Who would guess it? The seed of a plant is considered the origin of the heart shape used to depict the human sense of love and romantic emotion.
It was known as silphion, laserwort, laser, and used as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was critical to the Cyrenian (Libya today) economy, and their coins bore a picture of the plant. Its seed/fruit was what we today call 'heart-shaped".
This is an extinct plant, so there are numerous theories as to how it became extinct since it was so important to the economies of countries at the time.
Then we speed ahead to the 1250s with the first depiction of a heart shape, presented by a kneeling lover who offers his heart to a lady. It is similar to a pine cone and is upside down. Researchers assume it is a heart.
While much earlier Aristotle described it in ancient texts with three chambers and a dent in the middle, it was Middle Ages scientists who went about translating this visually. The heart symbol became widespread in medieval art.
It was in the 14th century that the heart was turned 'right-side up'. And then it gains traction everywhere. It is easy to trace with trade - it reaches Japan between 1543 and 1614. A samurai helmet dated 1630 has hearts on it.
Today, the traditions are many and interwoven in our society completely. Take our scientific approach to things as demonstrated by Wikipedia. It shows us an animation of a cardioid generated by a rolling circle. It is one of a number of "parametrisations of approximately heart-shaped curves." It is fascinating - take a look at the bottom the entry HERE.
I have been following the Cambridge Analytica scandal and watched Congressional members interview Mark Zuckerberg. Here is the quote that will reign forever:
"Senator, we run ads"
In comparison, here are the prior quotes of Mark Zuckerberg, where he envisioned a new and better world.
When people are connected, we can just do some great things. They have the opportunity to get access to jobs, education, health, communications. We have the opportunity to bring the people we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference. Mark Zuckerberg
When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power. Mark Zuckerberg
I think that more flow of information, the ability to stay connected to more people makes people more effective as people. And I mean, that's true socially. It makes you have more fun, right. It feels better to be more connected to all these people. You have a richer life. Mark Zuckerberg
