The Byzantines used the hashtag "#" 900 years ago

A team of archaeologists discovered that the hashtag - a sign familiar to all Internet users since 2007 - was popular in the Byzantine era. The hashtag was engraved on a ceramic object discovered in the city of Yalova in western Turkey.

Archaeologists claim that the ceramics found dates back to the late Byzantine era of the 13th century, which began almost three centuries before the fall of the empire. The first settlers settled on this land in prehistoric times, in the region of 3 millennia BC. In the second millennium, the Hittites disposed of this land, then it was captured by the Phrygians. The Greeks built the city of Pythia, which later in 74 BC came under the control of Rome.

Over the past three years, a team of archaeologists have been excavating in Yalova to shed light on the history of the area, where in 1302 the Battle of Bafey between the Byzantine and Ottoman armies took place. The battle was the last unsuccessful attempt on the part of Byzantium to stop the onslaught of the advancing Ottomans, consolidating their rule in the Byzantine Bithynia, where modern Yalova and other cities are located.

Scientists led by historian and archaeologist Selchuk Sechkin discovered during the excavations many remains, ceramics, iron products, but the main mystery was the discovery of ceramic dishes with a clear hashtag sign.

Sechkin says that the other objects they found also contained drawings and engravings, but the piece of ceramic on which the hashtag was painted seemed very unusual to historians. In fact, the discovery in ancient artifacts of what many centuries later will belong to popular culture long before social networks appear raises many questions. What this symbol meant for the Byzantines, unfortunately, has not yet been established.

Last year, researchers discovered a painted hashtag sign on the walls of a South African cave. And they painted it there more than seventy years ago.

The hashtag is found in medieval literature. Mostly medical in nature. Written in Latin, it had the meaning of the cross in theological understanding and was read as cum deo, which in translation means "With God!"