Red and Blue

Migene Gonzalez-Wippler wrote The Complete Book of Amulets & Talismans. I asked her about the origin of the hexagram and here is what she wrote:

The hexagram or Star of David has been used in many historical, religious and occult contexts. Its origins are lost in the sands of time. In Hinduism it is a mandala symbol that has been found in Hindu temples built thousands of years ago. It represents the perfect state of balance between Man and God. But according to well-known scholar Gershom Sholem the Star of David can be traced to Aristotle, who used triangles in different positions to represent basic elements. This theory finds some support in the interesting fact that two of the three Hebrew letters in David's name are Daleth. In ancient times Daleth was written in a form that resembled a triangle. In Greek the letter Delta is also shaped like a triangle. So we have two triangles
(two Daleths or two Deltas) which are interlaced to represent balance out of chaos. That could be the Greek connection found by Professor Sholem. As you probably know the triangle that points upwards represents the fire element (color red) and the male principle in kabbalistic symbolism. The triangle that points downwards represents the water element (color blue) and the feminine principle. You must have seen some Star of David symbols where the upper triangle is red while the lower is blue. Tradition says that by balancing the opposite elements of fire and water in the hexagram David was able to unite the 12 Tribes of Israel. In Kabbalah the hexagram is associated with the sixth sphere of the Tree of Life (Tiphareth) that represents the sun.

Hexagrams have also been found in cosmological diagrams in other religions, such as Buddhism and Jainism. And, surprisingly enough, the hexagram can also be found in mosques and on other Islamic objects. The hexagram also appears in Solomon's fabled seal so that it could presumably have been known to him.

But it is also possible that because it is a simple geometric shape, like the square and the circle, the triangle may have been used in many ways, including the hexagram, by many different peoples across the ages.

House of Ge and the Seasons

Doro Levi in his monumental work titled Antioch Mosaic Pavements, Princeton 1945, pp. 346-7 described the mosaics found on House of Ge and the Seasons. His diagram shows four rooms. In room no. 1 there are five medallions, four of them representing the seasons. The center one representing Ge (Gaia), the Greek earth Goddess. In the second room

In the central panel of corridor 2, the round medallion within square contains a star of David formed by the interlacing triangles, one in cable and the other in guilloche

It is interesting to compare this mosaic to the one found in Villa Romana del Casale

in Sicily, where each season is contained in a hexagram of its own.

In the same book Doro Levi shows a photo of another hexagram from antioch that was found in Cilicia in room no 1. Between each two points there is a rhomb and in it a smaller rhomb. Inside the hexagram there's a hexagon and in it a circle. This hexagram mosic is part of a large pavement with many busts.

Esoteric Palace

Renaissance summerhouse built in the years 1555 – 1556 by Ferdinand I of Tirol, by his own design, in the shape of a hexagram according to cosmological ideas influenced by alchemy. In Europe similar buildings can be found, even though not frequently, only in Italy and France.

Menorah within a Star of David

Researcher Uri Ofir claims that the Magen David is part of the Tabernacle Menorah, but here it looks like the Menorah is part of the Magen David. This is what happens when you go straight ahead on the globe - soon you find out that you are in the opposite direction...
Picture is courtesy of "ibn-i batuta" who published it on Flickr.

Wood Carving

Picture of Wood Carving from a church in Ranworth, Norfolk, England is courtesy of "LeoL30" who published it on Flickr a. Notice that the hexagram is standing on two points. We are used to see it standing on one point. I don't know (yet) if there's a different meaning to each such position.

Islamic Mosaic Discovered in Ramla, Israel

Ramla Mosaic with Solomon’s Seal

CC picture by Anita363 (c) from Flickr (Mosaic Mosaic)

-

Myriam Rosen-Ayalon from the Hebrew university in Jerusalem wrote in Israel Exploration Journal, Vo. 26, Jerusalem, Israel; pp. 104-119 about the eighth century mosaic that was found in 1973 in the yard of Mr. Sami Khuri of Tav-Kav-Beth Street in Ramla while he was preparing for canalization. The mosaic has three fragments.

On fragment B which is 3.20 meters wide and 4 meters long there are four hexagrams on a geometric composition complemented by floral motifs and isolated birds. Within each hexagram there is a fruit that looks like a citrus.

I found the references Myriam Rosen-Ayalon made to other Islamic findings very useful for my future research:

The six-pointed star sometimes occurred in pre-Islamic floor mosaics but mainly as an isolated motif. In some mosaics, the star was used as a frame for large compositions, or as a dominant subject, while in others it is just an isolated detail among a great variety of other geometric motifs. Three such examples are found in mosaics uncovered here:

Bethlehem,

Roglit

and el-Makr.

Its ornamental use was continued for a long period, and can be seen on some fragments of stone carving in the synagogue o Capernaum, though probably unconnected to the Jewish symbol adopted in recent times…

it appears on funerary slabs from the second century of the Hijra, either completely isolated , or three in a row, or next to a slightly different motif of crossing squares.

A wood carving from Takrit in Iraq, perhaps a sarcophagus, dated to the

Abbasid period 9th century C.E. has a particularly elaborate decoration including six-pointed star is kept at the Metropolitan Museum 33.41.la.de

 A wood carving from Takrit

From: Maurice Dimard, Ars Islamica, 1937, p. 296 

Another wood carving bearing the star motif is part of the minbar (pulpit) of Kairouan, dated A.D. 786-808 and also said to be from Mesopotemia.

Whithin the Umayyad period this motif is found at Khirbat al-Mafjar.

It exists as an isolated item and also in an overall pattern, as in our mosaic, in a grille decoration of a stucco window…Umayyad carved marble slab from the Grewat Mosque of Damascus.

A wooden panel from the Al Aqsa carvings …(A.D. 780)…http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/33.41.1a-e

Brewer

Picture is courtesy of Matthias Trum who wrote for Technical University Munich a thesis titled

Historical depictions, guild signs and symbols of the brewing and malting handcraft

Matthias' caption for this picture is

oldest depiction of a brewer is Pyprew (old german word for brewer) Herttel from 1425. The text on the picture states: "The 46th brother, who died here, was named Herttel Pyrprew" …One can see the brewing kettle with two rings attached to the sides plus two wooden vats. Above the brewer on a stick the hexagram...