SYM·0099 · Mars
Mars
the same story, with iron
- Unicode
- U+2642 male sign
- Meaning
- The planet Mars; iron in alchemy; and the male sex.
- History
- The exact parallel of Venus, and adopted in the same act by the same botanist in 1751. Alchemy assigned it iron, the metal of weapons and of the god. The arrow that now reads so obviously as a spear appears to have been drawn variously in manuscript before settling — the unambiguous diagonal shaft is a later regularisation, not an original picture.
- Variants
- The arrow’s angle varies historically; some early forms are closer to a cross than a spear.
- Related
- ♀ Venus; ⚔ the martial marks.
- Appears
- Biology, medicine, forms, lavatory doors, and product marketing.
- Evolution
- Planetary sign → metal → botanical shorthand → a statement about people.
Sources · 3
- documented Linnaeus, 1751, for the botanical use of ♂ alongside ♀.
- documented The alchemical correspondence of Mars with iron.
- folk That the sign depicts the shield and spear of the war god. The same objection as its partner: a plausible picture found in a shape that came from somewhere else.