About Old Symbols
Where cultural, religious and esoteric symbols, ancient scripts and runes come from, and what they have meant.
It is an independent site. Its companion, whatdoesthissymbolmean.com, explains the everyday symbols on labels, drawings, dashboards and signs. Where a symbol belongs to both, each site links to the other.
Who reviews the entries
Every page names the person who reviewed it, beside the date of the review. Of the 75 pages live on this site now:
- Rory Hansen reviewed 75 pages
Research and first drafts are AI-assisted; a person reviews every entry against its sources before it is published. How we research explains the whole process.
The mark
The three plates in our mark trace the letter A back to a drawing of an ox: the ox head of the early alphabet, the Phoenician aleph turned on its side, and the Greek alpha standing on its horns. Each entry traces its symbol the same way.
Corrections
If something on an entry is wrong, use “Report a problem” at the foot of that entry. Reports go straight to the editor.