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The Vesica piscis is a shape
Shape

The shape of an object located in some space is the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary ? abstracting from other properties such as colour, content, and material composition, as well as from the object's other spatial properties ....
 which is the intersection of two circle
Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those point in a plane which are the same distance from a given point called the center....
s with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each circle lies on the circumference of the other. The name literally means the "bladder of the fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
" in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
. The shape is also called mandorla ("almond
Almond

The Almond is a species of tree of the genus Prunus, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae and native to the Middle East....
" in Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
).

The term is also used more generally for any symmetric lens
Lens (geometry)

In geometry, a lens is a convex shape comprising two circle Arc s, joined at their endpoints. If the arcs have equal radii, it is called a symmetric lens....
.

Mystical and religious significance
It has been the subject of mystical speculation at several periods of history, perhaps first among the Pythagoreans.






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Vesica Piscis
The Vesica piscis is a shape
Shape

The shape of an object located in some space is the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary ? abstracting from other properties such as colour, content, and material composition, as well as from the object's other spatial properties ....
 which is the intersection of two circle
Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those point in a plane which are the same distance from a given point called the center....
s with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each circle lies on the circumference of the other. The name literally means the "bladder of the fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
" in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
. The shape is also called mandorla ("almond
Almond

The Almond is a species of tree of the genus Prunus, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae and native to the Middle East....
" in Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
).

The term is also used more generally for any symmetric lens
Lens (geometry)

In geometry, a lens is a convex shape comprising two circle Arc s, joined at their endpoints. If the arcs have equal radii, it is called a symmetric lens....
.

Mystical and religious significance


It has been the subject of mystical speculation at several periods of history, perhaps first among the Pythagoreans. The mathematical ratio of its width (measured to the endpoints of the "body", not including the "tail") to its height was reportedly believed by them to be 265:153 (namely 1.73203...). The geometric ratio of these dimensions is actually the square root of 3, or 1.73205... (since if straight lines are drawn connecting the centers of the two circles with each other, with the two points where the circles intersect, two equilateral triangles join along an edge). The ratio 265:153 is an approximation
Continued fraction

In mathematics, a continued fraction is an expression such aswhere a0 is an integer and all the other numbers ai are positive integers....
 to the square root of 3, with the property that no better approximation can be obtained with smaller whole numbers. The number 153
153 (number)

One hundred fifty-three is the natural number following 152 and preceding 154 .As a triangular number, it is the sum of the first 17 integers, and also the sum of the first five positive factorials....
 appears in the Gospel of John
Gospel of John

The Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the Biblical canon of the New Testament, traditionally ascribed to John the Evangelist. Like the three synoptic gospels, it contains an account of some of the actions and sayings of Jesus of Nazareth, but differs from them in ethos and theological emphases....
 (21:11) as the number of fish Jesus
Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
 caused to be caught in a miraculous catch of fish
Catch of 153 fish

The Miraculous Draught of Fish can refer to two different, though very similarly described, episodes from the Ministry of Jesus as described in the Gospels....
. Coventry Patmore
Coventry Patmore

Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was an England poet and critic.The eldest son of author Peter George Patmore, Coventry was born at Woodford in Essex, England....
 has written a poem called Vesica Pisces, Part XXIV of the Book I of his cycle The Unknown Eros (1877).

More recently, numerous new age
New Age

New Age is a decentralized western culture social movement and new religious movement that seeks universality Truth and the attainment of the highest individual human potential....
 authors have interpreted it as a yonic symbol and claimed that this, a reference to the female genitals, is a traditional interpretation.

Codex Bruchsal 1 01v Cropped

Uses of the shape


In Christian art
Christian art

Christian art is art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity. Virtually all Christian groupings use or have used art to some extent....
, some aureola
Aureola

An aureola or aureole is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure. In the earliest periods of Christian art this splendour was confined to the figures of the persons of the Godhead , but it was afterwards extended to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to several of the saints....
s are in the shape of a vertically oriented vesica piscis, and the seals
Seal (device)

A seal can mean a wax seal bearing an impressed figure, or an embossed figure in paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document, but the term can also mean any device for making such impressions or embossments, essentially being a Molding that has the mirror image of the figure in counter-relief, such as mounted on rings known a...
 of ecclesiastical organizations can be enclosed within a vertically oriented vesica piscis (instead of the more usual circular enclosure).

The cover of the Chalice Well
Chalice Well

Chalice Well is a holy Water well situated at the foot of Glastonbury Tor in the county of Somerset, England. The natural spring and surrounding gardens are owned and managed by the Chalice Well Trust , founded by Wellesley Tudor Pole in 1959....
 in Glastonbury
Glastonbury

Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town has a population of 8,800....
 (Somerset
Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
) depicts a stylized version of the vesica piscis design.

See also

  • Halo (religious iconography)
    Halo (religious iconography)

    A halo is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They are often used in religious works to depict holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes....
  • Ichthys
    Ichthys

    Ichthys or Ichthus is the ancient and classical Greek word for "fish." In English it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, said to have been used by early Christianitys as a secret symbol and now known colloquiall...
  • Lens (geometry)
    Lens (geometry)

    In geometry, a lens is a convex shape comprising two circle Arc s, joined at their endpoints. If the arcs have equal radii, it is called a symmetric lens....
  • Flower of Life
    Flower of Life

    The Flower of Life is the modern name given to a shape composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles, that are arranged so that they form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry like a hexagon....
  • Villarceau circles
    Villarceau circles

    In geometry, Villarceau circles are a pair of circles produced by cutting a torus diagonally through the center at the correct angle. Given an arbitrary point on a torus, four circles can be drawn through it....
  • Triquetra
    Triquetra

    Triquetra is a word derived from the Latin tri- and quetrus . Its original meaning was simply "triangle" and it has been used to refer to various three-cornered shapes....
  • Reuleaux polygon
  • Vesicle pisces
  • Catch of 153 fish
    Catch of 153 fish

    The Miraculous Draught of Fish can refer to two different, though very similarly described, episodes from the Ministry of Jesus as described in the Gospels....
  • Venn diagram
    Venn diagram

    Venn diagrams or set diagrams are diagrams that show all hypothetically possible logical relations between a finite collection of Set . Venn diagrams were invented around 1880 by John Venn....
  • Dyad (Greek philosophy)
  • Intersection (set theory)
    Intersection (set theory)

    In mathematics, the intersection of two Set A and B is the set that contains all elements of A that also belong to B , but no other elements....