“Gamma” prayer shawl

Archaeologists found that the symbol on the upper left  (resembling the Greek letter gamma) was used in Greco-Roman times to mark a garment belonging to a woman. The “tuning fork” (upper right) was a different symbol used for male apparel.

It was considered very important that men and women not wear each other’s clothes. That prohibition still exists in modern orthodoxy, where women, for example, never wear trousers.

In this tallit, the gamma in each corner also emphasizes the placement and importance of the tzitzit.