The origins of Masonic ideas can be traced back to ancient times. Approaches these thoughts are good starting with the Gilgamesh epic about the cultures of ancient Egypt over Plato in the Hellenistic world to the Middle Ages at the time of the Templar. In today's Freemasonry, influences from these cultural circles are recognizable. Even in the Arthus legend, freely moorishistic ideas can be found again. The oldest document on Freemasonry is the famous Regius poem, about 1389, a manuscript on parchment, bound in Russian leather. It testifies to a mindset in the "building industry" which, almost 350 years later, makes its mark on the "old duties" of 1723. Freemasons all over the world derive their present-day nature from the rituals of the medieval stone mason brotherhoods. The center of the German Dombauhütten was formed in the Cathedral of Strasbourg. The oldest order of the stone-Masons to Strasbourg was also created, dated to the year 1459. It is clear from the Strasbourg stone carving order of 1563 that the lodges did not only give confessional-related guidelines, but that ethical and social aspects were also incorporated.
