Meander ( art ) - wikipedia Meander ( art ) For other uses, see Meander ( disambiguation ). Meander pavement in the streets of Rhodes A meander or meandros ( Greek : Μαίανδρος ) is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif. Such a design is also called the Greek fret or Greek key design, although these are modern designations. On the one hand, the name `` meander '' recalls the twisting and turning path of the Maeander River in Asia Minor, and on the other hand, as Karl Kerenyi pointed out, `` the meander is the figure of a labyrinth in linear form ''. Among some Italians, these patterns are known as Greek Lines. Usually the term is used for motifs with straight lines and right angles ; the many versions with rounded shapes are called running scrolls. Meanders are common decorative elements in Greek and Roman art. In ancient Greece they appear in many architectural friezes, and in bands on the pottery of ancient Greece from the Geometric Period onwards. The design is common to the present - day in classicizing architecture. The meander is a fundamental design motif in regions far from a Hellenic orbit : labyrinthine meanders ( `` thunder '' pattern ) appear in bands and as infill on Shang bronzes, and many traditional buildings in and around China still bear geometric designs almost identical to meanders. They were among the most important symbols in ancient Greece ; and perhaps symbolized infinity and unity ; many ancient Greek temples incorporated the sign of the meander. Greek vases, especially during their Geometric Period, were probably the main reason for the widespread use of meanders ; alternatively, very ocean - like patterns of waves also appeared in the same format as meanders, which can also be thought of as the guilloche pattern. The shield of Philip II of Macedon, conserved in the museum of Vergina, is decorated with multiple symbols of the meander. Meanders are also prevalent on the pavement mosaics found in Roman villas throughout the Roman empire. A good example is at the Chedworth Roman Villa in England, leading many historians to believe that the pattern was part of the original inspiration for the Latin `` G '' character. Meanders and their generalizations are used with increasing frequency in various domains of contemporary art. The painter Yang Liu, for example, has incorporated smooth versions of the traditional Greek Key ( also called Sona drawing, Sand drawing, and Kolam ) in many of her paintings. In Modern Greece, a black, white, and red meander is the symbol of the far - right political party Golden Dawn. Gallery A typical Attic red - figure cup with meander pattern at borders. Roman mosaic, Pompeii The meander mosaic of the tepidarium A classical labyrinth Roman mosaic, Archaeological Museum of Milan Roman mosaic from Chedworth Roman Villa, England Lincoln pink set, 1865 The Golden Dawn flag See also Swastika Vitruvian scroll Notes Jump up ^ The Greek term maíandros and its Latinized variant meandros are not very common outside of archaeological contexts. Jump up ^ Kerenyi, Dionysos : archetypal image of indestructible life ( Princeton University Press ) 1976 : 89. Jump up ^ See J.E.L., description of a Late Chou hou at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in `` A Chinese Bronze '', Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 27 ( August 1929 : 48 ). Jump up ^ Yang Liu, `` Visual art as research : Explorations with sona drawings, '' Leonardo, April 2010, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 129 - 131. Jump up ^ Yang Liu, `` Cross-culturalism in painting : visualization via meanders, '' Journal of Visual Arts Practice, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, pp. 205 - 214. Jump up ^ Yang Liu, `` From sona drawings to contemporary art, '' HYPERSEEING, Summer 2009, pp. 37 - 41. Published by ISAMA, The International Society for the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture. Jump up ^ Griswold, Eliza ( 19 October 2012 ), `` The Terrifying Rise of Greece 's Nazi Party '', The New Republic, archived from the original on 4 May 2017, retrieved 3 May 2017 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Meander. Illustrated Architecture Dictionary : Fret ( a short description, with a list of links to photographs of meander designs in art and architecture ) Ornaments Acanthus Arabesque Ball flower Bead and reel Dog - tooth Egg - and - dart Girih Grotesque Guilloché Gul Hood Interlace Margent Meander Millefleur Molding Moresque Palmette Rosette Scroll Strapwork Zellige Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meander_(art)&oldid=797209818 '' Categories : Greek culture Ornaments Visual motifs Hidden categories : Articles containing Greek - language text Talk About Wikipedia Беларуская Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto فارسی Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Ido Íslenska Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Русский Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 25 August 2017, at 16 : 22. 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Question: what is the meander found on greek geometric pottery
Answer: is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif