Greek Symbols

This section focuses on ancient Greek symbols, this section includes Roman symbols as well.

Here are some of the most popular Greek Symbols.

Zeus - In Greek mythology, Zeus is the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart was Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart was Tinia.

Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione.

Aphrodite - Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia.

According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the sea foam (aphros) arose Aphrodite.

Apollo - Apollo is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine, healing, and plague; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis.

The Asclepius Wand, often confused with the Caduceus wand of Hermes, is the true symbol of the medical profession.

Sun Cross - The sun cross, or more commonly known as the sun wheel, a cross inside a circle.

Mano Fico Symbol - The mano fico, also called figa, is an Italian amulet of ancient origin. Examples have been found from the Roman era, and it was also used by the Etruscans.
Whether made as an apotropaic gesture or worn as an amulet, the mano fico is used for magical protection against the evil eye.

Gorgon Symbol - In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. It derives from the Greek word gorgos, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld it to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Stheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not, and was slain by the mythical hero Perseus.

The Greek Minotaur - In Greek mythology, the Minotaur, as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Ovid, "part man and part bull". He dwelt at the center of the Cretan Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction built for King Minos of Crete and designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus who were ordered to build it to hold the Minotaur. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus.

Labyrinth Symbol - In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, a mythical creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Daedalus had made the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it. Theseus was aided by Ariadne, who provided him with a skein of thread, literally the "clew", or "clue", so he could find his way out again.

Bowl of Hygieia is one of the symbols of pharmacy. Hygieia was the Greek goddess of health. Many statues and monuments depict the Greek goddess Hygieia holding a patera (medicine bowl) with a snake tamely coiling around her and about to eat from the bowl. Some view the bowl of hygieia and her snake as a symbol of living in harmony with mother earth. The snake may symbolise the patient and that he or she chooses whether or not to partake of the medicine to help himself or herself. Hence taking the control over their own well-being by making correct choices. The snake that is depicted about to partake from the bowl is also linked to ancient beliefs that snakes have wisdom and healing. The ancient idea was that the dead went into the ground to dwell in Hades a dreamlike land neither good nor bad. Snakes had contact with the dead and might even have carried the souls of the ancestors returning to help the living.
Hence the idea was, that snakes carried great wisdom as they carried the souls of wise ancestors

Omphalos - An omphalos is an ancient religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Greek, the word omphalos means "navel". According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus sent out two eagles to fly across the world to meet at its center, the "navel" of the world. Omphalos stones used to denote this point were erected in several areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea; the most famous of those was at the oracle in Delphi.

Labrys - This was a Greek weapon and used for both ceremonial and combatant use. In a modified form the double-axe was used as ceremonial insignia by what is generally known as Vichy France and was called a Gallique Francisque, or French Gallic - axe being understood.