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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://eb.adbureau.net/adclick/site=DARWIN/source=/aamsz=EB_SPONSOR2/pos=SPONSOR/pageid=1"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806im_/http://eb.adbureau.net/nserver/site=DARWIN/source=/aamsz=EB_SPONSOR2/pos=SPONSOR/pageid=1"/> </a> </noscript> <div class="bps-content-panel-body KonaBody"> <h1> <span class="bps-heading-content"><span class="bps-topic-title"><span class="bps-h-topic-title">number symbolism</span><em class="bps-topic-ident"></em></span></span> </h1> <div id="toc1086220main" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/1086220main" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder bps-content-panel-section-loaded"> <h2>Main</h2> <div class="bps-content-panel-section-body"> <p>cultural associations, including religious, philosophic, and aesthetic, with various numbers.</p> <div class="bps-advertisement bps-advertisement-upsell" adtype="upsell" area="ARTICLES" pos="text_full" source=""></div> <div class="bps-advertisement bps-advertisement-google-banner-wrapper" adtype="googleBanner" keyword="number%20symbolism%20" channel="darwin_article"></div> <p>Humanity has had a love-hate relationship with numbers from the earliest times. Bones dating from perhaps 30,000 years ago show scratch marks that possibly represent the phases of the Moon. The ancient Babylonians observed the movements of the planets, recorded them as numbers, and used them to predict eclipses and other astronomical phenomena. The priesthood of ancient Egypt used numbers to predict the flooding of the Nile. <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/485235/Pythagoreanism" title="Pythagoreanism"><span>Pythagoreanism</span></a>, a cult of ancient Greece, believed that numbers were the basis of the entire universe, which ran on numerical harmony. The Pythagoreans’ ideas were a mixture of prescience (the numerical features of musical sounds) and mysticism (3 is male, 4 is female, and 10 is the most <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/451491/perfect-number" title="perfect number"><span>perfect number</span></a>). Numbers were associated with names for magical purposes: the biblical “number of the beast,” 666, is probably an example of this practice. More recently, cranks have sought the secrets of the universe in the dimensions of the <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/234470/Pyramids-of-Giza" title="Great Pyramid of Giza"><span>Great Pyramid of Giza</span></a>, an aberration so common that it even has a name—pyramidology. Millions of otherwise rational people are terrified of the number 13, to the extent that hotels omit it from their floors, airplanes do not have a row 13, and the numbers for Formula 1 racing cars skip from 12 to 14 so that, for example, 22 cars would be numbered from 1 to 23. Learned tomes are written about the significance of such stalwarts as the <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/237730/golden-number" title="golden number"><span>golden number</span></a> (1.618034), which does occur in flowering plants and modern architecture but does not occur in the shell of the <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/406753/nautilus" title="nautilus"><span>nautilus</span></a> and ancient Greek architecture, despite endless myths to the contrary. Many religions have their sacred numbers, as do organizations such as <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/218618/Freemasonry" title="Freemasonry"><span>Freemasonry</span></a>; <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/395455/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart" title="Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart"><span>Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</span></a>’s music, notably the <em>Magic Flute</em> (1791), includes many intentional references to Masonic numerology.</p> <p>Mathematics is the study of numbers, shapes, and related structures. Number mysticism belongs elsewhere and is generally categorized as <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/422413/numerology" title="numerology"><span>numerology</span></a>. Numerology sheds light on the innermost workings of the human mind but very little on the rest of the universe. Mathematics, meanwhile, sheds light on much of the universe but, as yet, very little on human psychology. Between the two lies fruitful scientific ground, yet to be cultivated extensively.</p> </div> </div> <div id="toc248154" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder bps-content-panel-section-loaded" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248154"> <h3>Numerals and <a name="ref849704" id="ref849704" class="bps-ref-anchor"><span style="display: none;"></span></a>numerology</h3> <p>Numerical coincidences abound, and they are often so remarkable that it is difficult to explain them rationally. Not surprisingly, many people become convinced that these coincidences have irrational explanations. What, for example, should be made of the following similarities (not all of them numerological) between U.S. Presidents <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/341682/Abraham-Lincoln" title="Abraham Lincoln"><span>Abraham Lincoln</span></a> and <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314791/John-F-Kennedy" title="John F. Kennedy"><span>John F. Kennedy</span></a>, taken from a far more extensive list in Martin Gardner’s <em><a name="ref849702" id="ref849702" class="bps-ref-anchor"><span style="display: none;"></span></a>The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix</em> (1985)?<p> <ul> <li>Lincoln was elected president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.</li> <li>Both were assassinated on a Friday.</li> <li>Lincoln was killed in Ford’s Theatre; Kennedy was killed riding in a Lincoln convertible made by the Ford Motor Company.</li> <li>Both were succeeded by Southern Democrats named Johnson.</li> <li> <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/305256/Andrew-Johnson" title="Andrew Johnson"><span>Andrew Johnson</span></a> was born in 1808, <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/305362/Lyndon-B-Johnson" title="Lyndon Johnson"><span>Lyndon Johnson</span></a> in 1908.</li> <li>The first name of Lincoln’s private secretary was John, the last name of Kennedy’s private secretary was Lincoln.</li> <li> <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/73713/John-Wilkes-Booth" title="John Wilkes Booth"><span>John Wilkes Booth</span></a> was born in 1839, <a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/434542/Lee-Harvey-Oswald" title="Lee Harvey Oswald"><span>Lee Harvey Oswald</span></a> in 1939.</li> <li>Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre and fled to a warehouse; Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theatre.</li> <li> <em>John Wilkes Booth</em> and <em>Lee Harvey Oswald</em> both have 15 letters.</li> <li>The first public suggestion that Lincoln should run for president proposed that his running mate should be John Kennedy. (<a class="bps-event-selector bps-topic-link" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314855/John-P-Kennedy" title="John Pendleton Kennedy"><span>John Pendleton Kennedy</span></a> was a Maryland politician.)</li> <li>Shift each letter of <em>FBI</em> forward by six letters in the alphabet and you get <em>LHO</em>, the initials of Lee Harvey Oswald.</li> </ul> </p> </p> <p>One explanation for coincidences of this kind is selective reporting. Anything that fits is kept; anything that does not is discarded. Thus, the coincidence of day of the week for the assassinations is emphasized; the differences in month and number of day in the month are ignored. (Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, Kennedy on November 22.) More subtly, only one choice is made from many possibilities, the one that maintains the numerological pattern. Sometimes the date of birth is used, sometimes the date of election. If those do not work, how about the dates of college graduation, marriage, firstborn child, first election to office, or death? Moreover, some “facts” turn out to be false. The correct birth date for Booth is now thought to be 1838, not 1839, and Booth actually fled to a barn. It is common for coincidences to be exaggerated in this manner. And once one starts looking…Lincoln had a beard. Did Kennedy? No, he was clean-shaven. Do not mention beards, then.</p> <p>Many of the coincidences listed here are exaggerations, lies, elaborations chosen from an infinite range of potential targets, or the result of a hidden selective process. Still, a few of the coincidences are quite startling. Although rational explanations exist, a true believer cannot be convinced. It is in this fertile territory that number mysticism thrives.</p> </div> <div id="toc248155" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248155"></div> <div id="toc248156" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248156"></div> <div id="toc248157" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248157"></div> <div id="toc248158" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248158" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder"></div> <div id="toc248159" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248159" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-placeholder"></div> <div id="toc248160" 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id="toc1086220Citations" href="/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/1086220Citations" class="bps-content-panel-segment bps-content-panel-section bps-content-panel-section-loaded"> <h2>Citations</h2> <div class="bps-content-panel-section-body"> <div class="bps-topic-citation"> <p class="bps-topic-citation-mla"> <a class="bps-topic-citation-style" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/bps/citations"> MLA Style:</a> <div class="bps-topic-citation-text"> "<strong>number symbolism</strong>." <u>Encyclopædia Britannica</u>. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 11 Jun. 2008 <<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism">http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism</a>>. </div> </p> <p class="bps-topic-citation-apa"> <a class="bps-topic-citation-style" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/bps/citations"> APA Style:</a> <div class="bps-topic-citation-text"> <strong>number symbolism</strong>. (2008). In <em>Encyclopædia Britannica</em>. Retrieved June 11, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism">http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism</a> </div> </p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="bps-advertisement bps-advertisement-banner" adtype="banner" area="ARTICLES" source=""></div> </div><div class="bps-shares x-hidden"> <a class="bps-content-selflink" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism" title="number symbolism -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia">number symbolism</a> <p> Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.<br> <br> If you think a reference to this article on "number symbolism" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.<br> <br> You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below. </p> <ul class="bps-share-links"> <li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism&title=number%20symbolism" title="Add del.icio.us bookmark." target="_blank"><img src="/web/20080611115806im_/http://www.britannica.com/resource/uuu/20080606-0651/images/darwin/share-dialog/delicious.gif" border="0" title="Add del.icio.us bookmark." alt="Del.icio.us"></a> </li> <li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism" title="Digg it." target="_blank"><img src="/web/20080611115806im_/http://www.britannica.com/resource/uuu/20080606-0651/images/darwin/share-dialog/digg.gif" border="0" title="Digg it." alt="Digg"></a> </li> <li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://www.furl.net/storeIt.jsp?u=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism&t=number%20symbolism" title="Furl it." target="_blank"><img src="/web/20080611115806im_/http://www.britannica.com/resource/uuu/20080606-0651/images/darwin/share-dialog/furl.png" border="0" title="Furl it." alt="FURL"></a> </li> <li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=add&bkmk=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism&title=number%20symbolism" title="Add Google bookmark." target="_blank"><img src="/web/20080611115806im_/http://www.britannica.com/resource/uuu/20080606-0651/images/darwin/share-dialog/google.gif" border="0" title="Add Google bookmark." alt="Google"></a> </li> <li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism&title=number%20symbolism" title="Submit to Reddit." target="_blank"><img src="/web/20080611115806im_/http://www.britannica.com/resource/uuu/20080606-0651/images/darwin/share-dialog/reddit.gif" border="0" title="Submit to Reddit." alt="Reddit"></a> </li> <li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/myresults/bookmarklet?u=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism&t=number%20symbolism" title="Add Yahoo bookmark." target="_blank"><img src="/web/20080611115806im_/http://www.britannica.com/resource/uuu/20080606-0651/images/darwin/share-dialog/yahoo.gif" border="0" title="Add Yahoo bookmark." alt="Yahoo!"></a> </li> </ul> </div><div class="bps-advertisement-annoy-firstfree article"></div> <div class="bps-comment x-hidden"> <p>We welcome your comments. 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The functionality of the system will be restored soon.</p> </div> <div class="bps-topic-mw-link"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080611115806/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/number symbolism">Click here for a definition of this topic</a> </div> </div> <div class="bps-toc-panel x-hidden"> <h3>Table of Contents</h3> <ul class="bps-toc-panel-body x-hidden"> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Main" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism#toc1086220main"><span>Main</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Numerals and numerology" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248154/Numerals-and-numerology#toc248154"><span>Numerals and numerology</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Arithmomancy" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248155/Arithmomancy#toc248155"><span>Arithmomancy</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Pythagoreanism" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248156/Pythagoreanism#toc248156"><span>Pythagoreanism</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Cultural associations of some numbers" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248157/Cultural-associations-of-some-numbers#toc248157"><span>Cultural associations of some numbers</span></a> <ul class="bps-toc-list"> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="1" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248158/1#toc248158"><span>1</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="2" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248159/2#toc248159"><span>2</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="3" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248160/3#toc248160"><span>3</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="4" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248161/4#toc248161"><span>4</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="5" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248162/5#toc248162"><span>5</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="6" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248163/6#toc248163"><span>6</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="7" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248164/7#toc248164"><span>7</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="8" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248165/8#toc248165"><span>8</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="9" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248166/9#toc248166"><span>9</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="10" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248167/10#toc248167"><span>10</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="11" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248168/11#toc248168"><span>11</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="12" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248169/12#toc248169"><span>12</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="13" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248170/13#toc248170"><span>13</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="14" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248171/14#toc248171"><span>14</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="15" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248172/15#toc248172"><span>15</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="16" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248173/16#toc248173"><span>16</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="17" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248174/17#toc248174"><span>17</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="18" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248175/18#toc248175"><span>18</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="19" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248176/19#toc248176"><span>19</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="20" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248177/20#toc248177"><span>20</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="100" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248178/100#toc248178"><span>100</span></a> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Number and reality" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248179/Number-and-reality#toc248179"><span>Number and reality</span></a> <ul class="bps-toc-list"> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Nature誷 numbers" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248179/Number-and-reality#toc248180"><span>Nature’s numbers</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Number誷 nature" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248181/Numbers-nature#toc248181"><span>Number’s nature</span></a> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Additional Reading" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1086220/number-symbolism/248153/Additional-Reading#toc248153"><span>Additional Reading</span></a> </li> <li class="bps-toc-item"> <a title="Citations" href="#toc1086220Citations"><span>Citations</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="bps-media-panel x-hidden"> <h3> Media </h3> <div class="bps-media-panel-body x-hidden"> <ul class="bps-media-panel-images hoverbox x-hidden" title="Images"> <li> <a asmid="57046Ad" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1086220/57046/Polygonal-numbers-The-ancient-Greeks-generally-thought-of-numbers-in" rel="http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/48/66648-003-21BA6C64.gif"><span class="bps-asset-text" style="width: 100px; height: 102px">Polygonal numbers[Credits : Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]</span></a> </li> <li> <a asmid="54229Ad" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1086220/54229/The-yin-and-yang-symbol-suggests-the-two-opposite-principles" rel="http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/24/62624-003-D1AD139E.gif"><span class="bps-asset-text" style="width: 100px; height: 100px">The yin and yang symbol suggests the two opposite principles or forces that make up all the aspects …</span></a> </li> <li> <a asmid="5736Ad" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1086220/5736/The-three-Graces-relief-sculpture-from-Thasos-Greece-5th-century" rel="http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/24/24724-003-50E0529C.gif"><span class="bps-asset-text" style="width: 100px; height: 99px">The three Graces, relief sculpture from Thasos, Greece, 5th century bc; in the Louvre, Paris[Credits : Courtesy of the Musee du Louvre, Paris; photograph, Cliche Musees Nationaux, Paris]</span></a> </li> <li> <a asmid="16272Ad" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1086220/16272/The-eight-Kua-trigrams-from-the-I-Ching-surrounding-the" rel="http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/79/18879-003-85E05EC9.gif"><span class="bps-asset-text" style="width: 100px; height: 97px">The eight Kua, trigrams from the I Ching, surrounding the elemental forces yin and yang.[Credits : The Granger Collection, New York]</span></a> </li> <li> <a asmid="7088Ad" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1086220/7088/Ravana-the-10-headed-demon-king-detail-from-a-Guler" 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Bickford]</span></a> </li> <li> <a asmid="35864Ad" href="/web/20080611115806/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1086220/35864/Pewter-Passover-plate-German-17th-century" rel="http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/93/43293-003-3A86831D.gif"><span class="bps-asset-text" style="width: 100px; height: 96px">Pewter Passover plate, German, 17th century. Adam and Eve are represented in the centre, surrounded …[Credits : Picture from the photographic archive of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York. Frank J. 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