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We'd like to thank the ancient Greeks and Romans for these fancy symbols
♄ ☉ ☽ ♂ ☿ ♃ ♀,
but we can't because they're all dead now.
Each of these symbols evolved from religious, mythological and alchemical origins, and while they may look like an ancient emoji set, they’ve actually had a profound influence on history. Here’s the breakdown:
| Celestial body | Symbol | Origin and meaning |
| Sun | ☉ or ☼ | The circle with a dot represents the Sun as a radiant disk or the eye of the supreme deity. Used in Egyptian and Greek iconography. |
| Moon | ☽ | The crescent shape represents the Moon’s visible phases, widely used in ancient Mesopotamian, Greek and Islamic symbolism. |
| Mars | ♂ | Depicts a spear and shield, associated with Ares (Mars), the god of war. This later became the symbol for male gender. |
| Mercury | ☿ | Represents Mercury’s caduceus (winged staff with two snakes), symbolizing trade, travel and communication. |
| Jupiter | ♃ | A stylized lightning bolt or eagle staff, associated with Jupiter (Zeus), because when you’re the king of gods, you need a dramatic signature. |
| Venus | ♀ | Represents a hand mirror, linked to Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of love and beauty. Later became the symbol for female gender. |
| Saturn | ♄ | Represents a sickle or scythe, associated with Cronus (Saturn), the god of time and harvest. |
The Babylonians were the original space nerds, tracking the seven visible celestial bodies and linking them to their gods.
Naturally, their ideas spread faster than a juicy rumour to Egypt and Greece.
The Greeks decided planets needed names, so they matched them with their Olympian gods.
The Romans, not wanting to miss out, copied the whole system and slapped Latin names on everything. Branding was key, even in the ancient world.
During the Middle Ages, alchemists got their hands on these symbols and started assigning them to metals, giving planets a side gig in chemistry:
| Sun | ☉ | Gold (Aurum) The bling of the cosmos |
| Moon | ☽ | Silver (Argentum) The Sun’s goth cousin |
| Mars | ♂ | Iron (Ferrum) Perfect for weapon-making, and rust |
| Mercury | ☿ | Mercury (Quicksilver) Poisonous, but fun to watch it wiggling |
| Jupiter | ♃ | Tin (Stannum) The "meh" metal of the periodic table |
| Venus | ♀ | Copper (Cuprum) Great for statues, pennies and aesthetic vibes |
| Saturn | ♄ | Lead (Plumbum) Heavy, toxic, and perfect for medieval plumbing disasters |
Since astrology and astronomy were still besties back then, these symbols became standard in celestial charts, maps and secret notebooks of alchemists who were totally going to turn lead into gold any day now.
Today, these symbols live on in astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and gender representation. Whether you’re charting horoscopes, naming planetary elements, or just confusing people with ancient glyphs, they’re still going strong.
What started as Babylonian stargazing, got polished by the Greeks and Romans, and was repurposed by medieval alchemists, these symbols still influence how we think about space today.
Not bad for a bunch of astro-doodles, huh?