List of plates
Acknowledgments: Four labyrinths
Abbreviations
Introduction: Charting the maze
The Cretan labyrinth myth
Part one. The labyrinth in the classical and early Christian periods. The literary witness: Labyrinths in Pliny, Virgil, and Ovid. The labyrinth as significant form: Two paradigms
A taxonomy of metaphorical labyrinths
Part two: The labyrinth in the middle ages. Etymologies and verbal implications
Mazes in medieval art and architecture
Moral labyrinths in medieval literature
Textual labyrinths: Toward a labyrinthine aesthetic
Part three: Labyrinths of words: Central texts and intertextualities. Virgil's Aenid
Boethius's Consolation of philosopy
Dante's Divine comedy
Chaucer's House of fame
Appendix: Labyrinths in manuscripts
Index.