Historical examples of the same overlapping
circles grid include a pattern at the Osireion at Abydos, Egypt (Rawles 1997).
Wolfram (2002, pp. 43 and 873)
illustrates a Phoenician ivory carving from about 900 BC, presumably from the Mediterranean
area and now in the British Museum.
The name "flower of life" is modern. In the terminology used by Melchizedek (1999, pp. 42-43 and 158-160), a seven-circle subconfiguration
is called the seed of life, while a 13-circle
selection from an extension of the pattern is called the fruit
of life. Joining the centers of the latter circles
with line segments produces Metatron's
cube.
