Ancient/Mythological Mazes

From Maze

Of course, the most famous maze is the Cretan Labyrinth, where Theseus slayed the Minotaur, finding his way with the help of Ariadne's string. Why would anyone, Greek hero or no, need a string to find their way through a labyrinth, a unicursal twisted passageway without deadends or choices? And yet that is exactly the kind of maze depicted in most of the ancient imagery.

Plutarch tells of Athenians sent off as a tribute to Crete who met their fate, whether slain by the Minotaru or "wandering the labyrinth, and finding no possible means of getting out, they miserably ended their lives there" (excerpted in Kern 41). The Minotaur, part man, part bull, was the merciless monster of the maze. Actually, this is merely one of the main competing stories Plutarch recounts.