History
The girih style of ornamentation is thought to have been inspired by the Syrian Roman knotwork patterns dating back to the 2nd century AD. The predecessors of the girih form were curvilinear interlaced strapwork with three-fold rotational symmetry. The Umayyad Mosque (709–715), in Damascus, Syria has window screens made of interlacing undulating stapwork in the form of six-pointed stars. The window grills in Khirbat al-Mafjar in Jericho (c.730 AD) has interlaced tracery as well, but with curved lines. Carved stucco showing simple knotted strapwork at the Masjet-e Jami in Nain, Iran (ca. 960) also is in the form of curved knotwork. Some of the earliest architectural examples of geometric patterns made of straight strap lines can be seen in the Arab Ata Mausoleum portal (10th c.), village of Tim, near Samarkand, Uzbekistan. and in Ribat-i Mahi, Iran (1019–1020).
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