Monday, March 26, 2012

Alphonso X Book of Games 13th century C.E.

3 Six pointed stars on the bottom and top margins of the chess board 
Picture from Fol 9r
Six pointed stars appear several times in Alphonso X's [amazing] Book of Games 
(Book of chess, dice and tables -Libro de los juegos
Written and painted in Toledo, Spain, 1283 C.E.
Researchers argue if the apearance of this symbol has any connection to Jews 

Chi Rho Six Pointed Star

Chi Rho (1870) carved in stone at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem 


The Chi Rho was used by early christians. It is called after the names of the first two Greek letters Chi and Rho (ΧΡ). These letters start the word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" =Christ. The  letter on the right is Alpha and the letter on the left is Omega. The term Alpha and Omega comes from the phrase "I am the alpha and the omega"  in the Book of Revelation (1:8) which means that Jeusu is the First and the Last, the beginning and the End, since Alpha is the first and Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
The beginning of this symbol is ascribed to Roman emperor Constantine (272- 312 C.E.) who called it labarum and used it as a military symbol.

There is no unequivocal proof that Constantine invented the Chi Rho and that he started its usage as a military symbol, but it is interesting to compare his legend to those about the beginnings of the star of David and the Fleur de Lis. Constantine and King David both won wars by inscribing their emblems on their shields. In 493 King Clovis I got the Fleur de Lis emblem from God, after his conversion to Christianity… like Constantine. In all three legends kings start the history of a symbol. These three symbols are actually three aspects of the same six-pointed star symbol (Fleur de Lis is a six-pointed star viewed from the side). 
The same goes for Solomon's Seal symbol which started from King Solomon . The name "Solomon's Seal" was used during the Middle Ages to mark  stars with five or six points. 


Researchers Aarne and Thompson in their typology of International Folktales proved that the same legend may appear in different cultures without any known connections between their inventors, and it seems to me that this is the case here. Usage of these symbols did not start  from historical events but from the need of folk consciousness to attribute the beginning to a supreme source of authority - a king by the grace of God.


Roman Mosaic. Center: Chi Rho 4th Century 
CC Image from Wikipedia entry: Hinton St Mary Mosaic 
The Chi Rho is flanked by two pomegranates
It is interesting to notice that in any pomegranate before the crown
(Six pointed Star) opens it looks like Six Radiuses with a common center, 
just like the Chi Rho 



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Moghul star of David

Moghul star of David
 CC picture taken by "saadsarfraz" from Flickr at
Maryam-uz-Zamani Mosque
 Maryam-uz-Zaman (1542 – 1622) was the wife of 
Mughal Emperor Akbar
The Mosque was built by her son Nuruddin Salim Jahangir in Lahore, Pakistan




stars of David painted on the walls of



Mughal Emperor Humayun's Tomb ( 1508 - 1556)
Delhi
India
Built in 1562 C.E.
 Designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian architect
CC picture taken by "Saad Akhtar" from Flickr 






Tomb of Sher Shah Suri 14th century

CC picture taken by "jyoti pb" from Flickr 
Built between 1540 and 1545
Indo-Islamic architecture


Saturday, March 24, 2012

Gothic Church in Rome

Ceiling frescos in Gothic Catholic Church
 of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome 
Many gold stars of David on the triangles
looks like Cosmatesque Style
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CC image by "sparkovonovinski" from Flickr

US Army Jewish Chaplain insignia 1943

US Army Jewish Chaplain insignia 1943
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Source: en.wikipedia entry -Religious_symbolism_in_the_United_States_military 

Hexagram - Designs and Meanings

Otto Friedrich August Meinardus was a German Coptologist and pastor (1925 – 2005). He wrote an article titled The Hexagram or the Magen David in Byzantine Art (in the Bulletin of the Christian Archeological Society 8 (period IV)(1975-1976) p. 97-100). In this article he claims that the current meaning of the hexagram as representing the House of David or the Jewish heritage in Christendom is too dominant and leads to misconception. In the past the hexagram acceptance was wider than today, and its main function was ornamental.
Meinardus mentions several hexagram designs
a-     The Capernaum Synagogue type with straight lines which eventually became the symbol of the state of Israel.
b-     The Eshtemoa Synagogue type with curved lines [1], which is most frequently found on Byzantine ornamentation.
c-     The six rayed star [2] influenced by the I for Jesus and X for Christos
d-    The  six rayed star which "clearly signified the heavenly body, as, for example, in the case of the upper part of the Barberini Diptych in the Louvre"
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[1] My teacher, Ze'ev Goldmann, thought that this Tri-loop symbol (which appears twice on the Capernaum Lintel) is frequent Samaritan one, but appears also on a Jewish Massoretic design in micrographic writing that has in its center a piece of paper with text of the Tri-partite blessing of the Cohanim. It appears also on Neo-Paphos Mosaic Floor along with Crosses and the Swastika sign. 
About 40 years ago Dr. Asher Eder took a picture of this Tri-Loop symbol on a relief in the ruins of an Herodian building in Beth-El, north of Ramallah.
 [2] G. Scholem claimed that this type ("six radiuses which come fron a single point") is not a Star of David at all.  G. Scholem mentions the appearance of this sign on Assyrian, and later Phoenician and Israeli seals. (Magen David, Toldotav Shel Semel [Hebrew] p. 29.
a.       Capernaum - straight lined star -4th century C.E.
Credit: Gabi Goldman
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b.       Capernaum - curved lined star -4th century C.E.
Credit: Gabi Goldman
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c.        Constantinople Christian sarcophagus with XI monogram, circa 400 C.E.
Archaeological Museum in Istanbul
Source: CC image, English Wikipedia entry: Sarcophagus
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d.       Barberini Diptych in the Louvre  -6th century C.E.
 Source: CC image, English Wikipedia entry: Justinián_I.
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Friday, March 23, 2012

Hexagram from the Gallo-Roman Period

Hexagram (top right) and 6-petaled flowers (bottom left) 
from the Gallo-Roman Period 123 BCE - 486 CE
Exhibited at The Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie
 (Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology)
 in the French city of Besançon
 CC Image by "heroesbed" from Flickr