A sun cross, solar cross, or wheel cross is a

solar symbol A solar symbol is a symbol representing the 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 ( ...

consisting of an equilateral

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

inside a

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

. The design is frequently found in the symbolism of prehistoric cultures, particularly during the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

periods of European prehistory. The symbol's ubiquity and apparent importance in

prehistoric religion Prehistoric religion is the religious practice of prehistoric cultures. Prehistory, the period before written records, makes up the bulk of human experience; over 99% of human experience occurred during the Paleolithic period alone. Prehistoric ...

have given rise to its interpretation as a solar symbol, whence the modern English term "sun cross" (a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of ). The symbol means ''village'' in Ancient Egyptian ( Gardiner symbol O49). One of the most famous examples of prehistoric rock carvings in Northern Europe is the sun cross with cup marks at Madsebakke, near Allinge on Bornholm Island, Denmark. These petroglyphs date back to the Bronze Age (c. 1800–500 BCE) and are among the best-preserved in Scandinavia. The big wheel sun cross, carved directly into granite bedrock, is a striking circular motif with radial arms – often interpreted as a solar symbol representing the movement of the sun or the cycle of seasons. Around it are cup marks, small carved indentations believed to hold ritual significance, possibly linked to offerings or celestial events. Other locations with similar Sun Cross motifs and cup-marked stones include: * Bohuslän, Sweden – home to thousands of Bronze Age carvings with solar boats, warriors, and sun wheels. * Alta, Norway – UNESCO World Heritage site with rich symbolic carvings, including solar imagery. * Götaland and Östergötland, Sweden – known for petroglyphs featuring sun crosses and animal figures. These carvings are part of a shared Nordic symbolic tradition, emphasizing sun worship, cycles of life, and ancestral rituals – a powerful reminder of the deep spiritual connection between nature, sky, and early European societies. The same symbol is in use as a modern

astronomical symbol Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in Western culture, European astronomy. The earliest forms of these symbols appear in Greek papyrus tex ...

representing the Earth rather than the Sun. In

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

, sun cross symbol represents various/miscellaneous drugs. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, variants of the symbol became associated with

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

and

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

movements.

Interpretation as solar symbol

The interpretation of the simple equilateral cross as a solar symbol in Bronze Age religion was widespread in 19th-century scholarship. The cross-in-a-circle was interpreted as a solar symbol derived from the interpretation of the disc of the Sun as the wheel of the

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

of the Sun god. Wieseler (1881) postulated an (unattested) Gothic rune ("wheel") representing the solar deity by the "wheel" symbol of a cross-in-a-circle, reflected by the Gothic letter ''

hwair Hwair (also , , ) is the name of , the Gothic alphabet, Gothic letter expressing the or sound (reflected in English language, English by the inverted ''Wh (digraph), wh''-spelling for ). Hwair is also the name of the Latin ligature (capital ) ...

'' (𐍈). The English term "Sun-Cross", on the other hand, is comparatively recent, apparently loaned from German and used in the 1955 translation of

Rudolf Koch Rudolf Koch (20 November 1876 – 9 April 1934) was a German type designer, professor, and a master of lettering, calligraphy, typography and illustration. Commonly known for his typefaces created for the Klingspor Type Foundry, his most widely ...

's ''Book of Signs'' ("The Sun-Cross or Cross of

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compos ...

", p. 94). The German term was used in 19th-century scholarly literature of any cross symbol interpreted as a solar symbol, an equilateral cross either with or without a circle, or an oblique cross (

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a Heraldry, heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French , Medieval Latin ("stirrup"). From its use as field sign, the saltire cam ...

). was used of the flag design of the

Paneuropean Union The International Paneuropean Union, also referred to as the Pan-European Movement and the Pan-Europa Movement, is an international organisation and the oldest European unification movement. It began with the publishing of Richard von Coudenh ...

in the 1920s. In the 1930s, a version of the symbol with broken arms (resembling a curved

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

, illustrated below) was popular as a link between Christianity and Germanic paganism in the German Faith Movement.

Archaeological record

Bronze Age

In the

Bronze Age Europe The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic Europe, Neolithic and Chalcolithic Europe, Copper Age and is followed by the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. It ...

, crosses in circles appear frequently on artifacts identified as cult items, for example the "miniature standard" with an

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

inlay that shows a cross shape when held against the light, dating to the

Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from . The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Late Neolithic Dagger period, which is root ...

, held at the

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark, Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from S ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. The Bronze Age symbol has also been connected with the four-spoked

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

, which is attested in Bronze Age Scandinavia, Central Europe and Greece (compare the

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

ideogram 243 "wheel" ). In the context of a culture that celebrated the sun chariot, it may thus have had a "solar" connotation (compare the Trundholm sun chariot).

Modern culture

Astronomy

The same symbol represents the Earth in

astronomical symbols Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in European astronomy. The earliest forms of these symbols appear in Greek papyrus texts of late anti ...

, while the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

is represented by a circle with a center point.

Commerce

The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad emblem was a cross in a circle with the words "Santa Fe" across the horizontal bar. In this case, the lines making up the cross were much wider than the circle.

Ethnography

The Sacred Hoop aka

Medicine Wheel Medicine wheels are petroforms or circular formations of rocks on the land. Historically, most medicine wheels followed a similar pattern of a central circle or cluster of stones, surrounded by an outer ring of stones, along with spokes radiatin ...

is a similar symbol in widespread use by Native Americans including

Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North ...

and previously by Hopewell cultures. Other indigenous peoples also use or used the solar cross on their symbolism and as decoration practices.

Politics

The

Sassanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

used a similar solar cross on their banner, called the

Derafsh Kaviani Derafsh Kaviani ) was the royal standard Derafsh (in Latin: vexilloid) of Iran ( Persia) used since ancient times until the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The banner was also sometimes called the "Standard of Jamshid" ( ), the "Standard of Ferey ...

symbol. The Norwegian

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

party used a golden sun cross on a red background as an official symbol from 1933 to 1945. The cross with the circle was associated with

Olaf II of Norway Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he w ...

, patron saint of Norway, and the colors were the

coat of arms of Norway The coat of arms of Norway is the arms of dominion of King Harald V of Norway, and as such represents both the monarch and the Norway, kingdom (nation and the state). It depicts a standing Or (heraldry), golden lion (heraldry), lion on a Gules, r ...

. The

, a European unification movement, uses this symbol as central element of its flag. A square cross interlocking with or surrounded by a circle is one of the most popular symbols used by individuals and organisations to represent

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...

, white supremacy,

Neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

, and white pride. In its

Celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...

form, it is used as the logo for white nationalist website Stormfront. This stems from the use of a circled cross by Norwegian Nazis during World War II. In New Zealand, the Odin's cross was one of the symbols used by on Brenton Tarrant in the

Christchurch mosque shootings Two consecutive mass shootings took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019. They were committed by a single perpetrator during Friday prayer, first at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton, at 1:40p.m. and almost immediately afterwards ...

. In Germany, a "stylized" circled cross was adopted by a prohibited political party (VSBD/PdA), leading to a ban of the symbol if used within a context of promoting racism (see ''

Strafgesetzbuch section 86a The German (StGB; ) in section § 86a outlaws use of symbols of "unconstitutional organizations" and terrorism outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". The law does not name the individual symbols to be outlawed, and ...

''). Although there were doubts on the constitutionality of the ban, it was upheld in a decision of the supreme court. In Italy, there is a similar ban based on ''Legge Mancino'' (the " Mancino Law", from the Minister of Interior who enacted the law), although there are some examples of the use of the circled cross as a Roman Catholic symbol in Northern Italy.

Tools

A similar glyph is used in tool sets to denote Phillips-head screws and screwdrivers.

Unicode

There is no formal

code point A code point, codepoint or code position is a particular position in a Table (database), table, where the position has been assigned a meaning. The table may be one dimensional (a column), two dimensional (like cells in a spreadsheet), three dime ...

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

for this symbol, though other symbols representing the sun are included. Symbols designed for other purposes, such as , and , and are similar.

Examples

File:Coa Illustration Cross Sun.svg, Sun wheel File:Earth symbol.svg,

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

astronomical symbol File:Broken crossed circle.svg, Broken sun cross or "circle swastika" (cf.

) File:Southern Cult Solar Cross.svg,

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who ...

sun cross File:Sun cross.svg, Ashur sun cross File:Sun wheel in the crescent of moon.svg, Sun cross of Ashur and crescent moon of Nanna File:Maru juji.svg,

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

mon File:Flag of Daejeon (1972-1995).svg, Former flag of

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

(1972–1995) contains small green sun cross in the centre File:Nasjonal Samling insignia.svg, Emblem of

Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...

File:Hirden flag.svg, Flag of

Hirden ''Hirden'' (the ''hird'') was a uniformed paramilitary organisation during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, modelled the same way as the German Sturmabteilungen. Overview Vidkun Quisling's fascist party Nasjonal Samling frequently use ...

File:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Herald.svg, Emblem of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway File:CelticWheelCross.svg, The Celtic wheel cross is not a sun symbol though superficially similar

References

{{Christian crosses Bronze Age Europe Crosses in heraldry Solar symbols Magic symbols Early Germanic symbols