Some time ago I already posted a walkable Babylonian visceral labyrinth (see related posts below).
Today I will present another one.
Babylonian Snail Shell Labyrinth
I have called it snail shell labyrinth because it reminds me of one. In addition to that I have also extended the entry area on the left a little bit wave-shaped.
It is a new type of labyrinth again: It has an unequivocal way through a labyrinth, not into a labyrinth. Therefore there are two entrances, no center to stay in or to return from.
I have written about the labyrinth and the origin quite detailed (see related posts below). The illustration on the clay tablet VAT 9560_5 of the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin forms the basis of the layout. Hewre we deal with a walkable implementation.
The following drawing shows the main elements.
At first one should fit the labyrinth into the available locality and determine the orientation. To achieve that one defines the points M3 and M5.
The main elements
By use of triangular measurements from two points the other salient points are determined. One do not necessarily need to define the beginning and the end of each curve in advance. They lie on the (imaginary) lines between the main points or along the extension about these points.
If one puts on the semicircles in the right part first (in Blue) using M4 as midpoint, one has already created a large part of the arcs and can then add the other pieces.
As to the five curves around M3 one must pay attention that only the most internal two semicircles are continuous, the three external ones only reach up to the line determined by the points M3-M1-M6.
One could also form the entry area around M6 in a different way.
The exact measurements of the entire labyrinth are found in the layout drawing below.
The following layout drawing is a sort of prototype with the dimension of 1 m between the axes which also corresponds to the distance from line to line. The remaining measurements arise from this definition and the shape of the labyrinth.
The construction is scaleable. This means, all other desired path widths can be derived from it.
If e.g., a path width of 60 cm is desired, one takes the factor 0.6. All other measurements of the drawing are calculated with this factor, i.e. the road length as well as the line length, the main dimensions, the radii, the oblique distances of the centres etc.
Layout drawing
Two examples:
One labyrinth sprayed on the lawn in the garden of Gundula Thormaehlen Friedman in Bad Kreuznach.
One painted with chalk on the plaster of the parking area in front of our flat in Würzburg. The children of the surroundings had a lot of fun and were running it tirelessly.
By the way, one can also walk the labyrinth hand in hand. After the first round the partner starts in the upper entrance. In the meander of the middle one meets and changes the paths.
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- Bad Kreuznach
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- Würzburg
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- Würzburg from above
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