Mikä oli maailman ensimmäinen labyrintti?
"Labyrinth" is a word of pre-Greek origin, which the Greeks associated with the palace of Knossos in Crete, excavated by Arthur Evans early in the 20th century. The word appears in a Linear B inscription as da-pu-ri-to. As early as 1892 Maximilian Mayer suggested that "labyrinthos" might derive from "labrys", a Lydian word for "double-bladed axe". Evans suggested that the palace at Knossos was the original labyrinth, and since the double axe motif appears in the palace ruins,
he asserted that "labyrinth" could be understood to mean "the house of the double axe". This designation may not have been limited to Knossos, since the same symbols were discovered in other palaces in Crete. However Nilsson observes that in Crete the "double axe" is not a weapon and always accompanies goddesses or women and not a male god. 
Beekes finds the relation with "labrys" speculative, and suggests instead the relation with "lavra" (λαύρα), narrow street. The original Minoan word appears to refer to labyrinthine grottoes, such as seen at Gortyn. Pliny the Elder's four examples of labyrinths are all complex underground structures, and this appears to have been the standard Classical understanding of the word. It is also possible that the word labyrinth is derived from the Egyptian "loperohunt", meaning palace or temple by the lake. The Egyptian labyrinth near Lake Morris is described by Herodotus and Strabo. By the 4th century BC, Greek vase painters also represented the Labyrinth by the familiar "Greek key" patterns of endlessly running meanders.
4th century BC