View source for Astronomy:Solar symbol

{{short description|Symbol representing the Sun}}
[[File:Ilion---metopa.jpg|thumb|[[Religion:Helios|Helios]] with a radiate halo driving his chariot (Ilion, 4th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC; Pergamon Museum)]] <!-- Please do not replace this image with a national flag. Any such change will be reverted. -->
A '''solar symbol''' is a [[Symbol|symbol]] representing the [[Astronomy:Sun|Sun]]. 
Common solar symbols include circles (with or without rays), crosses, and spirals.
In religious iconography, personifications of the Sun or solar attributes are often indicated by means of a  halo  or a radiate crown.

When the systematic study of [[Social:Comparative mythology|comparative mythology]] first became popular in the 19th century, scholarly opinion tended to over-interpret historical myths and iconography in terms of "solar symbolism". 
This was especially the case with [[Biography:Max Müller|Max Müller]] and his followers beginning in the 1860s in the context of [[Social:Indo-European studies|Indo-European studies]].<ref>{{cite book|author=C. Scott Littleton|title=The New Comparative Mythology: An Anthropological Assessment of the Theories of Georges Dumézil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuSy6xW99agC&pg=PA34|year=1973|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-02404-5|page=34}}. See also  R. F. Littledale, "The Oxford Solar Myth, A Contribution to Comparative Mythology" in: '' Echoes from Kottabos'', London (1906), 279&ndash;290 for a satire on this effect.</ref> Many "solar symbols" claimed  in the 19th century, such as the [[Swastika|swastika]], triskele, [[Sun cross]], etc. have tended to be interpreted more conservatively in scholarship since the later 20th century.<ref>notably ciriticized by Richard Chase, ''The Quest for Myth'' (1951); see also ''Astralkult'' for the more general tendency of over-interpretation of mythology in terms of astral mythology.</ref>

==Solar disk==
[[File:Nebra disc 1.jpg|thumb|The solar disk, [[Crescent|crescent Moon]] and stars as shown on the Nebra sky disk (c. 1600 BC)]]
The basic element of most solar symbols is the circular solar disk.
 
The disk can be modified in various ways, notably by adding rays (found in the Bronze Age in Egyptian depictions of Aten) or  a [[Sun cross|cross]]. In the ancient Near East, the solar disk could also be modified by addition of the Uraeus (rearing cobra), and in ancient Mesopotamia it was shown with [[Winged sun|wings]].

===Bronze Age writing===
[[Social:Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyphs]] have a large inventory of solar symbolism because of the central position of solar deities ([[Religion:Ra|Ra]], [[Religion:Horus|Horus]], Aten etc.) in ancient Egyptian religion.

<div>The main logogram for "Sun" was a representation of the solar disk, <hiero>N5</hiero> (Gardiner N5), with or without a dot or circle in the center, with a variant including the Uraeus, <hiero>N6</hiero> (N6).</div>

The "Sun" logogram in early Chinese writing, beginning with the [[Social:Oracle bone script|oracle bone script]] (c. 12th century BC) also shows the solar disk with a central dot (analogous to the Egyptian hieroglyph); under the influence of the writing brush, this character evolved into a square shape (modern 日).

===Classical era===
[[file:Sun symbol (late classical and medieval mss).png|thumb|The disk with a ray as a symbol for the Sun in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss<ref name=jones-1999>{{cite book
| title = Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus
| last = Jones
| first = Alexander
| date = 1999
| pages = 62–63
| isbn = 0-87169-233-3
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8MokzymQ43IC}}</ref>]]

In the Greek and European world, until approximately the 16th century, the astrological symbol for the Sun was a disk with a single ray, [[File:Old symbol for sun.svg|24px|🜚]] ({{unichar|1F71A}}). This is the form, for example, in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century ''Compendium of Astrology''.<ref name=neugebauer-1987>{{cite book
| title = Greek Horoscopes
| url = https://archive.org/details/greekhoroscopesm00neug_004
| url-access = limited
| last1 = Neugebauer
| first1 = Otto
| last2 = Van Hoesen
| first2 = H. B.
| date = 1987
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/greekhoroscopesm00neug_004/page/n6 1], 159, 163
| isbn = 9780871690487
}}</ref>

=== Astronomical symbol===
The modern astronomical symbol for the Sun, a circled dot ({{unichar|2609|Sun}}), was first used in the Renaissance.

== Rayed depictions ==
[[File:C+B-Egypt-Fig12-AkhnatenWorshippingSun.PNG|thumb|upright|[[Biography:Akhenaten|Akhenaten]] worshipping Aten (14th century BC; 1903 drawing)]]
A circular disk with alternating triangular and wavy rays emanating from it is a frequent symbol or artistic depiction of the sun.

===Antiquity===
The ancient Mesopotamian  "star of [[Religion:Shamash|Shamash]]" could be represented with either eight wavy rays, or with four wavy and four triangular rays.

The [[Vergina Sun]] (also known as the Star of Vergina, Macedonian Star, or Argead Star) is a rayed solar symbol appearing in ancient Greek art from the 6th to 2nd centuries BC. The Vergina Sun appears in art variously with sixteen, twelve, or eight triangular rays.

''Bianchini's [[Astronomy:Planisphere|planisphere]]'', produced in the 2nd century,<ref name=imss>{{cite web
| url = http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html
| title = Bianchini's planisphere
| publisher = Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of Science)
| location = Florence, Italy
| access-date = 2010-03-17
}}</ref>
has a circlet with rays radiating from it.<ref name=maunder>{{cite journal
| last = Maunder
| first = A. S. D.
| date = 1934
| title = The origin of the symbols of the planets
| journal = The Observatory
| volume = 57
| pages = 238–247
| bibcode = 1934Obs....57..238M
}}</ref>

===Sun with face===
{{multiple image
 | width1 = 210
 | image1 = Amiens Lescalopier 30 10v detail2.jpg
 | caption1 = Sun (ten rays) and Moon with faces in a manuscript miniature illustrating the fourth day of creation (12 C.)<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Journal of Swiss Archaeology and Art History |doi = 10.5169/seals-168847 |year = 1987 |last1 = Michon |first1 = Solange|title = Un moine enlumineur du XIIe siècle : Frère Rufillus de Weissenau |trans-title=Brother Rufillus de Weisenau: a monastic illuminator of the twelfth century |lang=fr}}</ref>
 | width2 = 195
 | image2 = Sun (Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Larbey).jpg
 | caption2 = Sun with a face and eight (alternating triangular and wavy) rays (fresco in Larbey, France, dated c. 1610)
 | footer = Rayed depictions of the Sun with a human face are a Western iconographic tradition which became current in the Early Modern period.
}}

The iconographic tradition of depicting the Sun with rays and with a [[Medicine:Face|human face]] developed in Western tradition in the high medieval period and became widespread in the [[Philosophy:Renaissance|Renaissance]], harking back to the Sun god ([[Religion:Helios|Sol/Helios]]) wearing a radiate crown in classical antiquity.

===Sunburst===
{{main|Astronomy:Sunburst}}
The [[Astronomy:Sunburst|sunburst]] was the badge of king Edward III of England, and has thus become the badge of office of Windsor Herald.

{{clr}}
===Modern pictogram===
[[File:Weather-clear.svg|thumb|upright 0.5|Typical "clear weather" pictogram (triangular rays)]]
The modern pictogram representing the Sun as a circle with rays, often eight in number (indicated by either straight lines or triangles; Unicode [[Miscellaneous Symbols]] {{resize|150%|☀}} U+2600; {{resize|150%|☼}} U+263C) indicates "clear weather" in weather forecasts, originally in [[Engineering:Television|television]] forecasts in the 1970s.<ref>Daniel Engber, [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/who-made-that-weather-icon.html Who Made That Weather Icon?], ''New York Times'', 23 May 2013.</ref>
The Unicode 6.0 [[Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs]] block introduced another set of weather pictograms, including "white sun" without rays 1F323 {{resize|150%|🌣}}, as well as "sun with face" U+1F31E {{resize|150%|🌞︎︎}}.

The "sun with rays" pictogram is also used to represent the "high brightness" setting in [[Engineering:Electronic visual display|display devices]], encoded separately by Unicode 6.0 U+1F506 {{resize|150%|🔆}}  ([[Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs]]).

{{clr}}

== Crosses == 
{{Further information|Sun cross|Earth:Earth symbol|Swastika|Triskelion}}
The "[[Sun cross|sun cross]]", "solar cross", or "wheel cross" (🜨) is often considered to represent the four seasons and the tropical year, and therefore the Sun (though as an astronomical symbol it represented the Earth).{{efn|Since at least 1988, the International Astronomical Union has deprecated use of planetary symbols in journal articles.{{cite book
 | title = The IAU Style Manual
 | date = 1989
 | page = 27
 | publisher=The International Astrophysical Union
 | url = https://www.iau.org/static/publications/stylemanual1989.pdf
 | access-date = August 20, 2018  | url-status=live
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621194133/https://www.iau.org/static/publications/stylemanual1989.pdf 
 | archive-date=June 21, 2018 
}}
}}
In the [[Religion:Prehistoric religion|prehistoric religion]] of [[History:Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age Europe]], crosses in circles appear frequently on artifacts identified as cult items. An example from the Nordic Bronze Age is the  "miniature standard" with [[Earth:Amber|amber]] inlay revealing a cross shape when held against the light ([[Organization:National Museum of Denmark|National Museum of Denmark]]).<ref>[http://www.landesmuseum-fuer-vorgeschichte-halle.de/himmel/en_standarte.htm entry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928055241/http://www.landesmuseum-fuer-vorgeschichte-halle.de/himmel/en_standarte.htm |date=2007-09-28 }} at the [[Astronomy:Nebra sky disk|Nebra sky disk]] exhibition site (landesmuseum-fuer-vorgeschichte-halle.de)</ref> The Bronze Age symbol has also been connected with the [[Engineering:Spoke|spoke]]d [[Social:Chariot|chariot]] wheel, which at the time was four-spoked (compare the [[Social:Linear B|Linear B]] ideogram 243 "wheel" {{lang|gmy|𐃏}}).  In the context of a culture that celebrated the Sun chariot, the wheel may thus have had a solar connotation (c.f. the [[Astronomy:Trundholm sun chariot|Trundholm sun chariot]]).

The ''Arevakhach'' ("solar cross") symbol often found in Armenian [[Religion:Khachkar|memorial stelae]] is claimed as an ancient Armenian solar symbol of eternity and light.<ref>Айк Демоян «Армянские национальные символы» = «Հայկական ազգային խորհրդանշաններ». — Ереван: «Пюник», 2013. 
*{{cite web|title=Մամլո հաղորդագրություն - "Շուշիի ազատագրման 20-ամյակ" (ոսկի) [News release - A golden coin dedicated o the 20th anniversary of the Liberation of Shushi]|url=https://www.cba.am/AM/pmessagesannouncements/6%20new%20com.%20coins%2024.01.2012.pdf|publisher=Central Bank of Armenia|access-date=4 October 2013|date=24 January 2012|archive-date=3 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003031820/https://www.cba.am/AM/pmessagesannouncements/6%20new%20com.%20coins%2024.01.2012.pdf|url-status=dead}} see the [[:File:Shoushi20coin.GIF|image of the coin]]
*{{cite web|title=Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Կառավարության 2002 Թվականի Հունվարի 7-ի N 6 Որոշման Մեջ Փոփոխություններ Կատարելու Մասին|url=http://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?DocID=82810|publisher=Armenian Legal Information System|access-date=4 October 2013|date=18 April 2012}}, see the [[:File:Armenian custom servise symbol.gif|logo of the Customs Service of Armenia]]
*The Council of the city Yerevan, [http://www.yerevan.am/edfiles/files/avagani%2012.04.2010/xorhrdanish%207.pdf the seal of Yerevan], 2010, see the [[:File:Yerevan seal.png|logo of Yerevan]]
*Ministry of Justice of RA, [http://www.justice.am/storage/files/legal_acts/legal_acts_61745932_q_46.pdf about the medals and decorations], 2007
*The government of Armenia, [http://cscouncil.am/doc/Tert/21.03.12.pdf symbol of the cooperation «Armenia-Diaspora»] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927011930/http://cscouncil.am/doc/Tert/21.03.12.pdf |date=2013-09-27 }}, 2012
*Ministry of Emergency Situations, [http://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?DocID=72184 about the medals and decorations], 2011, see the [[:File:ArmRescuer.jpg|symbol of the cooperation «Armenia-Diaspora»]]
*Central Bank of Armenia, [http://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?DocID=34309 coin «15-years of liberation of Shushi»], 2007, see the [[:File:AM 10000 dram Au 2007 Shushi a.png|image of the coin]]</ref>

Some Sámi shaman drums have the Beaivi [[Place:Sámi people|Sámi]] sun symbol that resembles a [[Sun cross|sun cross]].

The [[Swastika|swastika]] has been a long-standing symbol of good fortune in Eurasian cultures: its appropriation by the Nazi Party from 1920 to 1945 is a brief moment in its history. It may be derived from the sun cross,<ref>{{cite book |title=The book of signs : which contains all manner of symbols used from the earliest times by primitive peoples and early Christians | first=Rudolf |last=Koch |page=18 |date= 1955 |orig-date=1930  |publisher=Dover |isbn=9780486153902 |oclc=1124412910 |translator=Vyvyan Holland}}</ref> and is another solar symbol in some contexts.<ref>{{cite book |title=Heraldry: Sources, Symbols, and Meaning |first1=Ottfried |last1=Neubecker |first2=J P |last2=Brooke-Little |page=142 |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |date=1976 |isbn=9780070463080 |oclc=1089555543}}</ref>
It is used among [[Religion:Buddhism|Buddhists]] (''manji''), [[Philosophy:Jainism|Jains]], and [[Religion:Hinduism|Hindus]]; and many other cultures, though not necessarily as a solar symbol.

The "[[Unsolved:Black Sun (symbol)|Black Sun]]"  (German: {{lang|de|Schwarze Sonne}}) is a 'sun wheel' with twelve-fold [[Rotational symmetry|rotational symmetry]]. The design was incorporated as a mosaic into a floor of Wewelsburg Castle during the Nazi era and may have been inspired by Alemannic [[History:Swastika (Germanic Iron Age)|Iron Age swastika-like designs]] in Migration-period ''Zierscheiben''.<ref name="Goodrick-Clarke">{{cite book |last=Goodrick-Clarke |first=Nicholas |title=Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity |date=2002 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=0-81-473124-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books/about/Black_Sun.html?id=xaiaM77s6N4C&pg=PA3 3] }}</ref> It has been adopted by modern [[Religion:Satanism|Satanist]] groups and neo-Nazis.

The "Kolovrat", or in Polish ''Słoneczko'', represents the Sun in Slavic neopaganism.

{{Gallery
| title        = Sun crosses
| align        = center
| footer       =
| style        =
| state        =
| height       = 100
| width        = 120
| captionstyle =
|File:Sun cross.svg | [[Sun cross]]
|File:Broken_crossed_circle_2.svg | [[Triskelion]]
|File:Broken crossed circle.svg | Sun cross form of [[Swastika|swastika]], official symbol of the [[Unsolved:German Faith Movement|German Faith Movement]] (1934{{ndash}}1945)
|File:Słoneczko_2.svg | Slavic Kolovrat/Słoneczko
|File:Black Sun.svg | [[Unsolved:Black Sun (symbol)|Black Sun]], a Nazi design<ref name="Goodrick-Clarke" /> <!-- not Pagan, see brief note above or full details at main article -->
}}

==Modern flags and emblems==
Official insignia which incorporate rayed solar symbols include the flag of Uruguay, the flag of Kiribati, some versions of the flag of Argentina, the Irish Defence Forces cap badge, and the [[:File:Iraq state emblem CoA 1959-1965 Qassem.svg|1959–1965 coat of arms of Iraq]].

The depictions of the sun on the flags of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and Nepal have only straight (triangular) rays; that of Kyrgyzstan has only curvy rays; while that of the Philippines has short diverging rays grouped into threes.

Another rayed form of the sun has simple radial lines dividing the background into two colors, as in the military flags of Japan and the flag of North Macedonia, and in the top parts of the flags of Tibet and Arizona.

The flag of New Mexico is based on the Zia sun symbol which has four groups of four parallel rays emanating symmetrically from a central circle.

{{Gallery
| title        = National or state flags
| align        = center
| footer       =
| style        =
| state        =
| height       = 120
| width        = 120
| captionstyle =
|file:Flag of Argentina.svg |Flag of Argentina
|file:Flag of Arizona.svg |Flag of Arizona (USA)
|File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg | Flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
|File:Flag of JSDF.svg|Flag of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
|file:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg |Flag of Kazakhstan
|file:Flag of Kiribati.svg |Flag of Kiribati
|file:Flag of Kurdistan.svg |Flag of Kurdistan
|file:Flag of Nepal.svg |Flag of Nepal
|file:Flag of New Mexico.svg |Flag of New Mexico (USA)
|file:Flag of North Macedonia.svg |Flag of North Macedonia
|file:Flag of the Philippines.svg |Flag of the Philippines
|file:Flag of Tibet.svg |Flag of Tibet 
|file:Flag of Uruguay.svg |Flag of Uruguay
|file:Bandeira de Pernambuco.svg|Flag of Pernambuco (Brazil)}}

==Code points in Unicode==
{{Charmap
|2609  |name1 = Sun
|2600  |name2 = Black Sun with Rays
|263C  |name3 = White Sun with Rays
|1F728 |name4 = Alchemical Symbol for Verdigris
|1F323 |name5 = White  Sun
}}
{{Charmap
|1F31E |name1 = Sun with Face
|1F506 |name2 = High Brightness Symbol
|1F71A |name3 = Alchemical Symbol For Gold
|2F47  |name4 = Kangxi Radical Sun
|131F4 |name5 = Sun with Uraeus
}}

{{unichar|2299|circled dot operator|nlink=Hadamard product (matrices)}}

== See also ==
* {{Annotated link |Astrological symbols}}
* {{Annotated link |Astronomical symbols}}
* {{Annotated link |Blue Sky with a White Sun}}
* {{Annotated link |Beaivi}}
* {{Annotated link |Black Sun (symbol)}}
* {{Annotated link |Lauburu}}
* {{Annotated link |Monad (philosophy)|Monad (Greek philosophy)}}
* {{Annotated link |Self in Jungian psychology}}
* {{Annotated link |Solar deity}}
* {{Annotated link |The Sun in culture}}
* {{Annotated link |Sun (heraldry)}}
* {{Annotated link |Sun of May}}
* {{Annotated link |Winged sun}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101031195508/http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/29/index.html Symbols.com list and description of sun symbols] (archived 31 October 2010)
*[http://moroccandesign.com/eight-point-star Origins and Meanings of the Eight-point Star]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819225016/http://moroccandesign.com/eight-point-star |date=2010-08-19 }}.

{{The Sun}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Symbol}}
[[Category:Heraldic charges]]

{{Sourceattribution|Solar symbol|1}}