Sun cross
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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 German: Sonnenkreuz).
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, the symbol increasingly became associated with neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements.[1][2]
Interpretation as solar symbol[]
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.[3] Wieseler (1881) postulated an (unattested) Gothic rune hvel ("wheel") representing the solar deity by the "wheel" symbol of a cross-in-a-circle, reflected by the Gothic letter hwair (