Texts>Ancient Pagan Symbols

The Asp was identified with the solar gods and typified the hissing, seething heat of the sun. In Egypt it was a symbol of dominion. Among the Greeks it denoted protecting or benevolent power. The Fish is also associated with the sun. This may have come from an ancient conception of the universe which divided the firmament, putting the ocean below the earth and the waters of the clouds causing rains a,nd floods above. The god of the sun passes through these as a fish or again in his sun barge. The .association of the fish, symbol of fecundity, water, the feminine principle with the sun suggests readily enough another of those ancient devices for symbolising the union of the opposite forces.

The Dolphin, called the "most royal of swimmers," was supposed to bear the souls of the departed to the Island of the Blessed. It was venerated by Greeks and Latins as the saviour of the shipwrecked. Thus Christ was frequently depicted as a dolphin by the early Christians.

Two Fishes are the zodiacal sign of Pisces. Christ is represented in the Catacombs by two fishes. The Fish, because of its extraordinary. fecundity, was given to Venus, also to Isis and the Japanese Kwan-non. The Christians gave it to the Virgin Mary.

In Egypt, according to Plutarch, the fish is a phallic emblem.

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