The hexagram is based on the gestalt Triangle Symbol The earliest examples of hexagrams found are dated back to around 800-600 B.C. During antiquity it was a symbol for the Jewish kingdom. The hexagram is sometimes known as the shield of David or the Magen David. According to the late Danish semiotician S.T. Achen, the Muslims refer to it as Solomon's seal, whereas E. Zehren points out that the sign on Solomon's seal was the pentagram. The hexagram is frequently used in the magic formulas in the old book of witchcraft, The Key of Solomon.
The alchemists of the Middle Ages used the hexagram first and foremost as a general symbol representing the art of alchemy and secondly as a sign for combinations of the symbol for water (downward triangle) and the symbol for fire (upward triangle) Combined, these two triangles formed the symbol for fire water, the essence or spiritus of wine: alcohol. It was also used as a sign for quintessence, the fifth element.
It is interesting to note that the hexagram also appeared in pre-Columbian America. In Uxmal, Central America, a plaited hexagram is found on a cliff engraving from around 1000 A.D. It has a "trailing" or "hanging" element under it, similar to structures used in the Phoenician cultural sphere around the Mediterranean during antiquity.
Adapted from www.symbols.com to read more go to http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/27/2722.html
