Feras

 M.  Shadid  |  PSUT  |  20100012  for  Mrs.Taghreed  qouwar  

Symbols  are  a  language  that  can  help  us  understand  our  past.  As  the  saying  goes  a  symbol  says  a  thousand  
words...but  which  words?  Understanding  our  past  determines  actively...our  ability  to  understand  the  present,  So  
how  do  we  sift  truth  from  belief?  ,  How  do  we  write  our  own  histories,  personally  or  culturally...  and  thereby  
define  ourselves?  ,  How  do  we  penetrate  years,  centuries,  of  historical  distortion...to  find  original  truth?  

Symbols  in  the  world  |  Another  Unexplained  Phenomena  

Understanding  Symbols:  
The  language  of  symbols  |  A  symbol  is  something  such  as  an  object,  picture,  
written  word,  sound,  or  particular  mark  that  represents  something  else  by  
association,  resemblance,  or  convention.  An  archetype  in  Modern  Literature  
accounts  for  many  iconic  symbols.  It  comes  from  the  French-­‐Angelic  word  
(Symbolon)  meaning  literally  a  "co-­‐incidence",  also  "sign,  ticket,  or  contract"    

Some  Modern  UNEXPLAINED  symbols:  

-­‐The  Holy  Grail  |  The Holy Grail is an enduring mystery; it is often difficult to define
just what it is. Traditionally, it is thought to be the cup used by Christ at the Last
Supper, but itʼs meaning has gone far beyond this physical artifact.
Rather, it is often seen as symbolic of enlightenment in the mind. It is the quest for
the mystical experience, and a connection with God. By connecting, you reach a
state of purity. Many myths have gathered around the grail.

-­‐Ancient  language  mystery  |  some  experts  believe  the  symbols  represent  

words  rather  than  being  simply  drawings  and  that  they  have  linguistic  meaning  
however  others  have  cast  doubt  on  this  analysis.  

Mysteries  Of  Leonardo  da  Vinci    

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinici (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian
polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer,
inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. Leonardo has often
been described as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man whose
unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention.

Ciphers  and  Encryption  

Leonardo  was  certainly  no  stranger  to  the  use  codes  and  encryption.  His  notes  are  all  written  
backwards  with  "mirror"  writing.  It  is  unclear  exactly  why  Leonardo  did  this.  It  has  been  
suggested  that  he  may  have  felt  that  some  of  his  military  inventions  would  be  too  destructive  and  
powerful  if  they  fell  into  the  wrong  hands,  therefore  he  protected  his  notes  by  using  this  reversed  
writing  method.  Other  scholars  point  out  that  this  type  of  encryption  was  is  fairly  simple  to  
break.  One  needs  only  to  hold  the  paper  up  to  a  mirror  to  read  it.  If  Leonardo  was  using  it  for  
security,  he  probably  was  only  concerned  about  hiding  the  contents  from  a  casual  observer.  

Recently  Leonardo  has  been  credited  by  many  people  with  inventing  a  device  dubbed  a  cryptex.  
A  cryptex  is  a  tube  constructed  with  a  series  of  rings  with  letters  of  the  alphabet  engraved  on  
them.  When  the  rings  are  turned  so  that  certain  letters  line  up  to  the  cryptex's  password,  one  of  
the  end  caps  can  be  removed  and  the  contents  (usually  a  piece  of  papyrus  wrapped  around  a  
glass  bottle  containing  vinegar)  can  be  removed.  Should  someone  try  and  get  at  the  message  by  
smashing  the  device,  the  glass  bottle  will  break  and  the  vinegar  will  dissolve  the  papyrus  before  
the  message  on  it  can  be  read.  
The  Mona  Lisa  
The  Mona  Lisa  is  allegedly  one  of  the  most  controversial  drawings  ever  made,  having  symbols  
and  mysteries  yet  to  be  discovered,  Although  the  huge  effort  to  do  so  ,  truly  an  Unexplained  
Phenomena  .  

One  popular  idea  is  that  Leonardo  painted  secret  symbols  or  messages  into  his  artworks.  People  
have  analyzed  his  most  famous  painting,  The  Mona  Lisa,  and  have  found  all  kinds  of  hidden  
meanings  and  techniques  in  it.  It  is  certain  that  Leonardo  used  some  of  his  best  artist's  tricks  to  
create  the  painting.  Many  people  find  the  portrait's  smile  particularly  haunting.  They  say  it  seems  
to  change,  even  though  the  paint  on  the  surface  of  the  painting  obviously  does  not  ,Professor  
Margaret  Livingstone  of  Harvard  University  makes  the  argument  that  Leonardo  painted  the  edges  
of  the  portrait's  smile  so  they  would  appear  slightly  out  of  focus.  Because  of  this  the  edges  of  the  
smile  are  more  easily  seen  by  a  person's  peripheral  vision  rather  than  by  looking  directly  at  
them.  This  may  explain  why  some  people  report  that  the  portrait  seems  to  be  smiling  more  when  
they  are  not  directly  looking  at  her.  

Another  theory  proposed  by  Christopher  Tyler  and  Leonid  Kontsevich  of  the  Smith-­‐Kettlewell  
Eye  Research  Institute  in  San  Francisco  says  that  the  smile  seems  to  change  because  of  variable  
levels  of  random  noise  in  human  visual  system.  If  you  close  your  eyes  in  a  dark  room  you  will  
notice  that  everything  is  not  perfectly  black.  The  cells  in  your  eyes  generate  a  low  level  of  
"background  noise"  (which  you  see  as  tiny  light  and  dark  dots).  Your  brain  usually  filters  these  
out,  but  Tyler  and  Kontsevich  suggest  that  when  viewing  the  Mona  Lisa,  these  little  dots  can  
change  the  shape  of  the  smile.  ,So  what  is  the  Mona  Lisa  smiling  about  in  the  first  place?  Through  
the  years  people  have  speculated  that  perhaps  she  was  pregnant.  Others  have  found  the  smile  to  
be  sad  and  have  suggested  she  was  unhappy  in  her  marriage.  

A  copy  of  the  Mona  Lisa  made  more  happy  and  less  happy  by  the  introduction  of  noise.  

The  Last  Supper  

Some  suggest  that  Leonardo's  The  Last  Supper  has  a  number  of  hidden  meanings  and  symbols.  In  
a  fictional  story  there  is  conspiracy  by  the  early  church  to  suppress  the  importance  of  Mary  
Magdalene,  one  of  Jesus'  followers.  Supposedly  Leonardo  was  the  head  of  a  secret  order  of  men  
who  knew  the  truth  about  Magdalene  and  attempted  to  preserve  it.  One  of  the  ways  Leonardo  did  
this  was  to  leave  clues  in  his  famous  work  in  The  Last  Supper  ,  The  painting  depicts  the  last  
Passover  dinner  Jesus  shared  with  his  disciples  before  his  death.  Leonardo  attempts  to  capture  
the  moment  when  Jesus  announces  he  will  be  betrayed  and  that  one  of  the  men  at  the  table  will  
be  his  betrayer.  The  most  significant  clue  left  by  Leonardo,  according  to  Brown,  is  that  the  
disciple  usually  identified  as  John  in  the  picture  is  actually  Mary  Magdalene.  Indeed,  a  quick  look  
at  the  painting  seems  to  confirm  this.  The  person  to  Jesus'  right  has  long  hair  and  smooth  skin  
with  what  might  be  regarded  as  feminine  features  compared  to  the  older,  rougher-­‐looking  
apostles  around  them.  Theories  also  point  out,  that  Jesus  and  the  figure  to  his  right  together  form  
the  outline  of  the  letter  "M."  Does  it  stand  for  Mary  or  perhaps  Matrimony?  Are  these  clues  left  by  
Leonardo  about  his  secret  knowledge?  ,  No  one  knows.  

Despite  our  first  impression  that  the  figure  in  the  picture  is  feminine,  the  question  is  whether  the  
figure  would  have  looked  feminine  to  a  viewer  of  the  era  in  which  Leonardo  painted  it.  Probably  
it  would  have  not.  John  was  considered  to  be  the  youngest  of  the  disciples  and  as  such  he  was  
often  portrayed  as  being  a  beardless  youth  with  soft  features  and  long  hair.  We  translate  this  
today  as  being  female,  but  back  in  Florence  in  the  fifteen  century,  which  was  a  different  culture  
with  different  expectations  of  what  it  is  to  be  feminine  and  masculine,  that  wouldn't  necessarily  
have  been  the  case.  Leonardo  was  only  one  of  a  number  of  artists  who  pictured  St.  John  in  this  
manner.  In  his  Treatise  on  Painting,  Leonardo  explains  that  characters  in  a  painting  should  be  
depicted  based  on  their  types.  These  types  might  include  a  "wise  man"  or  an  "old  woman"  each  
with  their  own  characteristics:  beard,  wrinkles,  short  or  long  hair.  John  as  pictured  in  The  Last  
Supper  is  a  "student"  type:  A  protégé  who  has  not  yet  matured.  Artists  of  this  day,  including  
Leonardo,  would  have  portrayed  this  "student  type"  as  a  very  young  man  with  soft  features  just  
as  we  see  in  the  painting.