Crossed Swords Symbol
"Crossed swords" redirects here. For other uses, see Crossed swords (disambiguation).The crossed swords symbol (⚔ at Unicode U+2694) is used to represent battlegrounds on maps. It is also used to show that person died in battle or that a war machine was lost in action. Two crossed swords also look like a Christian cross and the mixed symbolism has been used in military decorations, for instance in the Polish Order of the White Eagle (before 1730) and the Cross of Independence. Several German military orders in both world wars had grades adorned with crossed swords, e.g. Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern), and so was the British Order of Merit when awarded for military achievements. Crossed swords are also used in tatoos as a symbol of power, violence and death.
Read more about this topic: Sword
Famous quotes containing the words crossed, swords and/or symbol:
“And crossed the dark defile at last, and found
At Roncevaux upon the darkening plain
The dead against the dead and on the silent ground
The silent slain—”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
—Bible: Hebrew Isaiah, 2:4.
The words reappear in Micah 4:3, and the reverse injunction is made in Joel 3:10 (”Beat your plowshares into swords ...”)
“The glance is natural magic. The mysterious communication established across a house between two entire strangers, moves all the springs of wonder. The communication by the glance is in the greatest part not subject to the control of the will. It is the bodily symbol of identity with nature. We look into the eyes to know if this other form is another self, and the eyes will not lie, but make a faithful confession what inhabitant is there.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)