A Dictionary of Symbols

A Dictionary of Symbols provides an interdisciplinary guide to the symbolic meanings embedded in religious traditions, mythology, visual art, architecture, literature, dreams, and cultural practices. Cirlot treats symbols as dynamic and multivalent structures rather than fixed signs, showing how a single image may simultaneously express psychological, cosmological, ethical, and metaphysical meanings. Combining historical scholarship with comparative symbolism and Jungian psychology, the volume enables readers to identify patterns of correspondence across cultures while maintaining a distinction between symbolic interpretation and the concrete historical reality of objects and events.