Tying the knot

An article on the "Mother Nature Network"  recently discussed reef knots on the Mars rover , briefly mentioning their origins in Egypt and Greece. I needed an excuse to look at something pretty (it being rather grey and grim in my remote Midwestern locale), so ...

Googling the Greek name for it, "Herakles knot," brings up dozens of ancient necklaces and tiaras. It seems that the knot symbolized fertility and the marriage 'knot,' a meaning which probably grew  from its use in medicine and especially to tie women's belts.

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Another symbolic knot, the proverbial "Gordian knot," was perhaps a "knot-cypher" that symbolized the "ineffable name of Dionysus." (Graves, The Greek Myths, 284) 

A bit of a tangent, but Celtic knotwork may have originated in the late Roman empire, where interlace floor mosaics are popular:

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After all, what do we do as classicists but study beautiful and enduring things made from simple materials?

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