title: Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts
author:  Peter T. Struck 
description: <b>"Winner of the 2007 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit"</b><br /><br />"A rich and fascinating account of how the ideas of symbolism and allegorical reading developed over the course of classical antiquity. It is a remarkable achievement."<b>---David Konstan, <i>Literary Imagination</i></b><br /><br />"This book offers a remarkably comprehensive study of ancient symbolic interpretation from the Pre-Socratics to the later Neoplatonists and beyond."<b>---Derek Collins, <i>Classical World</i></b><br /><br />"This is a challenging yet rewarding journey through a millenium of texts, thoughts, and interpretations. As against the defensive stance taken by most studies of ancient 'allegory,' Peter Struck gives a resolute appraisal of a persistent and accepted way of understanding literature, a method of interpretation which, in opposition to Aristotelian rhetoric, tries to get beyond the limits of the text in order to find a surplus of meaning, to achieve 'more' or 'deeper' insights. This takes him from the beginnings of Greek literature down to the Neoplatonists of Late Antiquity. For the first time, a non-mimetic approach to literary theory becomes possible: 'Divine' poetry is not secondary reproduction of material realities but is to disclose higher forms of being. Struck keeps close to the texts, presented in translation and often in the original language, too, while maintaining a high theoretical level as to language and interpretation in general. His book makes always clear and not seldom exciting reading."<b>Walter Burkert, author of <i>Creation of the Sacred and Greek Religion</i></b>
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  NIGEL PENNICK
  The Book of
  PRIMAL
  SIGNS
  The High Magic of Symbols
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  CONTENTS
  Cover Image 
  Title Page 
  Epigraph
  Preface________________________
  Introduction
  _____ Signs of the Times
  Part 1: Traditional GlyphsT Signs, Sigils. and 
  Symbols in Practice
  —The_Riines—
  ~кптнс Lugos and Defunct Organizations 
  The Pitfalls of Symbology 
  New Names, New Meanings 
  The Public Use of Glyphs
  Part 2: A Box of Glyphs
  1. The Sun, the Circle, and the Sun Wheel
  2. The Akhet and the Twin Towers
  3. The Eight-Spoked Wheel
  4. Crosses
  5. The Crescent Moon, Star, and Comet
  6. Solar Light and Lightning
  7. The Cosmic or Philosophical Egg
  8. The Omphalos
  9. The Pineapple
  10. The Tree of Life
  11. The Fleur-de-Lys
  12. The Rose
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  13. The Heart
  14. Human and Eldritch Heads
  15. The Swastika
  16. The Skirl. Yin and Yang
  17. The Pothook
  18. The Trefot
  19. The Horseshoe
  20. Tools and Craft Symbols
  21. The X: Gyfu: Daeg: and Ing Glyphs
  22. The Hexflower
  23. Woven Patterns
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