The labyrinth

1. 1. An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze.
   2. Labyrinth Greek Mythology. The maze in which the Minotaur was confined.
2. Something highly intricate or convoluted in character, composition, or construction: a labyrinth of rules and regulations.
3. Anatomy.
   1. A group of complex interconnecting anatomical cavities.
   (http://www.answers.com/topic/labyrinth [11/02/10] )
   
   "At first sight, a labyrinth is a relatively decorative assembly of lines, a relatively symmetrical and complex geometric design. But the essence of the labyrinth is in its path, not in its design. A labyrinth is made to be traveled." (http://www.labyreims.com/e-intromed.html [11/02/10] )
   
   
   The cretan labyrinth is the oldest known design of the labyrinth
   
   
     
   The Roman labyrinth is in four quadrants corresponding to four identical labyrinths visited in sequence.
   
    
   
   
   The Medieval design of the labyrinth was mainly used as a manuscript illustration.
     
   Around the year 1200, in France , there were a few large labyrinths incorporated in the floors of cathedrals. Until then, for several centuries, the labyrinths had been drawn on the parchment of the manuscripts: they measured about 6 inches (15 cm). It seems that those large floor labyrinths measured between 33 and 43 feet (10-13 m), depending on the width of the nave. No contemporary document is of any help as to the reason of that transfer from the manuscript to the floor.  
   
   
   The chartres Labyrinth is one of the most popular designs of labyrinths
   
   
   The design of the Reims labyrinth seems to have existed during the medieval times, only on the floor of the Reims cathedral. The floor labyrinth was destroyed in 1778. The Reims path pattern has been found nowhere else, except in a French manuscript of the beginning of the 15th century, where it also has the octagonal form with bastions; that drawing may of course have been copied from the floor labyrinth at the Reims cathedral.