation
vessel, Heraklion
Archaeological
Museum,
Crete, Greece
Clay bull,
Heraklion
Archaeological Museum,
Crete, Greece

Stone bull horns,

Heraklion
Archaeological Museum,
Crete, Greece
Roman Zeugma mosaic, Pasiphae, Daedalus and Icarus, Gaziantep museum, Turkey
Roman fresco,
Daedalus and
Pasiphae,
Museo
archeologico
nazionale,
Napoli, Italy
Daedalus and Pasiphae, House of the Vettii, Pompeii
Daedalus and Pasiphae, detail, House of the Vettii, Pompeii
Settecamini Painter, Pasiphae and the minotaur, Attic red-figure kylix,
340-320 BC (from Vulci)
Settecamini Painter, Pasiphae and the minotaur, detail, Attic red-figure kylix,
340-320 BC (from Vulci)
 Ariadne and Theseus (?),
Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece, 900-620 BC (?)
Roman mosaic, Theseus and Ariadne, Girona archaeological museum, Spain
 Roman fresco, Theseus and Ariadne,
House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto,
Pompeii, Italy

Roman fresco,
Theseus and Ariadne,
Museo archeologico nazionale,
Napoli, Italy
Roman sarcophagus, Theseus and Ariadne at the gates of the labyrinth,
Metropolitan museum of art, New York
Theseus and
the minotaur,
detail from an
orientalizing
polychrome stamnos
made
in Mégara Hyblæa,
660–650 BC
(from Selinunte, Sicily)
Black figure amphora, 560-540 BC, Louvre museum, Paris
Aison Cup, Tondo shows the victory of Theseus over the Minotaur in the presence of Athena, National
Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid
Tondo of the
Aison Cup,
showing the
victory of
Theseus over
the Minotaur
in the
presence
of Athena,
National
Archaeological
Museum
of Spain,
Madrid
Altamura painter,
Theseus
and the Minotaur,
side A from an
Attic red-figure
stamnos, 460 BC
Roman
mosaic,
Theseus
and the
Minotaur,
Museo
archeologico
nazionale,
Napoli, Italy
Roman mosaic,
Aix-en-Provence,
France
Roman
mosaic,
Theseus
and the
minotaur,
Cyrene
museum,
Libya
Roman
mosaic,
Switzerland
Roman mosaic, Pompeii
Roman fresco,
Theseus,
Museo
archeologico
nazionale,
Napoli, Italy
Roman fresco,
Theseus,
Herculanum basilica,
Italy,
photo
Stefano Bolognini
Bronze age tablet,
Mycenean
Pylos palace,
Greece
Metropolitan museum of art, New York
Greek labyrinth coins
Roman mosaic, Villa of Theseus, Paphos, Cyprus, 3rd - 4th centuries AD
Detail, Roman mosaic, Villa of Theseus, Paphos, Cyprus, 3rd - 4th centuries AD
Detail, Roman mosaic, Villa of Theseus, Paphos, Cyprus, 3rd - 4th centuries AD
Roman mosaic, Conimbriga, Portugal
Detail of the Roman mosaic, Conimbriga, Portugal
Roman mosaic, Pompeii
Detail of the
Roman mosaic,
Pompeii
Roman mosaic,
Orbe, Waadt,
Switzerland
Roman mosaic,
Orbe, Waadt,
Switzerland
Roman mosaic and detail,
Bardo museum,
Tunis, Tunisia
Detail, Roman mosaic, Bardo museum, Tunisia
Roman mosaic from Salzburg, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung,
Vienna, Austria
Roman mosaic from Salzburg, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, Austria,
www.lessing-photo.com/search.asp?a=1&kc=2020202030C4&kw=DIONYS...
 Detail, left side, Roman mosaic from Salzburg,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, Austria
 Detail, right side, Roman mosaic from Salzburg,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, Austria
 Detail, center, Roman mosaic from Salzburg,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, Austria
www.lessing-photo.com/search.asp?a=1&kc=2020202030C4&kw=DIONYS...
 Detail, top, Roman mosaic from Salzburg,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, Austria
www.lessing-photo.com/search.asp?a=1&kc=2020202030C4&kw=DIONYS...
Roman mosaic, Italica, Spain
A perspective view of the Roman mosaic, Italica, Spain
Roman mosaic, House of the labyrinth, Calvatone,
Museo Civico Archeologico, Piadena, Italy
Roman Mosaic, House of the peristyle, Sabratha, Lybia
Roman mosaic, House of the geometric mosaics, Pompeii
Perspective view of the Roman mosaic, House of the geometric mosaics, Pompeii
Roman mosaic, Theseus, Museum of art and history, Geneva, Switzerland,
4th-5th centuries AD
Pan painter,
Theseus abandons
Ariadne on Naxos,
lekythos, Taranto, Italy
Roman fresco, Ariadne abandoned by Theseus on Naxos, House of the tragic poet, Pompeii ,Italy
Detail, Roman fresco, Ariadne abandoned by Theseus on Naxos, House of the tragic poet,
Pompeii,Italy
Roman fresco and detail,
Ariadne abandoned by Theseus
on Naxos,
House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy
Roman fresco and detail,
Ariadne abandoned by Theseus on Naxos,
House of the first floor, Pompeii, Italy
Roman fresco, Dionysos discovers Ariadne on Naxos, House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy
Roman fresco,
Dionysos
discovers
Ariadne
on Naxos,
House of the
colored
capitals,
Pompeii, Italy
Dionysos discovers Ariadne on Naxos, Syria?, 3rd -4th centuries AD,
Miho museum, Japan
Roman mosaic, Dionysos discovers Ariadne on Naxos, Archaeological Museum of
Chania, Crete, Greece
Roman fresco,
Dionysos and Ariadne,
House of the golden bracelet,
Pompeii, Italy
Details of the Roman fresco,
Dionysos and Ariadne,
House of
the golden bracelet,
Pompeii, Italy
Dionysos
and Ariadne,
Roman mosaic
from Zeugma,
Turkey
Roman
mosaic,
Triumph of
Dionysos
and
Ariadne,
Sabratha,
Libya
Labyrinth, San Vitale basilica, Ravenna, Italy
The labyrinth as symbol of christian pilgrimage, St Martin church, Lucca, Italy
Labyrinth, Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, France
The unique Christ in the labyrinth, fresco, Chiostro di San Francesco, Alatri, Italy,
13th-14th centuries
www.luoghimisteriosi.it/lazio_alatri.html
Giulio Romano (1492 - 1546), Palazzo del Tè, Mantova
Bartolomeo Veneto,
Portrait,
16th century,
Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge
Master of the cassoni Campana,
Theseus and the minotaur,
Avignon, musée du Petit Palais,
16th century
Massimo Campigli, Labirinto
Stefan Arteni,
Ariadne,
mistress of the
labyrinth