The circle can be said to be the oldest geometric figure in civilization. This article is meant to give an overview of the origin of this figure in ancient ritual.
The circle in mathematics is defined as the set of points in the plane that are at a fixed distance from a fixed point called “the center.” Any straight line segment from the center to the circle is called “a radius.”
A circle can be constructed by fixing a peg on the ground and tying a rope to it. When the rope is taut, the loose end, with another peg on it, can be wound, and the peg will trace a figure on the ground. This figure is a circle and the length of rope from central, peg to the outer peg is a radius.
In many societies, the occasion for ritual and ceremony is the ritual scene, which often is circular. For example, the Omaha and the Arikara Indians built an earth lodge that satisfied many ritual conditions, including being in the shape of a circle. The Pawnee Indians even had a myth that their creator drew the circular shape of their communal living area, with one toe going around and forming a circle.
In Germany and England, among other countries, there is the celebration yearly of a Maypole dance in a circle around a Maypole, a pole to which are attached victuals and flowers and ornaments. The children go in processions of pairs around the Maypole, headed by a “king” and “queen” in a circle.
Towns in the Round
Ancient cities often were laid out in the shape of a perfect circle, the Pawnee settlement being an example. There are archeological sites of 5000 B.C. that were circular in design as well as Jericho, from 7000 B.C.
The circle, according to the late Abraham Seidenberg, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, took its shape from the actions of ritualists on a ritual scene under the open sky.
In the central Creation ritual, the ritualists were called onto the ritual scene. There they experienced a danger to their lives, namely, they were to be sacrificed. To avert sacrifice, they placed an object on the ritual scene instead of themselves. In the development of the Creation Ritual different objects and types of object were placed on the ritual scene.
Trees were placed on the ritual scene as a substitute for the victim. Hence, we have the arborization of the ritual scene, and the ritualists became tree gods.
Relating to the Stars
We have stones being placed on the ritual scene. Hence, the petrification of the ritual scene. At some time, the ritualists identified with stars in the sky, which were watched as though the proceedings in the sky were thought to influence the proceedings on earth.
The stars were watched. Their movements were observed in the sky against the light of the moon. The ritualists, over a night, positioned themselves in accordance with “their” stars. So the ritual scene, in the Northern hemisphere, took on a circular shape because the stars move in circles as they appear on earth. The movement was clockwise as they were in the Northern hemisphere.
We thus have the stellarization of the ritual scene, and the ritualists were said to be in Heaven
As the ritual scene took on a circular shape, so did the settlements and the living grounds that the peoples designed and built.
It is of note that clockwise, “the way of the sun” became the propitious direction of movement. The other direction, counterclockwise, symbolized bad luck. This was because the “proper” direction, the “good” direction, was the way the stars moved in their battle with the forces of darkness. This was the way of the sun, and its effects were thought to be beneficial.
The theory of ritual origins was most prolifically developed by Lord Fitzroy Raglan.
It posited that any human artifact or ritual was developed once and then diffused with population movements and transport. The theory was opposed to the antithetical theory of spontaneous origins in which an invention was developed in response to some human need and could happen many times over.
Mr. Eisenberg, a scholar, may be contacted at oren46@sbcglobal.net
