SYM·0061 · Solar disc
Sun
the mark everyone invented
- Unicode
- U+2609 sun
- Meaning
- The Sun; gold in alchemy; and, in Egyptian writing, the sun and the day.
- History
- A circle with a central dot is close to the least distinctive figure a hand can make with intent, and it appears independently across unrelated traditions — as the Egyptian sun sign, as the astronomical symbol, as alchemical gold by the standard planet-metal correspondence. When a form is this easy to arrive at, shared use is evidence of nothing.
- Variants
- Dot present or absent; the plain circle is used for the Sun in some astronomical conventions.
- Related
- ☽ Crescent; the alchemical metals; the Sun archetype.
- Appears
- Star charts, alchemical manuscripts, weather notation, and national flags.
- Evolution
- Independently invented mark → planetary sign → the metal it was thought to govern.
Sources · 3
- documented The astronomical symbol for the Sun, and the alchemical correspondence with gold.
- documented The Egyptian sun sign as a circle with a central dot.
- traditional The inference that independent invention, rather than transmission, explains the distribution. The Institute’s reading, and the same argument it makes for the cross.