The Tiny Pendant With a Five-Thousand-Year Backstory
If you pay attention to the tree of life pendant , you’ll notice that the tree’s roots reach down just as far as the branches reach up. This means the roots and the branches are of the same length. This is not something that happened at random, but it was designed that way. That single detail is why this shape, small enough to sit against a collarbone, has survived for over five thousand years. It isn't really a picture of a tree. It's a picture of balance. It Started on Palace Walls, Not Jewellery Boxes The oldest known versions come from Assyria, around 900 BCE. It was carved into the palace walls of kings. It depicted king Ashurnasirpal II standing beside a stylised, almost architectural tree, flanked by winged guardian spirits. This wasn't decoration. ● In Mesopotamia, the tree represented the order of the cosmos itself ● A king standing beside it was claiming his rule was backed by something older than himself ●...