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The meaning of the eight-pointed star
#1
Does anyone know the meaning and origin of this symbol? It consists of a symbolic star represented by eight equally spaced triangular rays radiating out from a central dot.

You see it on the victim in the Kinch fresco (the one with an unarmoured lancer charging an infantryman in Persian dress) and on coins of Tigranes II of Armenia. I've seen it described as a symbol of the Argead dynasty of Macedonia, but I've seen it in enough non-Macedonian contexts to have doubts that that was its only meaning. (the victim in the Kinch fresco could be fighting for a diadoch, and Tigranes II could be claiming to inherit Seleucid authority by adopting their symbols, but those seem stretched).
Nullis in verba

I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
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#2
I'll just bump this thread once in case anyone knows anything else. Even an article by an art historian arguing that it represents the Argead dynasty might be interesting, since I've only seen offhand references to the idea ...
Nullis in verba

I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
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#3
The only thing I can find is a mosaic in Aldborough,North Yorkshire.I can't imagine any connection apart from copying a 'common' earlier style of motif.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/serv ... =nav.17022
Fasta Ambrosius Longus
John

We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

[Image: Peditum3.jpg]
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#4
Wikipedia "Star Symbol" article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(symbol )#Eight-pointed_stars [enter entire string]) has little information about 8-point star symbols.

An excellent "Eight-Point Star" post and its responses ( http://moroccandesign.com/eight-point-star ) provide good background information, on the earliest known 8-point star use:

Quote:The Sumerians used an arrangement of lines as a symbol for both star and God. The linear eight-point star represented the goddess Inanna, Sumerian queen of the heavens and Ishtar (Astarte), the Babylonian goddess known as “The Lightbringer.” An eight-point star enclosed within a circle was the symbol for the sun god. The “Babylonian star-cult is the core and the archetype of subsequent astrology.”
and...

Quote:Sumer is located in an era of the world where several civilizations, such as Babylonian, Arkadian (Semetic), Elam (proto Indo-Iranian), Egyptian, and Greek expanded and retracted. It doesn’t require much imagination to imagine how these symbol migrated to other cultures...
The article also mentions how persons and groups may change others' symbols and practices, and co-opt them for their own uses. (If it's good enough for the gods, then maybe it's good enough and reserved exclusively for royalty. Especially with some royalty claiming deity, direct descent from a god, divinely sanctioned rule, etc.)

In addition to conquests and co-opting/adoption of conquered peoples' and royalties' symbols and practices, and royal intermarriages to further “stabilize” conquered peoples (Alexander the Great's Greeks were prime examples), I would add that people and groups, without conquests, also often communicate and trade, and that people migrate/emigrate/immigrate for many various reasons other than wars. Thus, a myriad of ways for ideas to spread between cultures.

I would further add that people within cultures have independently conceived and created similar ideas, including symbols with similar meanings, and although at different times, they are independent ideas nevertheless. Agriculture and writing systems are good examples. Therefore, idea “transmission” between cultures is not necessary to explain, and it does not explain by default, the existence of similar symbols and meanings in different cultures.

However, in this Greek case, I think that idea transmission between conquering and conquered peoples and royalty could be the most likely explanation, through several “paths,” splitting and merging over centuries.

More directly relevant to the original post…

Dr. Elias Kapetanopoulos' excellent "Phillip II Tomb" article ( http://www.history.ccsu.edu/elias/taphosphilippoub.htm ), 7th article body paragraph, 1st sentence:

Quote:...the suns (¥lioi) on the larnakes of the deceased are a symbol of royalty...
The article’s images show various Greek late 4th/early 3rd century B.C. uses of 8-point stars and derived 16-point stars (with 8 greater and 8 lesser points):

Kinch Tomb, fresco, probable Anatolian-Persian infantryman's shield:

[Image: image026.png]

Lyson-Kallikles Tomb, fresco, crest:

[Image: image028.png]

Philip II Tomb at Vergina, larnax:

[Image: image022.png]

Shield:

[Image: image030.png]

Several centuries later, Alexander Jannaeus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Jannaeus#Coinage ) Judean 1st century B.C. 8-point star or "wheel" use, like that many centuries before, may have meant the "morning star" (Venus), the "sun," the "heavens," or most likely, his "royalty" (given Jewish principals then, to avoid human or animal representations, false deities, etc.). This symbolic use may have been passed through any number of historic-cultural transmission paths from one end of the fertile crescent to the other.

An Alexander Jannaeus bronze Prutah:

[Image: JanaeusCoinPhoto.jpg]

Similarly, Tigranes II's ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigranes_the_Great ) Armenian 1st century B.C. 8-point star use includes his coins with his image, showing his royal tiara with two eagles and an 8-point star. Stylistically very similar, shows clearer royal symbolic meaning.

[Image: tigranes_tetradrachm055.jpg]

and...

[Image: coin_tigranes_armenia.jpg]

(from Livius)

The article further states...

Quote:Armenian rulers prior to Tigranes did not issue coins; he was the first one to do it. He took up the Seleucid tradition and struck coins of great interest.

In closing, although we cannot be absolutely sure, I think that we can be reasonably sure that the Kinch tomb fresco and related period artifacts refer to royalty, royal soldiers, and other things royal.
AMDG
Wm. / *r
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#5
Thanks for the information! So it could be a symbol for royalty in several areas. I'd give you a laus but the new forum software doesn't support it.

Sekunda has a photo of two Greek vases from the 360s BCE decorated with Arimaspian? warriors fighting griffons. They are armed with swords and round pelte with an eight-pointed star decoration. Added to the Kinch tomb and Macedonian shields with the same symbol, I think its possible that it was seen generically appropriate for warriors too, although your idea of “royalty” -> “royal warriors” could be right too.
Nullis in verba

I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
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#6
Thank you for your kind comments. Glad to help. Yes, perhaps it was common among these warriors, as Mithras and mithraic symbolism was later borrowed from another culture and eventually widely adopted among Roman military.
AMDG
Wm. / *r
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#7
Eugene Borza offers another possible explanation for the Argeadae's link with the star in "In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon". Following the story of Perdiccas traveling to Labaea and collecting sunlight in his tunic (Herodotus 8.137), Borza remarks: "One wonders if this story were the inspiration for the Macedonians' adoption of the radiate sun [or star] as a national symbol" (p. 81). Interesting theory, to say the least...
Scott B.
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#8
Quote:Eugene Borza offers another possible explanation for the Argeadae's link with the star in "In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon". Following the story of Perdiccas traveling to Labaea and collecting sunlight in his tunic (Herodotus 8.137), Borza remarks: "One wonders if this story were the inspiration for the Macedonians' adoption of the radiate sun [or star] as a national symbol" (p. 81). Interesting theory, to say the least...
Especially since there is a lot to corroborate it. On the coins of Uranopolis, the 16-pointed "star" is certainly a sun, and this dates from the fourth century BCE. Think also of Alexander likening himself to a sun ("just as the world cannot have two suns, Asia cannot have two kings") and especially his becoming scared when he learns about an omen involving a setting sun. I collected a bit of stuf here [url:38763tyd]http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t63.html[/url], especially note #2; and compare the photo of Alexander with sun and moon (Royal museums of art and history, Brussels).

Cf. [url:38763tyd]http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_z6.html[/url]

[Image: alexander_kosmokrator_amisus_kmkg.JPG]
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#9
Thanks Jona. That sculpture of Alexander with that symbol on his head is very interesting.
Nullis in verba

I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
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#10
I recall reading somewhere where the "victim" in the Kinch tomb painting was actually the groom of the cavalryman lancer holding up the latter's shield for practice.
Manny Garcia
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#11
Strangely enough I have run across this when doing research into old norse and pagan tribes. These so called "Barbarians traded in everything from good to culture. I am interested in seeing if the origin and meaning of this can be tracked down.
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#12
I found another reference: http://www.gocek.org/christiansymbols/?search=

The 8-point star is the 11th symbol on this webpage, follwed by a brief description of the Christian meaning given to the 8-pointed star.
AMDG
Wm. / *r
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