Sunday 23 August 2015

Difference between labyrinths and Maze

http://www.labyrinthos.net/typology.html
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.

Popular consensus also indicates that labyrinths have one pathway that leads inexorably from the entrance to the goal, albeit often by the most complex and winding of routes. These unicursal designs have been known as labyrinths for thousands of years, and to qualify as a labyrinth, a design should have but one path. However, the dividing line between what constitutes a maze or a labyrinth can sometimes become blurred, as mazes with single paths and labyrinths with more than one path can exist, although their intent is usually clear from their designs

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