For instance, circles, representing eternity, and squares or crosses, representing four as elements describing a certain principle related to the Divine, are found everywhere. Not only in images or buildings, but also in literature, such as this quotation from Al-Tirmidhi: “Those with the Prophet asked, ‘What are the gardens of Paradise?’ He answered, ‘Circles of people invoking,’” or this one from the Buddha: “Long is the circle of rebirths to a fool who does not know the true Law.”
In today’s Hungary a mollusk shell with a cross was carved about 100,000 years ago, before historic times. The figure does not only show a cross, but it also combines it with a circle.
The same combination appears in a bronze piece in Northern Afghanistan, dating from 4000 or 3500 years ago, or in a more Christian sarcophagus from the 5th century, in Ravenna.
The face in the sarcophagus also shows a square entering the combination. Meanwhile, the very Christian idea of the crucifixion is shown in a native image from 6000 years ago, in the Canyon State Park, in Texas, amazingly showing four fingers in each of his outstretched arms.
Since 630 AD, the Kaaba in Mecca shows his cubic shape (six square faces) as a tribute to God. The building however, is a pre-Islamic one, and it was deemed as a fair representation of the Divine by the Proophet himself.
Egypt, beyond its fame because of its pyramids and tombs, also shows a square containing an ankh in a ritual vessel from the 1st Dynasty (about 5000 years ago). Of course, this combination includes a square, a circle and a cross.
Around 1487, Leonardo da Vincì also depicted his famous Vitruvian Man within a circle and a square.
The final image, today, will be a Mayan monument, in Dzibilchatun, near Merida MX. This monument can produce this effect when the morning sun rises in both equinoxes, March 21st and September 21st, when its radiant circle crosses the square gate.
Perhaps, all this magic surrounding the square is depicted in Whitman’s words: “Chanting the square deific, out of the One advancing, out of the sides, Out of the old and now, out of the square entirely divine, Solid, four-sided, (all sides are needed), from this side Jehovah am I, Old Brahm I, and I Saturnius am...”
We will go on with these coincident shapes and quotes.
© 2009 Hugo Ferraguti
Better late than never I suppose! I stumbled across your blog, looking for a confirmation that the mollusk shell carving is, in fact, at least 100,000 years old. I don't know if your blog confirms or echoes my source. Nice job anyway, dear friend. -- Gilbert
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