Terracotta Angel, c.1896
Watts Chapel, England
Photo ©: Jeff Saward/Labyrinthos
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Roman Labyrinths
While the classical labyrinth was known throughout the Roman Empire, the popular use of the labyrinth as a design element in mosaic flooring resulted in a number of developments, all conveniently classifiable as “Roman” varieties. While rarely encountered amongst the examples created since these times, these labyrinths are of considerable interest, as they represent the first real attempts to create different forms of the genre and the first major changes to a symbol that had already been in circulation for some two thousand years. Researchers have attempted various classifications of these Roman designs, usually based on mathematical or geometrical properties, but basically the majority of the sixty or so Roman mosaic labyrinths documented or preserved can be designated as meander, serpentine, or spiral types, with just a few complex designs falling outside of this simple system.
A typical meander type labyrinth, Harpham, England
Mosaic labyrinth, Pula, Croatia. A very complex roman design,
with a continuous single
path leading to the centre,
and back out by a different route
Labyrinth Typology
Roman mosaic labyrinth
(meander-
Photo ©: Jeff Saward/Labyrinthos
Meander-
Serpentine-
Spiral-
Numerous variations on these basic design types are encountered, with more or less
circuits, single or multiple groups of meanders or turns, and more or less than four
axis of symmetry. They were also created in a number of shapes -
A very simple serpentine-
