The term “Flower of Life” refers to a geometric and symbolic representation consisting of six petals inscribed within a circle, a motif found across various civilisations throughout history1. Archaeologists have uncovered similar depictions throughout Europe, the Middle East, ancient Egypt and elsewhere, often in decorative contexts. Due to its widespread occurrence, we cannot interpret the design as a single, unambiguous symbol. Indeed, its meaning varies depending on the historical and cultural context. However, in some cases, scholars suggested a link with the concepts of regeneration and rebirth.
Early evidence in the Bronze Age
In Europe, the earliest known examples of a six-petalled geometric motif date back to the Late Bronze Age. The figure was, in fact, engraved on a number of ceremonial gold discs found in the graves of Circle A at Mycenae, dating back to the 16th century BC. The symbolic meaning of the representation is uncertain. However, it may help ensure the deceased’s passage into the afterlife. Indeed, like the flowers of the fields, they must be reborn from the earth. Inside the same tombs and on the same votive medallions, archaeologists found the image of the octopus, an animal capable of regrowing its tentacles, and the spiral, possibly referencing to the generative power of nature.
At the same time the symbol was in use in northern Iran: artifacts dating back to the 15th century BC with the Flower of Life engraved on them were discovered in Marlik2. These findings were part of the grave goods that accompanied the deceased in around fifty burials belonging to the local culture.
The Flower of Life and the Ancient Egyptians
Artists later carved a wonderful composition of the Flower of Life into a granite pillar in the Temple of Osiris (Osireion) at Abydos. This building was commissioned by Pharaoh Seti I in the 13th century BC4. For the ancient Egyptians, Osiris was the lord of the underworld, the god of death and rebirth. This suggests a continuity of meaning associated with the symbol across cultures. According to the myth, Osiris was killed by his brother Seth. This dismembered him and threw his remains into the River Nile. However, with the help of Nephthys and the magical arts, his wife Isis brought him back to life albeit briefly. Isis found the pieces of her husband and reassembled his mummy. This gave her the opportunity to conceive a son with him, Horus, a child-god destined to overcome the evil Seth.
In any case, we do not know when the carvings at Abydos were made. They may date from a more recent period.
The Flower of Life and Iron Age cultures
During the Iron Age, the Flower of Life spread throughout Europe and the Middle East via trade routes across the Mediterranean. A geometric representation of the symbol has been found on the base of a cup dating from the 8th–7th century BC, originating from Idalion in Cyprus. The artefact, decorated with mythological scenes, is housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
During the final stages of the Assyrian Empire, the Flower of Life was depicted on numerous artefacts. These findings are now in the Baghdad Archaeological Museum. Most notably, however, it decorated the lintel of a doorway in King Ashurbanipal’s palace in Nineveh, dating from around 645 BC6.
The Etruscans represented it on an urn in Civitella di Paganico and on the Auvele Felùske Stele of ancient Vetulonia. Both the findings date from the 7th century BC. The funerary stele at Auvele Felùske stood upright and served as a marker for the grave. The deceased, perhaps a wealthy member of the community, appears as a proud warrior. He is armed with a double-headed axe and a circular shield on which a large six-petalled flower can be seen.
The Daunians, a population that settled in northern Apulia during the Iron Age, commonly used the symbol. Similar to the Etruscans, they placed it on their funerary stelae, date from between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, preserved in the National Museum in Manfredonia.
The Celtic flower and the Sun of the Alps
In the folk tradition of northern Italy, people also call the Flower of Life the “Sun of the Alps”. Throughout the Alps, it is common to come across modern depictions of the symbol, dating back to recent centuries, particularly inside places of worship or on the doorways of private homes in town centres.
It is interesting to note that the name “Sun of the Alps” once again suggests a possible link between the symbol and the concept of the renewal of life. Indeed, agricultural fertility, and thus the reawakening of nature in spring, depends entirely on the sun’s movements throughout the year. In the Alps, the first flower to bloom after the long winter’s rest is the narcissus. This has six petals, just like the Flower of Life.
According to tradition, the custom is said to date back to the Celts, who once settled in these regions and made extensive use of plant motifs featuring knots and interlacing, although we have no clear archaeological evidence to support this. The use of the symbol is, however, well documented in other parts of Europe under Celtic influence. For example, we find a six-petalled flower on the funerary stelae of the Cantabrians (1st century BC) and within the oppidum of Santa Tegra in Galicia, a settlement established after the Roman conquest of the region and associated with the Castro culture.
The Flower of Life among the Romans
The Romans also adopted the six-petalled flower. They used it as a decorative motif in the mosaic floors of private homes, particularly during the Imperial period. Thus, we find it in the Domus dell’Ortaglia in Brescia, built between the 1st and 4th centuries AD and now part of the Santa Giulia complex, or at the archaeological site of Italica in Andalusia. It is likely that the symbol held apotropaic or auspicious significance for the Romans. Its depiction guaranteed the inhabitants of the domus health and well-being. Thus, the life might always be renewed, like the sun that sets every evening and rises again in the morning, or like the daffodil that blooms at the start of spring.
Christian reinterpretation of the Flower of Life
In Christianity, the Flower of Life became, by extension, a metaphor for the resurrection of Christ. It continued to be used in religious and funerary contexts. There is significant evidence of the six-petalled flower dating back to the early Christian period, such as in the mosaics of the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia (4th century AD).
Instead, in the Lombard church of San Pietro in Gemonio it appears on an altar dating to the Liutprandean era (8th century).
The Flower of Life was at its most popular in the Late Middle Ages. Its spread was aided by some of the most important monastic-chivalric orders of the time, including the Knights Templar. These had it carved onto the portal of the church of San Bevignate in Perugia and on numerous other places of worship throughout Europe.
Leonardo da Vinci and the Flower of Life
The Flower of Life has continued to fascinate people even in later ages. In fact, illustrious scientists and intellectuals recognised in its geometry the perfection of form and universal harmony. One such person was the genius Leonardo da Vinci. He studied its mathematical properties in the Codex Atlanticus, a precious manuscript now housed in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
Leonardo, fascinated by the Flower of Life and its geometric construction, reproduced it on many pages of his work. Like him, many others over the centuries. The design could be created by drawing a central circle, a symbol of perfection and wholeness, and six other circles intersecting with it. This process seemed to mirror the divine creation that had brought the universe into being in seven days. The Flower of Life thus demonstrated the relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm; its numerical correspondences revealed the secrets of the universe.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- D. Melchizedek, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, 1999. ↩︎
- G. N. Kurochkin, Archeological search for the Near Eastern Aryans and the royal cemetery of Marlik in northern Iran, in South Asian Archaeology 1993, ed. A. Parpola and P. Koskikallio, vol. 1, Helsinki, 1994. ↩︎
- Photo: 1985 Photo RMN / Pierre et Maurice Chuzeville ↩︎
- P. J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis, Brill, 2000. ↩︎
- Inventory N3454. ↩︎
- G. Perrot, C. Chipiez, A History of Art in Chaldæa and Assyria, London, 1884. ↩︎
- By Marko Manninen – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, image. ↩︎
- By David Raúl Esteban Redondo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, image. ↩︎
- By Froaringus – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, image. ↩︎
