The Cretan labyrinth – myth, history, and afterlife
The motif of the labyrinth has a long history. Depictions in rock art may date back as far as 10,500-4800 BCE, and can be found from Nevada to Cornwall, from Lancashire to Spain. The purpose of the image is unclear, but they all share the same form – a unicursal, meandering symbol, turning and changing directions from outside to the centre but never crossing itself. But by far the most famous labyrinth of all is that of ancient Crete. This talk will consider the mythology, archaeology and history of this most famous of labyrinths, and it will also consider the ways the myth of the Cretan labyrinth has been utilised more recently. As a metaphor, and a motif, this talk will also explore the ways in which the labyrinth of Crete continues to occupy a powerful place in the geography of our imagination.
Bio
Katy Soar is a Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Winchester. Her research areas include Greek archaeology (especially the Bronze Age of the Aegean), the history and reception of archaeology, and the relations between archaeology and folk horror. She is the co-editor (with Amara Thornton) of Strange Relics: Stories of Archaeology and the Supernatural, 1895-1954 (Handheld Press), the editor of the British Library ‘Tales of the Weird’ volume Circles of Stone: Strange Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rites, and a frequent contributor to the magazine Hellebore.
Curated & Hosted by
Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
image details are Knosos, 350-325 BCE, silver stater, head of Hera with polos labyrinth. Berlin MKAM. [image attached]
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