The Shape of our Heart

We all know that the the shape of our heart (the organ), looks nothing how we all draw a heart when we associate it with love. So how did the heart we associate with love get it’s shape.  I wanted to find out so here are a few ideas I found during my research…

Idea #1 Ancient North African Origin

During the seventh century B.C., the city-state of Cyrene* had a lucrative trade in a rare, now-extinct plant: silphium. Although it was mostly used for seasoning, silphium was reputed to have an off-label use as a form of birth control. The silphium was so important to Cyrene’s economy that coins were minted that depicted the plant’s seedpod (shown to the right), which looks like the heart shape we know today. The theory goes that the heart shape first became associated with sex, and eventually, with love.

Idea #2 Catholic Church Origin

The Catholic Church contends that the modern heart shape did not come along until the 17th century, when Saint Margaret Mary Alocoque had a vision of it surrounded by thorns. This symbol became known as the Sacred Heart of Jesus and was associated with love and devotion; it began popping up often in stained-glass windows and other church iconography. But while the Sacred Heart may have popularized the shape, most scholars agree that it existed much earlier than the 1600s.

Idea #3 The Less Romantic Origin

Some claim that the modern heart-shape simply came from botched attempts to draw an actual human heart, the organ which the ancients, including Aristotle, believed contained all human passions. One leading scholar of heart iconography claims that the philosopher’s physiologically inaccurate description of the human heart—as a three-chambered organ with a rounded top and pointy bottom—may have inspired medieval artists to create what we now know as the heart shape. The medieval tradition of courtly love may have reinforced the shape’s association with romance. Hearts can be found on playing cards, tapestries, and paintings.