Daedalus and his labyrinth - Interesting fact via expanses ← Hodor. Daedalus and his labyrinth - Interesting fact via expanses ← Hodor Myths and legends
Today they are increasingly talking about large-scale distortions of world history, and more and more facts are being presented to confirm this. Not only documents are distorted true history, but also myths. We will now try to find traces of such distortion.
We are assured that from deep antiquity the legends about the labyrinth, about Daedalus and Icarus have reached us. But if you open modern books with legends Ancient Greece And Ancient Rome and compare them with texts from books 50 years ago, you will see not only new facts about past legends, but also new words that were not in legends and myths 50 years ago. And this applies not only to the Russian language, but also to many others.
For example, in the dictionaries of foreign words of the Soviet era it is said that in ancient times in Egypt and Greece, labyrinths were considered buildings with complex, confusing passages, from which it was difficult to find a way out. It was noted that according to legend, a huge labyrinth was built by Daedalus for the king of the island of Crete, Minos. Many publications present a bas-relief (drawing, photograph or sketch) supposedly from the second century BC, in the bas-relief the master Daedalus is finishing the wings for himself, and his son Icarus has already put on his wings and is ready for his only flight, which will bring him posthumous glory. The bas-reliefs of the captives of King Minos seem to protrude from a brick wall. If they are inside a maze, then the maze is made of brick. What is the labyrinth in Crete made of?
Daedalus is considered the founder of carpentry; he invented the plane, plumb line, glue and other tools and devices for working with wood. He came to the island of Crete to King Minos as a woodworker, why did the king use him for other purposes and force him to make a labyrinth either from brick or stone.
The labyrinth is usually depicted as a complex system of spiral lines or a combination of circles and squares with radii and segments. And if we talk about literary sources, they mention five “great labyrinths”: the Egyptian one under the island of Moeris in Fayum, in Knossos and in the city of Gortyna on the island of Crete, on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea and the Etruscan labyrinth in Clusia (Italy).
Allegedly, ancient writers were convinced that the master Daedalus built a labyrinth on the island. Crete, modeled after the Egyptian one, which was in mortuary temple Pharaoh Amenemhet III (XII dynasty, end of the 19th century BC; his remains were discovered in the Fayum region).
Ovid in the poem “Metamorphoses” gives a description of the palace of King Minos on the island. Crete:
Daedalus, famous for his talent in the art of construction,
The building was erected; confused the icons and eyes into a delusion
He brought it in through the crookedness, through the nooks and crannies of all sorts of passages...
A network of paths without number; he will return himself
I could hardly have gone to the exit: the building was so confused!
The ancient Roman poet compared the layout of the palace with the winding course of the Meander River.
In modern books and reference books you can find a lot of interesting facts about labyrinths, their connection with the sky and space, their sacredness, their special aura, and so on. In the new encyclopedic dictionary visual arts It is noted that images of the labyrinth in Crete can be seen on ancient coins. And the English archaeologist A. Evans, who carried out excavations on the island since 1900. Crete, who discovered the ruins of the palace at Knossos, in particular, a large hall, the columns of which are covered with images of a double-sided axe, identified the palace with the legendary labyrinth (“House of the Axe” in Greek Labrys). This etymology is considered "unreliable", but the intricate layout of the Palace of Knossos is associated with the legend of the Minotaur.
That is, we are advised to take into account that the labyrinth was built for the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull.
Who is the Minotaur in “antiquity”? This is the product of his wife Pasiphae and a sea bull sent by the god Poseidon. The monster, as it turned out, was a cannibal, the king pleased him in everything and supplied beautiful young men and women to kill and eat. This means that the labyrinth should not be a prison for him, but a comfortable home. What material achieves a high level of comfort? Of course, a tree. Even today, being inside brick, panel or monolithic residential buildings, we strive to surround ourselves with wood as the most environmentally friendly material.
And Daedalus is a wood specialist, which means his labyrinth must be made of wood. But all sources claim that the labyrinth was made of stone.
What does the word itself say? What is the opinion of etymologists? The School Etymology Dictionary notes that the word Labyrinthos refers to the Greek language and ancient Aegean culture. The Internet provides a wide range of possibilities, but they all agree that the Latin Labyrinthus, from the Greek Labyrinthos, possibly from the pre-Indo-European Labr - “stone”. That's it. But here's the problem. I did not find Labr in any dictionary, reference book or lexicon from 30 years ago, neither in Russian, nor in English, nor in German, nor in Spanish, nor in Italian, and even in the meaning of “stone”, which means that falsifiers of history continue to replace truth with fiction in the 21st century. Labr is their next invention, which has no basis, it is needed in order to cut the ground from under the feet of those who doubt and seek the truth.
I only came across the Latin form of Labyrinthus ending in –us on the Internet, which means that this is also most likely a recent fake. But there is a word, and it can suggest a lot. There is a technique proposed by A. Fomenko and N. Nosovsky in the dictionary of parallelisms. And there is a desire to understand where the roots come from.
Labyrinthos, we read the word in Russian, but from right to left, while remembering that in Western languages some consonant letters are not readable, they serve either to soften the adjacent consonant or to lengthen the adjacent vowel. SOKHTNIRUBAL. The x is not readable, just like in the Latin h. What happens? HUNDREDS OF RUBAL? By the way, the Latin n could, when rewriting Russian words, be formed from n. Then another version: SOT PIRUBAL, that is, SOTY RUBAL or SOTY RUBAL. In any case, we definitely see that the carpenter worked with an axe, that is, he chopped. Let us remember that in the old days in Rus' they cut down forests, cut down houses, and cut down palaces. And the preparation of a future building from logs was called a log house.
They decided on one root: chopped or chopped. However, maybe he chopped it, because it’s easy to turn Russian even in writing into Latin a.
Now the second root: honeycomb or hundreds, or sot, or sot. The Russian combination ь or тъ in Western languages, when rewritten, often turned into th or ht. Only this can explain why h is not readable. Although many explanations have been invented for each specific case, they try not to notice the general pattern for many languages.
So, the word “cut”, “cut”, “chopped” indicates that the structure is made of wood.
What did you chop? Hundreds, hundreds or honeycombs? Most likely we are not talking about hundreds, but about honeycombs. This is again prompted by Dahl's dictionary, where it is noted that in the old days in Novgorod, the Konchansky elders were elected (those who represented the interests of the ends of the city; there were five such ends), Ulichansky (they represented the interests of the streets, there were many of them) and Sotsky, representing the interests individual parts streets and nooks and crannies of the city, that is, cells.
These honeycombs are in no way connected with hundreds, although some historians believe that this name is derived from the word “hundred”. Note that when we say “the hundredth time,” we do not mean that something has been done 99 times before. The hundredth is an indefinitely large value. And the sotskys in Novgorod did not necessarily represent the interests of a whole hundred citizens, but rather of some small part that was smaller than the street.
One thing is clear: the labyrinth was apparently cut down with an axe. And Daedalus did not fold this labyrinth, but got along. Ladil: this is indicated by the name of the master. Daedalus gets along well. Ladue, big boat for the river fleet, they also got along well, assembled from neatly fitted planks. Among the Novgorodians, a lazhevy person was called a dexterous, smart, intelligent person, capable of not only doing something well, but also reaching an agreement and settling it. The Daedalus of the “ancient” myths possessed precisely such qualities. And when he could not agree with Minos on the release of himself and his son, he attempted to fly away. He himself successfully flew away. But the son burned in the rays of the hot sun. That is, he rose to such a height that the wax that held the feathers of his wings melted in the sun, and Icarus fell into the Mediterranean Sea. It was the hottest time of the year, as legends say.
Can we calculate the date of the event more precisely? It turns out we can. According to many sources, the hottest time of year for the Mediterranean is the end of June and July. According to the horoscope, this time is occupied by the zodiac sign Cancer. And the deceased “ancient” hero was called Icarus. This name is easy to form if you read the word from right to left. Moreover, he was named Icarus based on the results of his flight after his death.
The famous hero of Russian epics, a hero who was so strong that the earth was tired of carrying him, was named according to the same principle. The place where he found peace was called the Holy Mountains, or Svyatogorye, and he himself was called Svyatogor. We still don’t know Svyatogor’s real name.
Another example. Although Pushkin in the story “Dubrovsky” called the rebellious village Kistenevka, it could have received such a name after the suppression of the rebellion, as a memory of this uprising, since the main weapons of the men were homemade flails.
IN Soviet times this practice was applied everywhere. Cities appeared in honor of revolutionaries, politicians, and astronauts. These names did not always coincide with the names of the heroes. So the city on the Vyatka River was named Kirov, and the politician bore the last name Kostrikov. Not sure if all graduates high school can correctly indicate this.
When there are few written sources, accurate facts are forgotten within a period of 15-30 years. This is what those who falsify history are counting on. We don’t know the name of the builder of the structure, called a labyrinth in mythology, or the name of his son, but we have discovered the point where the forgery was committed.
We do not know exactly when this construction and this famous flight took place. But we are sure that not before our era. This is an event of the Middle Ages. Why? But because the surge in astrological research and interest in horoscopes - the exact determination of an event taking into account the sun, moon and seven planets - occurred in the Middle Ages. Horoscopes that are found in supposedly “ancient” Egypt, in temples and museums in Europe, were also created in the Middle Ages and indicate medieval dates.
And for me - "The House of Asteria" by Borges.
House of Asteria.
Maria Mosquera Eastman
And the queen gave birth to a son, who was named Asterius.
Apollodorus. Library, III. 1
I know I have been accused of arrogance, and perhaps of hating people, and perhaps of insanity. These accusations (which I will pay for in due course) are ridiculous. It is true that I do not leave the house, but it is also true that its doors (the number of which is infinite) *1 are open day and night for people and animals. Let whoever wants to come in. Here you will find neither pampering luxury nor the magnificent splendor of palaces, but only peace and solitude. And a house that has no equal in all the land. (Those who claim that there is a similar house in Egypt are lying.)
Even my detractors must admit that there is no furniture in the house. Another absurdity is that I, Asterius, am a prisoner. Repeat that there is not a single closed door, not a single lock? Besides, one day when it was getting dark I went outside; and if I returned before nightfall, it was because I was frightened by the faces of the common people - colorless and flat, like the palm of my hand. The sun had already set, but the inconsolable cries of the child and the pleading cries of the crowd meant that I was recognized. People prayed, ran away, fell to their knees, some climbed to the foot of the Temple of the Double Axe, others grabbed stones. Someone seems to have jumped into the sea. It’s not for nothing that my mother was a queen; I cannot mix with the mob, even if out of modesty I wanted to.
The point is that I am unique. I'm not interested in what one person can tell others; As a philosopher, I believe that nothing can be communicated through writing. These annoying and vulgar little things disgust my spirit, which is destined for great things; I could never remember the differences between one letter and another. A certain noble impatience is preventing me from learning to read. Sometimes I regret it - the days and nights are so long.
Of course, I have enough entertainment. Like a ram ready to fight, I rush through the stone galleries until I fall exhausted to the ground. I hide in the shadows near a pond or around a bend in the corridor and pretend that they are looking for me. I jumped from some rooftops and fell to my death. Sometimes I pretend to be asleep, lying with eyes closed and breathing deeply (sometimes I actually fall asleep, and when I open my eyes, I see how the color of the day has changed). But most of all the games I like is playing another Asterius. I pretend that he came to visit me, and I show him the house. Extremely respectfully I tell him: “Let’s go back to that corner,” or: “Now let’s go to the other courtyard,” or: “I thought you would like this cornice,” or: “That’s a vat filled with sand,” or: “Now you’ll see how underground passage bifurcates." Sometimes I'm wrong, and then we both laugh happily.
Not only do I come up with these games, I also think about home. All parts of the house are repeated many times, one part is exactly like the other. There is not one pond, yard, watering hole, feeding trough, but there are fourteen (infinite number) feeding troughs, watering holes, courtyards, and ponds. The house is like the world, or rather, it is the world. However, when I get tired of the courtyards with a pond and the dusty galleries of gray stone, I go outside and look at the Temple of the Double Ax and the sea. I could not understand this until one night I dreamed that there were fourteen (an infinite number) of seas and temples. Everything is repeated many times, fourteen times, but two things in the world are unique: above is an incomprehensible sun; below - I, Asterius. Perhaps the stars and the sun and this huge house were created by me, but I am not sure of it.
Every nine years, nine people appear in the house so that I can rid them of evil. I hear their steps or voices in the depths of the stone galleries and joyfully run towards them. The whole procedure takes only a few minutes. They fall one after another, and I don’t even have time to get blood on them. Where they fall is where they stay, and their bodies help me distinguish this gallery from others. I don’t know who they are, but one of them, at his death hour, predicted to me that someday my liberator would come. Since then, loneliness has not bothered me, I know that my savior exists and in the end he will step on the dusty floor. If all the sounds in the world reached my ears, I would distinguish his steps. It would be nice if he took me somewhere with fewer galleries and fewer doors. What will my deliverer be like? - I ask myself. Will he be a bull or a man? Or maybe a bull with a human head? Or like me?
The morning sun played on the bronze sword. There was no more blood left on him.
Would you believe it, Ariadne? - Theseus said. - The Minotaur almost did not resist.
Medieval scientists considered Daedalus' labyrinth to be the most complex labyrinth ever created.
According to legend, Daedalus created this labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur in it.
Daedalus very cleverly used psychological factors of behavior that the probability of escaping from the labyrinth is practically zero.
If the passages of this labyrinth were a meter wide, and the walls were 30 centimeters thick, the only path leading out of it would be more than a kilometer long. Most likely, any person would rather die of hunger or thirst before finding a way out.
Over its long history, the Cretan labyrinth was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and in 1380 BC it was destroyed and abandoned completely, until the English archaeologist A. Evans discovered a mysterious hieroglyphic letter in the Oxford Museum. The letter spoke of an ancient labyrinth. In 1900, an archaeologist arrived in Crete and began excavations.
Arthur Evans carried out excavations for almost 30 years and unearthed not a city, but a palace equal in area to the entire city. This was the famous Knossos labyrinth, which was a structure with total area 22 thousand square meters, which had at least 5-6 above-ground levels-floors connected by passages and stairs, and a number of underground crypts. The Cretan labyrinth turned out to be not an invention of the ancients, but a real miracle of architecture, in which there was something incomprehensible to the mind.
The labyrinth is a real Myth, it is a story about heroes and events that historical science does not recognize as real, but considers as symbols.
We believe that at the heart of any myth, any image, any symbolic narrative lies reality, even if not always historical. Myth accurately describes psychological reality: human experiences, mental processes and forms are hidden behind symbols that have been passed down from generation to generation and have finally reached us so that we can unravel them, remove the veil from them and again see their innermost meaning, realize their deep essence.
The myth of the Labyrinth is one of the oldest, and, I dare say, it is similar to the myths of all ancient civilizations, which say that the labyrinth is a difficult and unclear path, on whose complex and winding paths it is easy to get lost. Sometimes the plot of this myth is woven into the story of an extraordinary person, a hero or a mythical character who overcomes a labyrinth and finds the key to solving a riddle that appears before him in the form of a path.
When we talk about labyrinths, we immediately remember the most famous of them, about which evidence has been preserved in Greek mythology- in a simple and accessible form, close to a children's fairy tale: the labyrinth of the island of Crete. I don’t want to talk about it in the same simplified way as is done in famous legends, we will open its deeper layers and analyze archaeological finds, made in Crete to understand what the Cretans worshiped and what the labyrinth really was for them. And we will see how this story will take on a complex symbolic form, and it will no longer seem so childish to us.
Knossos Labyrinth
So, one of the ancient symbols of Crete, associated with its supreme deity, was a double-edged ax, which can be represented as two pairs of horns, one of which is directed upward, the other downward. This ax was associated with the sacred bull, the cult of which was widespread in Crete. It was called Labrys and, according to an older tradition, served as the instrument with which the god, who later received the name Ares-Dionysus from the Greeks, cut through the First Labyrinth.
Here's his story. When Ares-Dionysus, the god of primordial times, is very ancient god, descended to earth, nothing had yet been created, nothing had yet taken shape, there was only darkness, darkness. But, according to legend, Ares-Dionysus was given a weapon from heaven, Labrys, and it was with this tool, with this weapon, that he created the world.
Labyrinth of Daedalus
Ares-Dionysus began to walk in the middle of the darkness, describing circle after circle. (This is very interesting, because modern science has discovered that when we find ourselves in the dark in an unfamiliar room or trying to get out of some spacious but unlit place, we most often begin to walk in circles; the same happens when we get lost or wander through the forest We gave such a comparison because from the very beginning we want to emphasize that the symbolism of the labyrinth is associated with certain atavisms inherent in humans.)
And so Ares-Dionysus began to walk in a circle, cutting through the darkness and cutting furrows with his axe. The road that he cut and which became brighter with every step is called the “labyrinth,” that is, “the path cut by Labrys.”
When Ares-Dionysus, cutting through the darkness, reached the very center, the goal of his path, he suddenly saw that he no longer had the ax that he had at the beginning. His ax turned into pure light - he held in his hands a flame, fire, a torch, which brightly illuminated everything around, for God performed a double miracle: with one edge of the ax he cut through the darkness outside, and with the other - his inner darkness. In the same way that he created light outside, he created light within himself; just as he cut the outer path, he cut the inner path. And when Ares-Dionysus reached the center of the labyrinth, he reached the end point of his path: he reached the light, achieved inner perfection.
This is the symbolism of the Cretan myth of the labyrinth, the oldest that has come down to us. We know the later legends much better.
The most famous of them is the myth of the mysterious labyrinth created by Daedalus, an amazing architect and inventor from ancient Crete, whose name is now always associated with a labyrinth, a confusing path.
The name Daedalus, or Dactyl as it is sometimes called, in the ancient language of the Greeks means “He who creates,” “He who works with his hands, builds.” Daedalus is a symbol of a builder, but not just the creator of a complex of parks and palaces, which was the labyrinth of King Minos, but a builder in a deeper sense of the word, perhaps similar to the symbolism of the very first deity, who built the Labyrinth of Light in the darkness.
The Labyrinth of Daedalus was neither an underground structure nor something dark and twisting; This was huge complex houses, palaces and parks, designed in such a way that whoever entered it could not find a way out. The point is not that Daedalus's labyrinth was terrible, but that it was impossible to escape from it.
Daedalus built this labyrinth for the Cretan king Minos, an almost legendary character, whose name allows us to get acquainted with the very ancient traditions of all the peoples of that era.
Minos lived in fairytale palace, and he had a wife, Pasiphae, who caused all the drama surrounding the labyrinth.
Wanting to become a king, Minos counted on the help of another powerful god, the ruler of the waters and oceans, Poseidon. In order for Minos to feel his support, Poseidon performed a miracle: he created a white bull from the waters and sea foam and presented it to Minos as a sign that he really was the king of Crete.
However, as the Greek myth says, it so happened that the wife of Minos fell hopelessly in love with a white bull, dreamed only of him and desired only him. Not knowing how to approach him, she asked Daedalus, the great builder, to build a huge bronze cow, beautiful and attractive, so that the bull would feel attracted, while Pasiphae would hide inside her.
And then a real tragedy unfolds: Daedalus creates a cow, Pasiphae hides in it, the bull approaches the cow, and from this strange union of a woman and a bull, a half-bull, half-man appears - the Minotaur. This monster, this monster settled in the center of the labyrinth, which at the same moment turned from a complex of parks and palaces into a gloomy place inspiring fear and sadness, into an eternal reminder of the misfortune of the king of Crete.
Some ancient legends, in addition to the Cretan ones, preserved a less simplified interpretation of the tragedy of Pasiphae and the White Bull.
For example, in the legends of pre-Columbian America and India there are references to the fact that millions of years ago, at a certain stage of human evolution, people lost their way and mixed with animals, and because of this perversion and violation of the laws of nature, real monsters appeared on earth, hybrids that are difficult to even describe. They inspired fear not only because, like the Minotaur, they had an evil disposition; they bore the mark of shame from a union that should never have taken place, from a secret that should not have been revealed until all these events were erased from the memory of mankind.
So, the connection of Pasiphae with the Bull and the birth of the Minotaur is related to the ancient races and to those ancient events that at a certain moment were erased from people’s memory.
On the other hand, the monster, the Minotaur, is a blind, amorphous matter without reason or purpose, which lurks in the center of the labyrinth, awaiting victims from its benefactor.
Years pass, the legend continues, and the Minotaur in his labyrinth truly turns into something terrifying. The king of Crete, having defeated the Athenians in the war, imposes a terrible tribute on them: every nine years they must send seven young men and seven innocent girls as sacrifices to the Minotaur. When the deadline for paying the third tribute comes, a hero with all the virtues, Theseus, rebels against it in Athens. He makes a promise to himself not to accept rule of the city until he frees it from the scourge, until he kills the Minotaur.
Theseus himself enlists among the young men who are to become victims of the monster, goes to Crete, captivates the heart of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, and gets her to give him a ball of thread with which he can pass through the labyrinth and then, having killed the Minotaur, find the his way out. The ball played a very important role in this story. Theseus enters the labyrinth and, penetrating further into its complex and intricate corridors, unwinds the thread. Having reached the center, thanks to his colossal strength and will, he kills the Minotaur and finds a way out.
In simple and naive stories, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a sword, sometimes with a dagger. But in the most ancient narratives, as well as in images on ancient Attic vases, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a double-bladed axe. And again the hero, having made his way through the labyrinth, having reached the center, performs a miracle with the help of Labrys, a double axe.
We have to solve one more riddle: Ariadne gives Theseus not a ball, but a spindle with threads. And, penetrating into the depths of the labyrinth, Theseus unwinds it. But the hero returns to the exit, picking up the thread and winding it again, and from the labyrinth he actually takes out a ball - a perfectly round ball. This symbol also cannot be called new. The spindle with which Theseus goes into the labyrinth symbolizes the imperfection of his inner world, which he must “unfold,” that is, pass a series of tests. The ball that he creates by picking up the thread is the perfection that he achieved by putting the Minotaur to death, which means passing the tests and emerging from the labyrinth.
There were many labyrinths, just like Theseus. They are also available in Spain. Along the entire path to Santiago de Compostella and throughout Galicia, there are an infinite number of ancient images of labyrinths on stone that invite the pilgrim to take the path to Santiago and walk this road, and they directly indicate to us that in their symbolic and spiritual meaning this the path is a labyrinth.
In England, in famous castle Tintagel, where, according to legend, King Arthur was born, also has its own labyrinths.
We also find them in India, where they were a symbol of reflection, concentration, and turning to the true center.
IN Ancient Egypt In the ancient city of Abydos, founded almost in the predynastic period, there was a labyrinth, which was a round temple. In its galleries, ceremonies were held to commemorate time, evolution, and the endless roads that man traveled before reaching the center, which meant meeting the true man.
According to the history of Egypt, the labyrinth of Abydos was, apparently, only a very small part of the huge labyrinth described by Herodotus, who believed Egyptian labyrinth so colossal, amazing and unimaginable that even the Great Pyramid pales next to it.
Today we can no longer see this labyrinth; we only have the testimony of Herodotus. For many centuries, for the peculiarities of his presentation, people called him the father of history, Herodotus the truthful, and gave many more similar names, but when not all of his descriptions were confirmed, we naturally decided that Herodotus was not always confident in his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of its descriptions that it is probably worth being patient and waiting - suddenly archaeologists will discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about.
There were many labyrinths in the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. One of the most famous, images of which are quite common, is the labyrinth laid out on the stone floor of the main cathedral in Chartres. It was created not for anyone to get lost in it, but for it to be followed: it was a kind of path of initiation, a path of accomplishment and a path of achievement that the candidate, the student, the one who aspired to be had to overcome. accepted into the Mysteries.
Indeed, it is extremely difficult to get lost in the labyrinth of Chartres: all its roads are purely symbolic, all turns and crossroads are visible. The most important thing here is to reach the center, a square stone on which the various constellations are marked with nails. For a person, this allegorically means to reach Heaven and become on a par with the deities.
It is very likely that all such myths of antiquity and all the symbolic labyrinths of Gothic cathedrals reflect not so much historical reality as psychological reality. And the psychological reality of the labyrinth is still alive today. If in ancient times they spoke of the initiatory labyrinth as a path through which a person could realize himself, today we must talk about a material and psychological labyrinth.
It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we encounter in life, how we live and how we express ourselves - all this is part of one labyrinth. The difficulty is different: those who found themselves in Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered a labyrinth; so are we in ours Everyday life We don’t realize that we are in a labyrinth that pulls a person into itself.
From a psychological point of view, the confusion of Theseus, who longed to kill the Minotaur, is of the same nature as the confusion of a person who is confused and afraid.
We are afraid because we don’t know something and we can’t do it; we are afraid because we don’t understand something and because of this we feel insecure. Our fear usually manifests itself in the fact that we cannot choose, we do not know where to go, what to devote our lives to; it manifests itself in eternal routine and mediocrity, exhausting and sad: we are ready to do anything, just not to make a decision and not show at least a little firmness.
Confusion is another disease that haunts us in the modern labyrinth on the psychological plane. This confusion arises because it is very difficult for us to decide who we are, where we came from and where we are going. These three questions are the main reason for our confusion, although they are so simple and ingenuous that they seem childish to us. Is there any meaning in our lives other than constant confusion? Why do we work and why do we study? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how to recognize it?
From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters or narrow corridors in it, traps constantly await us.
And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were to look for a way out of it empty-handed. Theseus takes two objects with him: an ax (or a sword - as you prefer) to kill the monster, and a spindle with thread, his ball, to find his way back.
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According to ancient legends, thousands of years ago, there was a hopeless situation on the island. labyrinth of endless corridors and alleys, created by the architect Daedalus, where a terrible creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, called the Minotaur, was hiding. It was a product of evil, sent down to people as the fruit of unnatural love between the wife of King Minos, Pasiphae, and the bull sent by Poseidon to the ruler of the island. According to one version, this labyrinth was located in the dungeons of the Knossos Palace and was conceived by Daedalus at the behest of the king, in order to confuse the exits from it as much as possible, in such a way as to prevent the return of a person who got there and was given into the clutches of a bloodthirsty beast.
Having defeated the Athenians in a bloody war, Minos ordered them to pay a terrible tribute. Every 9 years they had to send 7 boys and 7 young girls to Crete as victims for the Minotaur, placed in the labyrinth. However, according to the prophecy, after the payment of the third tribute, a hero was destined to appear in Athens, capable of defeating the monster and saving the city from the terrible toll. Soon, a mountain appeared, and his name was Theseus. Due to his position, he was supposed to become the ruler of Athens, but having learned what he had to do, the young man decided not to vest himself with power until he had rid the city of the insatiable Minotaur.
Voluntarily enlisting in the ranks of the next victims, Theseus went to Crete along with other young people doomed to death. Once on the island, he charmed the beautiful Ariadne, daughter of Minos, and encouraged her to give her lover a ball of thread, with the help of which he could get out of the labyrinth without any extra effort. As a result, having gone to the very center of the puzzle entangled by Daedalus, thanks to his courage, dexterity and strength, he defeated the Minotaur and, following Aridna’s thread, left the beast’s lair, freeing subsequent generations from it.
Today, the labyrinth of Daedalus can only be seen on ancient Cretan coins and various souvenirs as symbolism, but its meaning can be found in the reflection of everyday life, which for each person also has its own form in the form of adversity and hardship, patience and choosing the right path. These concepts underlie the myth itself, given that Theseus achieved his goal, also overcoming himself in many ways, overcoming fear and doubt, and by emerging from the labyrinth, he fulfilled his destiny. Of course, unlike the hero of ancient Greek legends, not every person initially knows about the purpose of his stay in this world, but the search for the right path and the right answer is precisely the meaning of any labyrinth.
