Labyrinth of Egyptearly explorersA structure which evoked so much wonder and admiration in ancient times hardly failed arouse the curiosity of later generations, but no serious attempts to locate it seem to have been made by Europeans until several centuries later. It was then far too late to observe any of its glories, for it disappeared in Roman times, and a village sprang up on its site, largely constructed from surrounding debris.Paul Lucas (1664 -1737 CE)The artist, Paul Lucas (1664 Rouen - 1737 Madrid), and antiquary to Louis XIV of France, is one of the earliest sources of information from Upper Egypt, visiting Thebes and the Nile up to the cataracts. In the book in which he subsequently published the account of his travels, he gives us some idea of the state of the remains in his time, but his account is very rambling and unreliable. His drawing is a partial view of the ruins of the alleged labyrinth. Remark the ruins on top of an intact and proportional colossal temple. Lucas states that an old Arab who accompanied his party professed to have explored the interior of the ruins many years before, and to have penetrated into its subterranean passages to a large chamber surrounded by several niches, "like little shops," whence endless alleys and other rooms branched off. A statement that supports the probability that the labyrinth survived the Ptolemaic en Roman times unaffected. By the time of Lucas's visit, however, these passages could not be traced, and he concluded that they had become blocked up by debris.Richard Pococke (1704 – 1765 CE)The next explorer to visit the spot seems to have been Dr. Richard Pococke. From 1737-40 CE he visited the Near East. Exploring Egypt, Jerusalem, Palestine and Greece. In his book "Description of the East" that appeared in 1743 he wrote; "We observed at a great distance, the temple of the Labyrinth, and being about a league from it, I observed several heaps as of ruins, covered with sand, and many stones all round as if there had been some great building there: they call it the town of Caroon (Bellet Caroon). It seemed to have been of a considerable breadth from east to west, and the buildings extended on each side towards the north to the Lake Moeris and the temple. This without doubt is the spot of the famous Labyrinth which Herodotus says was built by the twelve kings of Egypt." He describes what he takes to be the pyramid of the labyrinth as a building about 165 feet long by 80 broad, very much ruined, and says it is called the "Castle of Caroon".Luigi Canina(1795-1856 CE)Many attempts have been made to visualize the labyrinth as it existed in the time of Herodotus. The drawing of the Italian architect and archaeologist Luigi Canina(1795-1856) shows, in plan, one such reconstruction. Among Canina’s his works are: some construction at the Villa Borghese and Casino Vagnuzzi outside of Porta del Popolo in Egyptian style. He was professor of architecture at Turin, and his most important works were the excavation of Tusculum in 1829 and of the Appian Way in 1848, the results of which he embodied in a number of works published in a costly form by his patroness, the queen of Sardinia. Canina is also noted for his studies of history and archeology: Ancient architecture described and represented in documents (1830-44).