How would the Classical Labyrinths look as Babylonian Visceral Labyrinths?

Or differently asked: Can I transform a classical labyrinth into a Babylonian visceral labyrinth?

Therefore we should first see the differences; and then the interlinking components.

As an example I start with the best known classical labyrinth: The 7 circuit Cretan labyrinth.

The 7 circuit Classical labyrinth, on the right the complementary to it

It has a center and an entrance. There is only one way in. In the middle I am at the aim and at the end of the way. To leave I must turn and take the same way in reverse order.

Among the Babylonian visceral labyrinths one can distinguish two main groups. One are more round and devoured into each other, while in others the loops are arranged row-shaped.

Here as an example the labyrinth E3384_r8 on a clay tablet from Tell Barri (Syria) (for more, please see related posts below).

A Babylonian visceral labyrinth with 10 circuits and two entries

In the visceral labyrinth I have two entries and no real center. Nevertheless, the way leads through all of the loops to the other access. It is a walk-through labyrinth.

The circuits here are numbered from the left to the right, while in the classical labyrinths they are numbered from the outside inwards. “0” stands for the outside, in the classical labyrinth the last figure for the center.

Every labyrinth is designated by a row of numbers, the circuit sequence or the path sequence. This is the order in which the circuits will be run one by one.

The connecting element therefore is the circuit sequence. Hence, we must construct “row-shaped” walk-through labyrinths from the circuit sequence of the classical labyrinths.

At first we take the 7 circuit labyrinth as shown above. We use the circuit sequence and connect the circuits arranged in row accordingly. The second “0” indicates the walk-through labyrinth.
Then this looks as follows:

The 7 circuit classical labyrinth as visceral labyrinth, on the right the complementary

We make this still for some more classical labyrinths.

The 3 crcuit labyrinth, on the left the original, on the right the complementary to it

The original is developed from the meander and is also called Knossos labyrinth. The right one is developed from the “emaciated” seed pattern. However, is at the same time complementary to the Knossos labyrinth. Under the walk-in labyrinths the visceral walk-through labyrinths.

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A 5 circuit labyrinth:

A 5 circuit labyrinth, on the right the complementary

There are still other 5 circuit labyrinths with an other circuit sequence. But, in principle, the process is the same one.

The shown examples were all self-dual labyrinths.

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Now we take a 9 circuit labyrinth. There are more variations:

A 9 circuit labyrinth in four variations

And here the corresponding visceral labyrinths:

The visceral labyrinths

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Here the 11 circuit labyrinth with the corresponding visceral labyrinths:

The 11 circuit labyrinth and its complementary

This one is self-dual again. Therefore there is only one complementary version to it.

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Here the 15 circuit labyrinth:

The 15 circuit labyrinth and its complementary

This is also self-dual.

If we compare these newly derived visceral labyrinths to the up to now known historical Babylonian visceral labyrinths, we can ascertain no correspondence. Maybe a clay tablet with an identical labyrinth appears somewhere and sometime?

So far we know about 21 Babylonian visceral labyrinths as row-shaped examples in most different variations.

For comparison I recommend the following article with the overview.

Related Posts

• The Babylonian Labyrinths: An Overview
• A Babylonian 9 Circuit Visceral Labyrinth