Do you know what this symbol is ?

 A test. Do you know what this symbol is? 

It's a sibilant and a fricative but which one? 

The curious case of Zero

 THE CURIOUS CASE OF ZERO.

This is the Gwalior Inscription from India which has the oldest known example of ZERO.

There are other inscriptions from various cultures in which zero is represented by a blank space or a dot but the Indians were the first to use zero as part of a number system consistently. 

Their use rapidly spread across Asia and North Africa and reached Europe via the happy accident of an certain Italian Mathematician visiting Algeria and discovered their use.

This is what Fibonacci wrote about them.

Roughly translated from the Latin Nine figures of india ... sign ) that arabs call zephir 

Zephir contracted in popular usage to our modern zero.

However a point who else has noticed when typographers design fonts they don't always give as much attention to the numbers as the letters?

This is 0 on my keyboard.

This is O 

0 - O 

About the only difference in most fonts and calligraphy manuals too is that the 0 is narrower?

The Other Cross

The Other Cross


Many of you may have seen the traditional Christian Cross?


But have you seen this?

Unless you've studied Early Christian and Byzantine art you may not be aware that for the first few centuries Chi Rho crosses were depicted as frequently as the t cross we're more familiar with.


Look to the left of the picture. There's a stylized Chi X blended with a Greek Rho. It's not just Irish manuscripts that have Chi Rho crosses.


There is more than one Cross symbol. 

ANCIENT SPIRALS NOT JUST CELTIC

SPIRALS
are one of our oldest symbols.

You may have seen Spirals as part of Celtic culture but they predate that .

This bowl with its spiral motif of a sort of that appears centuries later in Irish manuscripts dates back to the early Neolithic and comes to the Romanian Cucuteni Culture one of the oldest known European cultures to use ceramic.

But spirals seem to be universal. Here's another Neolithic example from an area and time with no possible connection to the Eastern European Neolithic or later Celtic culture.

No its NOT Chinese! Its from the Banchiang culture in an area that's now part of  N.E. Thailand.


So and don't grimace as I state the obvious but its TRUE SPIRALS REALLY ARE A UNIVERSAL motif. Now try drawing one by hand and imagine painting it and getting it right on the first attempt without over painting on a curved surface.

Its as if the potter or whoever painted on the pots was saying ... THIS IS NOT JUST A MARK but a meaning pattern stating if nothing else that this vessel is a product of thought and skill and design.

I could provide further samples but instead I suggest so you can confirm for yourself that you google Ceramics along with the following keywords

Jomon Cycladic Helladic Newgrange Maze Spiral .

Enjoy