Celtic Knot I

While Celtic knots were being created in pre-Christian times, these knots are most known for their use in the ornamentation of Christian monuments and manuscripts like the 8th century Book of Kells.

Not much history of the knots is available prior to the beginning of the Christian influence on the Celts in about A.D. 450. There is much evidence for the use of geometrical patterns as ornamentation particularly in jewelry before that time. Some historians have theorized that early Celtic religion prevented their depicting creatures realistically, similar, then, to the Islamic prohibition, which gave rise to the development of Arabic calligraphy. Still, Chinese and Japanese calligraphy seemed to arise simply from an aesthetic sense and needed no such prohibition to encourage its development.