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__NOTOC__ A meander or meandros ( el, Μαίανδρος) is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif. Among some Italians, these patterns are known as "Greek Lines". Such a design also may be called the Greek fret or Greek key design, although these terms are modern designations even though the decorative motif appears thousands of years before that culture, thousands of miles away from Greece, and among cultures that are continents away from it. Usually the term is used for motifs with straight lines and right angles and the many versions with rounded shapes are called running scrolls or, following the entomological origin of the term, may be identified as water wave motifs. On one hand, the name "meander" recalls the twisting and turning path of the Maeander River in
Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
(present day
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
) that is typical of river pathways. On another hand, as
Karl Kerenyi Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...
pointed out, "the meander is the figure of a
labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...
in linear form". Meanders are common decorative elements in
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Roman art The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be min ...
. In
ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
they appear in many architectural friezes, and in bands on the pottery of ancient Greece from the Geometric Period onward. The design is common to the present-day in classicizing architecture, and is adopted frequently as a decorative motif for borders for many modern printed materials. The meander is a fundamental design motif in regions far from a Hellenic orbit: labyrinthine meanders ("thunder" pattern ) appear in bands and as infill on Shang bronzes (c. 1600 BC - c. 1045 BC), and many traditional buildings in and around China still bear geometric designs almost identical to meanders. Although space-filling curves have a long history in China in motifs more than 2,000 years earlier, extending back to
Zhukaigou Culture The Zhukaigou culture was a late Neolithic and early Bronze Age culture centered in the Ordos Plateau of Inner Mongolia, China. The type site at Zhukaigou was discovered in Ejin Horo Banner, Inner Mongolia, and excavated from 1977 to 1984. Zhukai ...
(c. 2000 BC – c. 1400 BC) and
Xiajiadian Culture Xiajiadian culture is the name of two distinct Bronze Age cultures in northeast China: *Lower Xiajiadian culture The Lower Xiajiadian culture (; 2200–1600 BC) is an archaeological culture in Northeast China, found mainly in southeastern I ...
(c. 2200 BC –1600 BC and c. c. 1000 BC -600 BC), frequently there is speculation that meanders of Greek origin may have come to China during the time of the
Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
(c. 202 BC) by way of trade with the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. A meander motif also appears in prehistoric Mayan design motifs in the western hemisphere, centuries before any European contacts. Meanders and their generalizations are used with increasing frequency in various domains of contemporary art. The painter Yang Liu, for example, has incorporated smooth versions of the traditional Greek Key (also called Sona drawing,
Sand drawing Sand drawing (or sandroing in Bislama)"Sandroing"
Vanuatu ...
, and
Kolam Kolam (,, ), also known as Muggu () or Tharai Aalangaram () Rangoli () is a form of traditional decorative art that is drawn by using rice flour as per age-old conventions. It is also drawn using white stone powder, chalk or chalk powder, often ...
) in many of her paintings.Yang Liu, "From sona drawings to contemporary art", ''HYPERSEEING'', Summer 2009, pp. 37–41. Published by ISAMA, The International Society for the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture.


Gallery

La Iglesia 5 Mäander.jpg,
Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
meander from Chichen Itza (Mexico) Geometric bowl, 730-720 BC, Prague NM-H10 4103, 151503.jpg, Geometric bowl decorated with a meander, from 730–720 BC File:Palaistra scene Louvre G457.jpg, A typical Attic red-figure cup with meander pattern at borders File:Herculaneum — Women's Baths (14732688117).jpg, The meander mosaic of the
tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...
File:Classical 7-Circuit Labyrinth.svg, A classical labyrinth File:0540 - Milano - Museo archeologico - Mosaico romano (sec. I a.C.) - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 13-mar-2012.jpg,
Roman mosaic A Roman mosaic is a mosaic made during the Roman period, throughout the Roman Republic and later Empire. Mosaics were used in a variety of private and public buildings, on both floors and walls, though they competed with cheaper frescos for the ...
in the Archaeological Museum of Milan File:Chedworth Roman Villa 05.jpg, Roman mosaic from
Chedworth Roman Villa Chedworth Roman Villa is located near Chedworth, Gloucestershire, England and is a scheduled monument. It is one of the largest and most elaborate Roman villas so far discovered in Britain and one with the latest occupation beyond the Roman per ...
(England) Vatable Francois Paris College de France Rue Saint-Jacques.JPG, Meanders on the façade of a building from Paris, very similar with the ones from Roman mosaics Border - Google Art Project (6821750).jpg, Border pattern from 1800–1830, with meanders in it Plaque Mirabeau.jpg,
Cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
balcony decorated with meanders in Paris


See also

*
Mezine Mezine is a place within the modern country of Ukraine which has the most artifact finds of Paleolithic culture origin. The Epigravettian site is located on a bank of the Desna River in Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion of Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukrain ...
* Vitruvian scroll


Citations


External links


''Illustrated Architecture Dictionary'': "Fret"
a short description, with a list of links to photographs of meander designs in art and architecture {{Ornaments Greek culture Ornaments Visual motifs