stefan said:

maze = labyrinth
(the dictionairy sais so...)

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Jeroen198 said:

ooook.. you asked for it...

as much as i appreciate your effort to shed more light on the issue by checking a dictionary, i am sorry to have to disagree  , even though i just checked one myself (the Van Dale). It does indeed list labyrinth as a synonym for maze, and YET, they are simply not the same.

The difference in form is obvious enough: a labyrinth is always flat and has no walls (in whatever form) like a maze does. A labyrinth has no dead ends and no loops and is not intended to confuse, unlike a maze.

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another point: remember the ancient greek story about the labyrinth on Kreta and the Minotaur (some monster) in it? that one had walls and was definitely designed to get you hopelessly lost in to eventually get eaten by the minotaur. The only way Theseus (who killed the Minotaur) found his way out is because he carried a role of wire with him that he had tied to something in the beginning so he could follow that back.

So I want to shed more light on this subject by you pubbers, please discuss this delicate matter. (proof if it either the same, or different)
Also this isn't about who is right or wrong, but about finding out what the truth is so we can all enrich the world with our new gathered information (suddenly this sounds like the X-files )

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i think that he thinks a labyrinth is like a loooong twisty hallway that looks like a maze at first glance.

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i dont know who you're talking about, but this is how a labyrinth works without walls. pretty simple:

maybe not the best example as it is hard to see the entrance, but you see that this is a 'real life' pattern on a floor. you can draw a maze in 2d, but a maze in a 3d environment has walls to prevent you from having an overview. In a labyrinth you always have an overview, the only exception being a labyrinth on a hill (of which very few exist).

as for the movie labyrinth: there is no labyrinth in the entire movie. But this is of course a way cooler title than 'Maze'.

As for the ancient greek myth: yes the maze was called a labyrinth. why? no idea, because it's a maze.

Here's another illustration of a labyrinth that might look very much like a maze at first glance. It once existed on the floor of a church in Reims, France:


Is this stuff fascinating or what?

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In dealing with a subject as varied and complex as labyrinths and mazes, it is essential to make definitions that can be clearly explained. The first task is to clarify the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. While the terms are often used interchangeably, many historians and enthusiasts are passionate about which is which. Look up the words in a good dictionary and you will probably conclude that a maze is a labyrinth and a labyrinth is a maze.

However, in the English-speaking world it is often considered that to qualify as a maze, a design must have choices in the pathway. Clearly, this multicursal category will include many of the modern installations in entertainment parks and tourist attractions, which exist solely for the purpose of perplexing visitors, as well as the traditional hedges mazes in public parks and private gardens around the world.

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What is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth today?
Today people think of mazes as tricky and confusing puzzles, with false passages and dead ends. Examples include the Dole Pineapple Plantation maze, cornfield mazes, or the art from the Amazeing Art book. Labyrinths, on the other hand, are thought to have a single path that winds into center, and are often (but not always) circular. The best-known labyrinths are Church labyrinths, such as at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco or Chartres Cathedral in France.

Were mazes and labyrinths always thought of differently?
No, they were not. If you look back to the ancient world, there was really no distinction between mazes and labyrinths. The ancient idea of the labyrinth was identical to what we call a maze today. The ancient labyrinth was a place of "inextricable error" where you could wander in confusion for some time, or worse, be eaten by the Minotaur who resided within. The ancient written descriptions of labyrinths and their pictorial depictions, however, were at odds. Greek coins, Roman mosaics, and Medieval manuscripts all used similar symbols for the labyrinth: a unicursal (single-path) design that wound into the center. Eventually this difference between idea and image led to the modern distinction between mazes, which have dead ends, and labyrinths, which do not.

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Jeroen198 said:

Is this stuff fascinating or what?

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Yes man! It sure is fascinating. I did a very quick bryce on that picture: