Sun cross

File:Earth symbol (black).svg

A sun cross, solar cross, or wheel cross is a solar symbol consisting of an equilateral cross inside a circle. The design is frequently found in the symbolism of prehistoric cultures, particularly during the Neolithic to Bronze Age periods of European prehistory. The symbol's ubiquity and apparent importance in prehistoric religion have given rise to its interpretation as a solar symbol, whence the modern English term "sun cross" (a calque of {{langx|de|Sonnenkreuz}}). 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 representing the Earth rather than the Sun. In pharmacy, sun cross symbol represents various/miscellaneous drugs. After World War II, variants of the symbol became associated with neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements.{{Cite web|url=https://politicalsymbols.net/sun-cross.html|title=Political Symbols|website=politicalsymbols.net}}{{Dubious|date=March 2025}}

Interpretation as solar symbol

File:Solvognen-00100.jpg of the Sun Sól with solar cross-shaped wheels (Trundholm sun chariot, Bronze Age, Denmark)]]

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 of the Sun god.{{cite book |author=Martin Persson Nilsson |title=The Minoan–Mycenaean Religion and its Survival in Greek Religion |publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers |year=1950 |page=421 |quote=there is a wide-spread opinion that the equal-limbed cross is another symbol of the sun. It was, for example, a favorite theory of the late Professor Montelius, and has been embraced by many other archaeologists; its wide acceptance is due to an interest in finding a pre-Christian origin of the symbol of Christianity. The disc of the sun was regarded as a wheel; hence the myth that the sun-god drives in a chariot across the heavens. }} Wieseler (1881) postulated an (unattested) Gothic rune {{lang|is|hvel}} ("wheel") representing the solar deity by the "wheel" symbol of a cross-in-a-circle, reflected by the Gothic letter hwair (𐍈).{{lang|de|

Karl Georg Wieseler|italic=no}} (1813–83), {{lang|de|Untersuchungen Zur Geschichte Und Religion Der Alten Germanen in Asien und Europa|italic=yes}}, 1881, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FtgRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 p. 157].

The suggestion of a specifically Gothic variant of the runic alphabet partially preserved in the Gothic alphabet is due to Jacob Grimm's {{lang|de|Deutsche Mythologie|italic=yes}} (1835).

The English term "Sun-Cross", on the other hand, is comparatively recent, apparently loaned from German {{lang|de|Sonnenkreuz}} and used in the 1955 translation of Rudolf Koch's Book of Signs ("The Sun-Cross or Cross of Wotan", p. 94). The German term {{lang|de|Sonnenkreuz}} 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). {{lang|de|Sonnenkreuz}} was used of the flag design of the Paneuropean Union in the 1920s.{{lang|de|Richard Nicolaus Graf von Coudenhove-Kalergi, Kampf um Paneuropa aus dem 1. Jahrgang von Paneuropa, Paneuropa Verlag, 1925|italic=unset}}, p. 36. In the 1930s, a version of the symbol with broken arms (resembling a curved swastika, illustrated below) was popular as a link between Christianity and Germanic paganism in the {{lang|de|völkisch}} German Faith Movement.For example:

{{lang|de|Karl Hans Strobl, Die Runen und das Marterholz, Zwinger-Verlag, 1936|italic=unset}}, p. 138
{{lang|de|Waldemar Müller-Eberhart, Kopf und herz des Weltkrieges: General Ludendorffs Wertung als Deutscher, Georg Kummer, 1935|italic=unset}}, p. 244.

Archaeological record

=Bronze Age=

In the prehistoric religion of Bronze Age Europe, crosses in circles appear frequently on artifacts identified as cult items, for example the "miniature standard" with an amber inlay that shows a cross shape when held against the light, dating to the Nordic Bronze Age, held at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.[http://www.landesmuseum-fuer-vorgeschichte-halle.de/himmel/en_standarte.htm entry] at the Nebra sky disk exhibition site (landesmuseum-fuer-vorgeschichte-halle.de) The Bronze Age symbol has also been connected with the four-spoked chariot wheel, which is attested in Bronze Age Scandinavia, Central Europe and Greece (compare the Linear B ideogram 243 "wheel" {{lang|gmy|𐃏}}). In the context of a culture that celebrated the sun chariot, it may thus have had a "solar" connotation (compare the Trundholm sun chariot).

{{gallery |width=200

|File:Scheibenkopfnadeln.jpg|Ornamental pins, found in Switzerland, date to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC; their circular heads are incised with crosses

|File:Radanhaenger-edited.jpg|Wheel pendants dating to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, found in Zürich. Variants include a six-spoked wheel, a central empty circle, and a second circle with twelve spokes surrounding one of four spokes.

|File:Sundisk Alacahoyuk.jpg|A sun disk found in tombs in Alacahöyük dates back to the early Bronze Age. Notice the three sun crosses on the sun disk.

|File:DO-4220.jpg|Amber sun cross, Nordic Bronze Age, Denmark.{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367|title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany|chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power|last=Meller|first=Harald|date=2021|publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale).|isbn=978-3-948618-22-3|access-date=10 January 2023|archive-date=9 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109183344/https://www.academia.edu/80363367|url-status=live}}

|File:Amber sun disk2.png|Corded Ware culture amber sun disc (illustration)

}}

Modern culture

=Astronomy=

The same symbol represents the Earth in astronomical symbols, while the Sun 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 is a similar symbol in widespread use by Native Americans including Plains Indians and previously by Hopewell cultures. Other indigenous peoples also use or used the solar cross on their symbolism and as decoration practices.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

=Politics=

The Sassanian Empire in Persia used a similar solar cross on their banner, called the Derafsh Kaviani symbol. The Norwegian fascist party {{lang|no|Nasjonal Samling|italic=no}} 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, patron saint of Norway, and the colors were the coat of arms of Norway. The Paneuropean Union, a European unification movement, uses this symbol as central element of its flag.{{Citation needed|reason=Flag includes a cross on a circular background not a cross with a circle round it. Is this a Sun cross?|date=April 2020}}

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 supremacy, Neo-Nazism, and white pride. In its Celtic cross 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.{{cn|date=October 2023}} In New Zealand, the Odin's cross was one of the symbols used by on Brenton Tarrant in the Christchurch mosque shootings.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

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). Although there were doubts on the constitutionality of the ban, it was upheld in a decision of the supreme court.{{cite web |title=BGH, Beschluss vom 01.10.2008 - 3 StR 164/08 |url=https://dejure.org/ext/dc2fdbc589031d705919b26f41b1f62a |access-date=27 March 2020}} In Italy, there is a similar ban based on Legge Mancino (the "Mancino Law", from the Minister of Interior who enacted the law),{{cite web |url=https://www.legislationline.org/documents/id/19322 |title=Criminal Code (1993) (excerpts) |work=LegislatiOnline }} although there are some examples of the use of the circled cross as a Roman Catholic symbol in Northern Italy.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

=Tools=

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

Unicode

There is no formal code point in Unicode for this symbol, though other symbols representing the sun are included. Symbols designed for other purposes, such as {{unichar|1F728|ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR VERDIGRIS}}, {{unichar|2295|CIRCLED PLUS}} and {{unichar|2A01|N-ARY CIRCLED PLUS OPERATOR}}, and {{unichar|2316}} are similar.