The heart sign is one of the only most endures and widely familiar
symbols in modern world civilization. But where did it come from?
The heart shape is known the world over as a sign of loving and
care, but its historical beginning are hard to pin down. Some believe the
iconic sign is derived from the shape of ivy leaf, which are related with loyalty,
but on the other hand it was modeled after breasts, buttocks or other parts of
the human structure. Possibly the most unusual theory concerns silphium, a group
of giant fennel that once grew on the North African coastline near the Greek
colony of Cyrene. The ancient Greeks and Romans used silphium as eat in food
flavor and use it in medicine—it worked for wonders as a cough syrup—but it was
most famous as an early form of birth control. Earliest writers and poets
hailed the plant for its contraceptive powers, and it became so trendy that it
was cultivated into extinction by the first century A.D. (legend has it that
the Roman Emperor Nero was presented with the last surviving stalk). Silphium’s
seedpod bore a striking semblance to the modern Valentine’s heart, leading many
to speculate that the herb’s associations with love and sex may have been what
first helped popularize the sign. The ancient city of Cyrene, which grew rich
from the silphium trade, even put the heart shape on its money.
While the silphium theory is certainly strong, the true
origins of the heart shape may be more simple. Scholars such as Pierre Vinken
and Martin Kemp have argued that the heart sign has its roots in the writings
of Galen and the philosopher Aristotle, who described the human heart as having
three chambers with a small dent in the middle. According to this theory, the
heart shape may have been born when artists and scientists from the Middle Ages
attempted to draw representations of early medical texts. In the 14th century,
for example, the Italian physicist Guido da Vigevano made a series of
anatomical drawings featuring a heart that very much resembles the one
described by Aristotle. Since the human heart has long been associated with feeling
and delight, the shape was finally co-opted as a symbol of love and romance. It
grew especially popular during the Renaissance, when it was used in religious
art depicting the Sacred Heart of Christ and as one of the four suits in
playing cards. By the 18th and 19th centuries, meanwhile, it had become a frequent
shape in love notes and Valentine’s Day cards.
Religious pressure on the medical world waned in later
centuries and anatomical knowledge was finally spread far and wide, the total
amount of artistic, poetic and commercial attention given to the iconic heart
symbol not only saw it survive, but bloom as symbol for both the human heart
and love. Despite that love doesn’t originate in, nor does the symbol look much
like, the human heart, from the looks of things, the drawn heart representing
these things is not about to change anytime soon.
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