Who was it that invented the heart shape? Who decided the heart was the symbol of love? Who took a nasty looking oddly shaped organ and turned it into the most sought after thing in this world?
my answer is better than alex's because this involves no grossity and includes JESUSificlosemyeyesMay 18 2006, 04:46:42 UTC
from someone who responded to this very same question on google answers:
Perhaps the first known use of the heart shape comes from the 7th century BC, in Cyrene. In that city, at that time, Silphium was a plant so highly prized for it's use as birth control that it became extinct. The seeds of Silphium were shaped like hearts, however, making historians believe that the heart shape we know today was based upon this early form of birth control.
Some historians have tried to argue that the heart shape originated with the Egyptian concept of ab, "the heart...the source of good and evil within a person, the moral awareness and centre of thought that could leave the body at will, and live with the gods after death, or be eaten by Ammut as the final death if it failed to weigh equally against Ma'at." ("The Ancient Egyptian Concept of the Soul," Egyptology, http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/egypt_soul.html ) But this seems less plausible (to this Researcher, at least) than the Silphium theory.
Much later, heart symbols show up in stained glass windows, symbolizing the soul or love of Jesus. (Perhaps because the Roman Centurion who pierced Jesus' heart at the time of the crucifixion saw blood and water flow from Christ's heart.) Later still, the Catholic Church claimed the symbol of the heart originated with St. Margaret Marie Alacoque, who had a vision in the 17th century where she saw a heart shape surrounded by a crown of thorns.
Perhaps the first known use of the heart shape comes from the 7th
century BC, in Cyrene. In that city, at that time, Silphium was a
plant so highly prized for it's use as birth control that it became
extinct. The seeds of Silphium were shaped like hearts, however,
making historians believe that the heart shape we know today was based
upon this early form of birth control.
Some historians have tried to argue that the heart shape originated
with the Egyptian concept of ab, "the heart...the source of good and
evil within a person, the moral awareness and centre of thought that
could leave the body at will, and live with the gods after death, or
be eaten by Ammut as the final death if it failed to weigh equally
against Ma'at." ("The Ancient Egyptian Concept of the Soul,"
Egyptology, http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/egypt_soul.html
) But this seems less plausible (to this Researcher, at least) than
the Silphium theory.
Much later, heart symbols show up in stained glass windows,
symbolizing the soul or love of Jesus. (Perhaps because the Roman
Centurion who pierced Jesus' heart at the time of the crucifixion saw
blood and water flow from Christ's heart.) Later still, the Catholic
Church claimed the symbol of the heart originated with St. Margaret
Marie Alacoque, who had a vision in the 17th century where she saw a
heart shape surrounded by a crown of thorns.
For more on the history of the heart symbol, check out "Silphium" at
The Fact Index: http://www.fact-index.com/s/si/silphium.html and "A
History of the Heart" at HeartSmith:
http://www.heartsmith.com/heartHistory.html
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