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A star (or stars) and crescent featuring in some combination form the basis of symbols widely found across the ancient world, with examples attested from the Eastern Mediterranean, Persia and Central Asia.〔In the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, see for example the 'Ur-Nammu stela' of ca. 2100-2200 BCE: "Over the king's head, at the top of the stela, is a very large star or radiant sun-disc, floating free within a crescent." Jeanny Vorys Canby, ''The "Ur-Nammu" Stela'', University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology, 2006, p18; In Central Asia and India see, for example, a coin issue of Chashtana (probably dating to the late first or early second century AD): "A rare type with crescent and star alone on the reverse is probably Chashtana's earliest issue, struck before he extended his power into Malwa." H.H. Dodwell (Ed.), ''The Cambridge Shorter History of India'', Cambridge University Press, 1935, p83; early Mesopotamian and, much later, Sassanian examples of the 'star and crescent' motif are of course well known.〕 The symbol emerged into popular use during the 19th century as a modernistic national symbol for the Ottoman Empire during the Westernizing Tanzimat reforms. The Ottoman flag of 1844 with a white "''ay-yıldız''" (Turkish for "star-crescent") on a red background continues to be in use as the flag of the Republic of Turkey with minor modifications. Other states formerly part of the Ottoman Empire also used the symbol, including Libya (1951–1969 and after 2011), Tunisia (1956) and Algeria (1958). The same symbol was used in other national flags introduced during the 20th century, including the flags of Azerbaijan (1918), Pakistan (1947), Malaysia (1948), and Mauritania (1959). During the 1950s to 1960s, the symbol was re-interpreted as the symbol of Islam or the Muslim community.〔 The symbolism of the star and crescent in the flag of the Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969) was explained in an English language booklet, ''The Libyan Flag & The National Anthem'', issued by the Ministry of Information and Guidance of the Kingdom of Libya (year unknown, cited after Jos Poels at (FOTW ), 1997) as follows: "The crescent is symbolic of the beginning of the lunar month according to the Muslim calendar. It brings back to our minds the story of Hijra (migration) of our Prophet Mohammed from his home in order to spread Islam and teach the principles of right and virtue. The Star represents our smiling hope, the beauty of aim and object and the light of our belief in God, in our country, its dignity and honour which illuminate our way and puts an end to darkness."〕 By the 1970s, this symbolism was embraced by movements of Arab nationalism or Islamism, such as the proposed Arab Islamic Republic (1974) and the American Nation of Islam (1973).〔Edward E. Curtis, ''Black Muslim religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975'' (2006), (p. 157 ).〕 In Unicode, a "star and crescent" symbol is encoded at U+262A: (unicode:☪) ==Use in antiquity== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「star and crescent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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