

An inverted version of that same symbol, was in use in the early 20th century. Köhler and refined by Bode, was intended to represent the newly discovered metal platinum since platinum, sometimes described as white gold was found by chemists mixed with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols for iron, ♂, and gold, ☉. For Uranus, two variant symbols are seen. Symbols for Uranus and Neptune were created shortly after their discovery. Major planets discovered in the modern era It is not known if the Egyptian and Chinese logographs have any connection to the European astrological symbol. Similar in appearance were several variants of the ancestral form of the modern Chinese logograph for "sun", which in the oracle bone script and bronze script were. The modern sun symbol resembles the Egyptian hieroglyph for "sun" – a circle that sometimes had a dot in the center, ( U+131F3 𓇳 EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH N005). (The conventional symbols for the signs of the zodiac also develop in the Renaissance period as simplifications of the classical pictorial representations of the signs.) The modern sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot ( U+2609 ☉ SUN), first appeared in the Renaissance. A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th-century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century, shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace Mars, a spear Jupiter, a staff Saturn, a scythe the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus. The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Classical Greek papyri. In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there was a circle with the glyph representing shine ( ) for the Sun and a crescent for the Moon. Symbols for the classical planets, zodiac signs, aspects, lots, and the lunar nodes appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved. Other symbols for astrological aspects are used in various astrological traditions. Their current form is a product of the European Renaissance.

These originate from medieval Byzantine codices. Frequently used symbols include signs of the zodiac and classical planets. Historically, astrological and astronomical symbols overlapped. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols. This article contains special characters.
