Map

symbol

Circle

Symbols · Numbers & forms

A closed curve. Calendars, metal, and later diagrams of “wholeness” have used it; the uses are not a single meaning.

  • Circle is associated with Sun.

    Disks and wheels have been used as pictures of the sun’s body. Geometry is not a cult.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Circle is associated with Moon.

    The full moon is a circle in the sky. The likeness is optical before it is doctrinal.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Circle is associated with Nimbus.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems, the nimbus outline may be a circle, an oval, or a quatrefoil suited to a sitting figure — the circle is that nimbus outline form.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    associated with · sourced · documented

  • Circle is associated with Eternity.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediæval Christian Art, the monogram enclosed in a circle gained additional meaning as an emblem of eternity — the circle seats that eternity emblem.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    associated with · sourced · documented

  • Circle is associated with Heaven.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediæval Christian Art, heaven is again represented as a circle studded with stars in a descent scene — the circle marks that heaven.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    associated with · sourced · documented

  • Circle is historically related to Cross.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediæval Christian Art, one monogram form introduces the circle into the design and places a cross within it — the circle encloses that cross.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Circle is historically related to Crown.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediæval Christian Art, a 12th-century Bible page places the Spirit of Wisdom highest in a circle of gifts and marks her with a crown upon her head — the circle holds that crowned figure.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Circle is historically related to Serpent.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediæval Christian Art, the circle of eternity frequently appears as the serpent holding its tail in its mouth on an early Gnostic gem.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Gold is associated with Circle.

    Coins and solar disks are round and often yellow. The likeness is cheap; keep it interpretive.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Four is associated with Circle.

    Four winds or directions are often drawn as a cross in a circle. The drawing is a map-habit, not a proof of cosmic order.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Compass is used in Circle.

    In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, after gold leaf covers the lime of a nimbus, one describes a fresh circle with the compass to form a clean outline — compass is the tool that forms that circle.

    from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Ellipse is historically related to Circle.

    In Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, small-coal coking kilns are each an ellipse deviating little from a circle, so that the mouth may project but a small space — ellipse is formed close to that circle.

    from Andrew Ure · Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, 1839 (and later PD editions)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Lamp is historically related to Circle.

    In Twining Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, the same plate 90 sets the lamp beside the circle among favourite early symbols with the anchor and heart.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Heart is historically related to Circle.

    In Twining Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, plate 90 groups the heart with the circle among the anchor, crown, banner, and lamp.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Dove is historically related to Circle.

    In Twining’s Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediæval Christian Art, an early baptism of a Goth encloses the dove in a circle with stars representing heaven, from which water descends upon the baptised person.

    from Louisa Twining · Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art, 1852 (new ed. 1885)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

Alchemy

  • Circle is associated with Alchemy.

    Alchemical diagrams close a work into a circle. The figure is a craft diagram, not a proof of cosmic oneness.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

Hellenic religion

  • Circle is associated with Labyrinth.

    Some labyrinth pavements are circular in plan. The path is still a walk, not an abstract “wholeness.”

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Circumcircle is used in Circle.

    Heath’s Euclid Book IV repeatedly circumscribes circles about triangles and regular polygons — the circumcircle as working construction around a figure. A named circumcircle use of circle in that handbook, not incircle as the inscribed twin and not a modern triangle-center dump.

    from Euclid; Thomas L. Heath (translation) · Elements, c. 300 BCE; Heath English 1908

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Incircle is used in Circle.

    Heath’s Euclid Book IV inscribes circles in triangles and regular polygons — the incircle as working construction inside a figure. A named incircle use of circle in that handbook, not circumcircle as the outer twin and not excircle as later tangent lore.

    from Euclid; Thomas L. Heath (translation) · Elements, c. 300 BCE; Heath English 1908

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Great circle is used in Circle.

    Ptolemy’s Almagest Book I seats great circles on the sphere — equator, ecliptic, horizon, meridian — as the largest circles dividing the celestial sphere in spherical astronomy. A named great-circle used as that sphere-circle species, not small-circle as a lesser parallel and not a flat plane-circle dump alone.

    from Claudius Ptolemy · Almagest, c. 150 CE

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Small circle is used in Circle.

    Ptolemy’s Almagest Book I seats parallels and other lesser circles on the sphere that are not great circles among the apparatus of spherical astronomy. A named small-circle used as that lesser sphere-circle species, not great-circle and not a flat circle dump alone.

    from Claudius Ptolemy · Almagest, c. 150 CE

    used in · sourced · documented

Daoism

  • Circle appears in Daoism.

    Later diagrams of yin and yang sit in a circle. That diagram is not the Yijing’s hexagrams, and it is not a Greek maze.

    appears in · interpretive · modern interpretation

Buddhist traditions

  • Mandala represents Circle.

    A mandala is often a bounded circle or square. The geometry is shared; the rite is not “wholeness” as a New Age caption.

    from Burton Watson (translation) · The Lotus Sutra, 1993 (this translation); Sanskrit/Chinese recensions much older

    represents · interpretive · documented

Islam · Arabia

  • Kaaba is associated with Circle.

    Ṭawāf circulates the house. A ritual circuit around a cuboid, not a Hermetic circle of art.

    from M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (translation) · The Qur’an, 2004 (this translation); Arabic text 7th century CE

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

European folklore

  • Reflecting circle is historically related to Circle.

    Heather’s Treatise seats Troughton’s reflecting circle among astronomical reflecting instruments that keep the sextant principle but make the limb a complete circle with three verniers and an index glass. A named reflecting-circle in that Troughton speech, not a box sextant alone, not a theodolite horizontal limb dump, and not a bare circular protractor.

    from J. F. Heather · Treatise on Mathematical Instruments, 1849 (and later PD editions)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Sector is historically related to Circle.

    Heather’s Treatise seats the sector among drawing instruments whose name and form follow Euclid’s sector of a circle — two equal legs moveable about a joint as radii, carrying sectoral lines. A named sector in that mathematical-instrument speech, not a dip sector alone, and not a Gunter scale dump.

    from J. F. Heather · Treatise on Mathematical Instruments, 1849 (and later PD editions)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

  • Station pointer is historically related to Circle.

    Heather’s Treatise seats the station pointer among plotting instruments with three arms moveable about a common center, two carrying graduated arcs read by verniers to set observed angles onto the plot. A named station-pointer in that surveying-plotting speech, not a theodolite, not a circular protractor alone, and not a plane-table.

    from J. F. Heather · Treatise on Mathematical Instruments, 1849 (and later PD editions)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

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