The Labyrinth of Knossos
Greek myth told of a labyrinth on Crete that held the Minotaur. Then archaeologists uncovered a palace so complex it felt like one.
What was reported
Greek myth tells how King Minos of Crete had the craftsman Daedalus build a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur, half man and half bull, until the hero Theseus found his way in and out with the help of Ariadne's thread.
From 1900 the British archaeologist Arthur Evans excavated the Bronze Age palace at Knossos: a maze of more than a thousand rooms, corridors and stairways, decorated with images of bulls and double-headed axes, called labrys.
Explanations offered
Many think the myth grew from memories of this huge, confusing palace and its bull rituals, and some link the word 'labyrinth' to labrys, the double axe found throughout the site. Others argue the labyrinth was a dancing floor or a purely imagined place. Evans's heavy reconstructions in concrete have also been criticised.
- When
- Excavated from 1900
- Where
- Knossos, Crete, Greece
- Witnesses
- The archaeologist Arthur Evans
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.