Geometry of Ancient Mazes: A Synthesis Part II: ‘Roman’ Mazes

Abstract

The aim of the present survey was an investigation of the processes implemented for conceiving and setting up three types of ancient mazes which have come down to us on various media (stone, mosaic, painting, ceramic, coins…) from Prehistory to  Middle Ages (and, for some, even later). The first part of this study was devoted to the so-called ‘Cretan’ mazes, and this second part focusses on a corpus of 43 ‘Roman’ mazes ranging from Portugal and England to Cyprus and from 100 BC to AD 330. Like the other one, this type is well individualized and homogeneous; it is characterized by several similar sectors run through, clockwise or anticlockwise. An introductory study of a maze exemplifies the fundamental duality between path and walls and the various types of meanders which are to be met with. Then a general processes for setting up a Roman maze, beginning with making a regular grid, going on with filling a sector and duplicating it and ending with managing an entrance/exit device, is proposed. Variants of the general prototype are also reviewed. In particular, in the course of this work a comparative study enabled to investigate the complex and intriguing maze of Pula (Croatia), the structure of which can now be better understood.

Appendix: Corpus of Roman Mazes

Site	Country	Date	Shape	Sect	Dir	Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Section 4
Annaba	Algeria	AD 150–200	Rectangle	4	C	Z	Z	Z	Z
Avenches	Switzerl	ca AD 250	cCrcle	4	A	R 1	R 1	R 1	R 1
Besançon 1	France	AD 150–175	Square	4	C	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Besançon 2	France	AD 150–175	Octagon	4	Pseudo maze
Brindisi	Italy	AD 200–250	Square	4	A	R 4	R 4	R 4	R 4
Caerleon	UK	AD 200–220	Square	4	C ?	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Calvatone	Italy	AD 25–50	Square	4	C	R 2	R 2	R 2	BF
Cherchel	Algeria	AD 180–220	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Chusclan	France	AD 150–200	Square	4	A	R 1	R 1	R 1	R 1
Cirencester	UK	AD 300–350	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Conimbriga 1	Portugal	AD 200–250	Square	4	C	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Conimbriga 2	Portugal	AD 150–200	Square	4	C	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Cormerod	Switzerl	AD 175–225	Circle	8	C	Z	Z	Z	Z
Cremona	Italy	AD 80–120	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	BF
Cyrene	Libya	AD 180–220	Square	4	C	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Dellys	Algeria	AD 180–220	Square	4	A	E	E	E	E
Dougga	Tunisia	AD 150–200	Square	4	A	R 5	R 5	R 5	R 5
El Asnam	Algeria	AD 328	Square	4	A	E	E	E	E
Gamzigrad	Serbia	AD 280–320	Hexagon	3	A	R 2	R 2	R 2
Giannutri	Italy	AD 150–200	Rectangle	4	A	E 2	E 2	E 2	E 2
Harpham	UK	AD 300–320	Square	4	A	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Henchir-el-Faouar	Tunisia	AD 300–320	Square	4	A	Z	Z	Z	Z
Itálica	Spain	AD 140–160	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Mactar	Tunisia	AD 199	½ circle	2	C	R 5	R 5
Merida	Spain	AD 200–300	Circle	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Oldcoates	UK	?	Square	4	C	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Orbe	Switzerl	AD 175–200	Square	4	A	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Ostia	Italy	ca AD 150	Square	4	C	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Paphos 1	Cyprus	AD 280–300	Circle	4	A	R 1	R 1	R 1	R 1
Paphos 2	Cyprus	AD 100–200	Circle	4	A	Z	Z	Z	Z
Pompeii 1	Italy	80–60 BC	Square	4	A	R 3	R 3	R 3	BF
Pompeii 2	Italy	80–60 BC	Rectangle	4	A	R 4	R 4	R 4	R 4
Pompeii 3	Italy	60–40 BC	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	BF
Pompeii 4	Italy	60–40 BC	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	BF
Pont-Chevron	France	AD 150–175	Square	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Pula	Croatia	AD 100–200	Square	4	Pseudo maze
Sabratha	Libya	AD 1–100	Circle	4	C	Z	Z	Z	Z
Loigsfelder	Austria	AD 275–300	Square	4	C	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Sousse	Tunisia	AD 200–250	Square	4	A	2 × R 2	2 × R 2	2 × R 2	2 × R 2
St Cyr / Mer	France	?	Circle	4	A	Z	Z	Z	Z
Stolac	Bosnia	ca AD 300	Square	4	A	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Taormina	Italy	AD 100–200	Square	4	?	R 2 ?	R 2 ?	R 2 ?	R 2 ?
Thuburbo	Tunisia	AD 250–300	Square	4	A	R 4	R 4	R 4	R 4
Thysdrus	Tunisia	AD 175–225	Circle	4	A	R 3	R 3	R 3	R 3
Verdes	France	AD 200–250	Circle	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2
Vienne	France	AD 200–250	Circle	4	A	R 2	R 2	R 2	R 2

Direction: C clockwise, A anticlockwise; Meander: R n returning in n registers, BF back-and-forth, C coiling (C 2 = coiling in two registers), Z zigzag.