Le Troiae lusus, le schéma du Labyrinthe et l’Octaétéride

The diagram known as that ‘of the labyrinth’ is not specific to the Cretan world nor to Knossos. Attested from the second millenium from Syria to the British isles, it seems that it might represent an octaeteris or period of eight years, corresponding to 99 months in the lunar calendar. The end of this cycle and the beginning of the following one gave rise to regeneration rituals, differing according to the region, whose souvenir survives notably in the legend of the Minotaur and in the Romans’ Troiae Lusus.