Skull (symbol)

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The skull and crossbones is the traditional pictogram for poison .

The skull (☠), also known as skull , is a figurative, graphic or sculptural symbol that is common in Western culture and consists of the representation of a human head skeleton ( skull ) mostly frontally, more rarely in profile with or without a lower jaw . In some cases, further human skeletal parts can be added to the representation of the head skeleton ; Two crossed thigh bones, which are shown below or behind the skull, are particularly common.

The skull is generally used to symbolize or even threaten physical danger and death, the transience of human life compared to the immortal soul and the entire physical world compared to spiritual values ​​embodied by religion.

Christianity

Representations of human skeletal parts were used in Christian grave sculptures to symbolize the transience of human life as well as earthly works and goods (see also Vanitas symbols ). Often other symbols of putrefaction and decline were added, such as the depiction of snakes or insects (see also: Death symbolism , Memento mori ).

  • Skull mosaic from Pompeii

  • Vanitas motifs: dying candle, skull and hourglass

  • Memento mori motif

  • Skull with snake

military

In early modern sea warfare, buccaneers used the Jolly Roger as a pirate flag , which also used a skull or other skeletal parts as a death threat and as a request to hand over a ship.

With some army units in the 18th century the custom emerged to use a skull symbol as a badge on the uniform, as with the skull hussars . Under the motto “Pardon will not be given and not taken”, the unconditional will to win should be demonstrated by the commitment of one's own life. In addition, it should be made clear to the enemy that even if he surrendered he could not count on the sparing of his life.

The symbolism was revived under the rule of the National Socialists, where the members of the SS wore the skull on their caps, as well as the SS skull associations for concentration camp guarding and the SS skull division of the Waffen SS on the collar tabs. The soldiers of the armored forces of the Wehrmacht wore skulls on both collar tabs in their black service uniform.

Some modern military units, mainly from Anglo-Saxon countries, still use the symbolism of the skull and the Jolly Roger ( see also: Use of the Jolly Roger in modern navies ).

The militant environmental protection organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been running the Jolly Roger - with a trident and a shepherd's staff instead of bones and two dolphins on the forehead of the skull - as a jack on their ships since the 1970s .

heraldry

Skulls appear as common figures in the heraldic shield , but also instead of the heraldic helmet in coats of arms from the time of humanism and pietism . Here they appear together with other symbols of impermanence.

Medicine and science

In the early modern period, the skull was often considered a symbol of the medical faculty of a university . A skull on the desk or another place in the study also symbolized the doctor, but also the magician or occultist.

  • Faust in his study

  • Charles Albert Fechter as Hamlet (around 1872)

  • Vanitas picture montage

  • Still life by Pieter Claesz

  • Allegory of the medical faculty (detail from the gable of the Göttingen university hall)

  • Coat of arms of the Corps Suevo-Borussia, founded at the military medical college in Berlin

  • Hazard symbol for "toxic" and "very toxic"

  • Warning signs directly on strong radioactive emitters

Some student associations established at medical schools have a skull in their student coat of arms .

In modern chemistry and pharmacy, a skull representation is used as a precisely defined hazard pictogram for toxic substances.

Youth culture

Jolly Roger as a stage background for the band Die Toten Hosen
A sculpture : A Guggemusik drum with a “ larva ” (mask) from the Basel Carnival, placed next to an empty market table

In some areas of modern youth culture , death symbols such as the skull are used as a protest against prevailing social norms. In Gothic culture, the skull motif is primarily worn as a fashion element that can also be used for provocation. One example is Cora Schumacher , who caused a sensation in the media during the Munich Oktoberfest in 2008 because she appeared in public wearing a dirndl that was decorated with skull motifs.

Data processing

In the Unicode standard there is a skull and crossbones (poison symbol) as the character U + 2620 (☠), since version 6.0 another skull symbol as the character U + 1F480 (?), and since version 7.0 a black skull with crossed bones as a symbol U + 1F571 (?).

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Skull  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ New Symbol Launched to Warn Public About Radiation Dangers
  2. ↑ Commons: Category: Market Tables (Cloister of Basel Münster) : “The work of art“ Market Tables ”has been in the cloister of Basel Minster since December 2010 . It is a work by Bettina Eichin , created around 1986. It consists of two groups of sculptures: One depicts a market table loaded with vegetables, the second an empty market table on whose tabletop the poem “Die Vergänlichkeit” by Johann Peter Hebel from the Year 1803 is engraved. The indication “ZB, 1. NOV. 1986, 00.19H ", refers to the major fire in the Schweizerhalle , which led to the fact that the work of art was not placed on the [Basel] market square as intended."
  3. ↑ Wiesn debate. Cora Schumacher and the doomed dirndl