Maze City

[Sylpher]

I am asking the help of the community to track down a city I once heard about. I can't remember if it really did exist at one point or if it is apart of some type of story or mythology but basically it was a city surounded by a huge wall maze.

The maze was to keep armies out, if I remember right, but at one point some type of natural disaster or plague or something and the people got trapped inside and couldn't get out.

I am not thinking of the story of the minotaur from greek mythology or the movie labyrinth. Anyone who knows of this city/story/place/thing.. please help!

[LGM]

Whoa.. I never heard of that.. But that sounds wicked awesome.

[YOke]

It does not ring a bell, but I know that the old arab/muslim cities, called medinas, have irregular streets inside the city walls to slow down attackers. Based on that it would be fair to assume that it might have been an arab/muslim city. I've walked around a couple of them, and it's pretty confusing as the streets twist and turn until you loose all sense of direction. Hope it helps.

[Peter Thomas]

This probably isn't what you're talking about, but I have been to the cretan maze just near Holmengraa. It's at Kirkenes in Northern Norway, a couple of miles from the Russian border.

It doesn't surround the entire city, and it's not that great for confusing enemies, since the cretan maze is fairly simple to solve... but I digress. It's a maze and it's near a city. That's close enough to the title of the topic for me...

[Babar]

Moen Jo Daro: Literally, the city of the dead. It is really, really old (pre-christianity AT LEAST). It was built up of a series of interconnected alleys surrounded by large walls, to give a maze-like effect. Their other claim to fame was their incredible sewage and plumbing system. Unfortunately, some plague seems to have struck the city, leaving remains of the people to be found while they were doing their everyday work, as if the disaster caught them by surprise.
I am not sure if it is the place you had heard about. It was a city that was a throwback from the Indus civilisation, and it can still be seen in almost all its glory in the province of Sindh in Pakistan

[Gfunkera]

Is it true that the bodies that were found had high levels of radiation? Just wondering I think I remeber reading about this somewhere?

[bspeers100]

Hmm, that's interesting information.  Is it from a recent text?  Most of what I was able to find on Moen Jo Daro in the last short while suggested it was actually fairly well organized, not mazelike, and there is no clear indication of what killed the people off, be it invasion or natural disaster (such as continual flooding).

Either way, a town with such a maze seems implausible, since it would be hard to get the necessary goods (cities were rarely, if ever self sufficient, dependent on a vibrant hinterland).

Whether my sources are write about Moen Jo Daro or not, there are sources on city labyriths, and most suggest that such places are now lost.  The Cretan labyrinth, for example has never been found, though some writers claim that it used to be at the location known as Gortyan, but no physical evidence has been found.  There have been mazes in tombs, of course, in ancient Egypt, Greece and several places.

It is possible what you are speaking about is the legend that Troy had a maze around the outside to keep out invaders.  That legend obviously isn't prominent in the Odyssy or the Illiad, but it is a known legend, and corresponds to what you were talking about.

Hope that helps, at least a bit.

[bspeers1--]

What an odd typo.

[Sylpher]

Thanks for the info thus far. I just got off work so I haven't had time to look into everything suggested in detail but to help break down what I remember (Because my first post was made pretty quickly).

I thought it was the city of Pompeii.. Until I reread about Pompeii and realized that was wrong. I know for a fact the city was surrounded somehow because this was a major element in people wanting to get out but they couldn't. The reason I heard the story was the person telling me was explaining how sometimes a good idea such as surrounding a city with a maze to keep people out in reality only keeps you stuck inside.

I know the people all died off and I know the person wasn't just making it up off the top of there head because it was my history teacher.. and he never bullshitted.

It is possible it was a lesson about folklore or mythology however so I can't remember if it was a real city or not. Something keeps pulling me back to Pompeii for some reason even though I have read everything I can find about it and it just doesn't match.. other then the volcano.

[Pesty]

Sylpher, you have the worst memory ever.

Let me look. I'll get back to you with suggestions that you'll turn down.

[Esseb]

Call your history teacher.

[Babar]

Is it true that the bodies that were found had high levels of radiation? Just wondering I think I remeber reading about this somewhere?

I have not heard anything like that, so I can't say whether it is true or not. It seems unlikely though, as where would the radiation have come from?

Hmm, that's interesting information. Is it from a recent text? Most of what I was able to find on Moen Jo Daro in the last short while suggested it was actually fairly well organized, not mazelike, and there is no clear indication of what killed the people off, be it invasion or natural disaster (such as continual flooding).

They weren't actually from any text, it was stuff I learnt when I visited that area, and thus is probably biased. The mazelike streets are what I saw myself, but I may be wrong, as the city may have been organised when it was not in ruins, and I am easily confused. The streets were probably not actually used as a maze.
About the wipeout, it would have to be something more drastic than continual flooding, because, as I said, people were found dead while doing everyday work ie. cooking, eating, etc. and there were no damaged bodies pointing to an invasion. I guess it is not what Sylpher was asking, as there is no maze OUTSIDE the city.

[evenwolf]

I beleive you are thinking of the mythic town known as "Family Circus."



The people were so dumb they couldn't go one block without travelling 5 miles.

[DGMacphee]

Not Me.

[Sylpher]

Well took long enough but I finally checked everything out. Nothing seems to really match up with my memory. I am starting to wonder if I may have mixed a couple stories together. I heard about this years and years ago so it is possible I mixed the story of Pompeii with something else.

Still the maze city eludes me. It may not of been surrounded with a maze exactly but some type of complex wall system or buildings structure was used to make people get lost trying to get in. I know I heard about this..

[LGM]

I asked my History teacher about it.. He knows an extensive amount of information, but he's never heard of a maze city.

It's probably a confabulation of different stories you've heard, all mixed up in your brain. But I'm also sure you're right there was a city with a difficult entry system.


This would make for a great story or game idea, though

[DragonRose]

I have heard of medieval cities with complex streets as a defensive measures- not necessarily a maze, but just rather twisty interconnecting streets that made it impossible for an advancing army to make a charge on the castle in the centre.

Even if your story is only something mixed together, it sure sounds interesting!