Cultural History of Mazes

Mazes have an iconic place in the world of early computers and, of course, a much longer place in cultures around the world. They are heavily charged symbols that appear to call the viewer into entering their pathways either physically or visually.

Mazes have an iconic place in the world of early computers and, of course, a much longer place in cultures around the world. They are heavily charged symbols that appear to call the viewer into entering their pathways either physically or visually.

[Scholars of mazes distinguish the labyrinth as unicursal, offering no choices to one traversing it.] Hermann Kern has written the book on labyrinths in his Labyrinthe, Erscheinungsformen und Deutungen 5000 Jahre Gegenwart eines Urbilds, later published in English as Through the Labyrinth: Designs and Meaning over 5,000 Years. However, unlike the more general category of mazes, a labyrinth is “almost completely enclosed by an outerline” and their paths “are not intersected by other paths” (23). Nonetheless, the history of labyrinths is an essential part of the overall mythos of the maze.

[Scholars of mazes distinguish the labyrinth as unicursal, offering no choices to one traversing it.] Hermann Kern has written the book on labyrinths in his Labyrinthe, Erscheinungsformen und Deutungen 5000 Jahre Gegenwart eines Urbilds, later published in English as Through the Labyrinth: Designs and Meaning over 5,000 Years. However, unlike the more general category of mazes, a labyrinth is “almost completely enclosed by an outerline” and their paths “are not intersected by other paths” (23). Nonetheless, the history of labyrinths is an essential part of the overall mythos of the maze.