"When ancient Egyptians embalmed their dead, organs were removed from the body. The brain, considered useless, was disposed of, while the stomach, liver, intestines, and lungs were preserved separately in boxes or canopic jars. However, the heart, considered the seat of intelligence, was thought to be essential in the afterlife and so remained within the body. For the Mesoamericans, including the Aztecs, heart extraction from live sacrificial victims was performed to appease the gods and sustain the cosmos."
"In the West, the heart became synonymous with piety, sacrifice, and love when the sacred heart of Jesus was pierced by a Roman soldier's spear during his crucifixion. The now familiar and iconic pear-shaped heart was popularized in thirteenth-century European art that survives today in everything from the iconic I ❤️ NY to the variously colored heart emoticons 💙🩷💛🧡 in our text messages."
"By the fifteenth century the pear-shaped heart was pretty common, its ubiquity accelerated by its widespread use on the recently invented playing cards. In that same century, we see the first appearance of the heart-shaped, or cordiform book (from Latin cor "heart" + form "shape"), the most famous example, dated to the 1470s, being The Chansonnier Cordiform, a beautifully decorated manuscript songbook. This book contains secular - not religious - songs in French and Italian."
Ancient Egyptians removed and preserved most organs during embalming, discarding the brain but leaving the heart because it was considered the seat of intelligence necessary for the afterlife. Mesoamerican cultures, notably the Aztecs, performed live heart extraction to appease gods and sustain the cosmos. In Western Christianity the heart became linked to piety, sacrifice, and love after the sacred heart of Jesus was pierced during the crucifixion. The pear-shaped heart was popularized in thirteenth-century European art and became widespread by the fifteenth century through playing cards. Fifteenth-century cordiform books and devotional heart-shaped manuscripts demonstrate the shape's use in both secular and religious contexts. Multiple theories exist about the pictogram's origin.
Read at I Love Typography Ltd
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