Here is a collection of 16 ancient antique patterns known under the names of Greek fret patterns, Greek key patterns and meander patterns.

There is another collection of such geometric frieze patterns on our website and you can check it out on the following page: Ancient Greek meanders. Greek key patterns have been among the oldest and most popular patterns in human history. The beginning of their own history goes back to the Paleolithic Age, they obtained their modern looks in ancient Greece and used to be popular in various art styles. Even today, key patterns can be often seen to decorate various objects. Greek key patterns are most commonly used as frieze patterns; however, if we additionally draw a border corner, exceptionally beautiful frame border patterns (Architectural meander borders) can be obtained from key patterns.

 

Ancient Greek key patterns
Pattern category
Ancient Greek and Roman ornaments
Ornamental border designs
Repeating patterns
Free vector categories
Frieze patterns
Architectural patterns
Frames
Geometric
Available file formats

2D CAD (Autodesk .dwg) and vector (Encapsulated PostScript .eps and Scalable Vector Graphics .svg)

Pattern license
Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 license

All 16 geometric repeating patterns from this collection are at least a few centuries old since we have discovered them in the pictures of some old books that dealt with history of art and architecture. In addition to the European peoples, the key pattern was also popular with many other peoples all over the world; the Arabs and the Moors developed their forms of the key pattern in the Middle Ages, and in India the key band pattern with the symbol of the swastika was very popular (note that in India the swastika symbolizes life, light, generosity and abundance). 

We hope you like this collection of Greek key patterns and that you will use them not only for projects related to Ancient Greece, but also for projects related to more modern themes. They are simple, universal and beautiful, so it is almost impossible that a key pattern used on an item can go wrong.

 

Download SVG vector file format
ancient_greek_key_patterns.svg
Download DWG file format
ancient_greek_key_patterns.dwg
Download EPS vector file format
ancient_greek_key_patterns.eps

Submitted by Ceh Jan

 

Vector tags

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