Editing Moon (section)

====Crescent====
For the representation of the Moon, especially its [[lunar phase]]s, the [[crescent]] (🌙) has been a recurring symbol in a range of cultures since at least 3,000 BCE or possibly earlier with bull horns dating to the earliest [[cave painting]]s at 40,000 [[Before present|BP]].<ref name="e093"/><ref name="k874"/> In [[writing system]]s such as Chinese the crescent has developed into the symbol {{lang|zh |{{linktext|月}}}}, the word for Moon, and in ancient Egyptian it was the symbol {{linktext|𓇹}}, meaning Moon and spelled like the ancient Egyptian lunar deity ''[[Iah]]'',<ref name="Hart 2005 p. 77">{{cite book |last=Hart |first=G. |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses |publisher=Taylor & Francis |series=Routledge Dictionaries |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-134-28424-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1LAiPylZm4C&pg=PA77 |access-date=February 23, 2022 |page=77 |archive-date=July 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725234921/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1LAiPylZm4C&pg=PA77 |url-status=live}}</ref> which the other ancient Egyptian lunar deities [[Khonsu]] and [[Thoth]] were associated with.

Iconographically the crescent was used in [[Mesopotamia]] as the primary symbol of [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna/Sîn]],<ref name=BlackGreen1992/> the ancient [[Sumeria]]n lunar deity,<ref name=Nemet1998>{{citation |last=Nemet-Nejat |first=Karen Rhea |date=1998 |title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-29497-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme/page/203 203] |url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme |access-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-date=June 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616064441/https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme/page/203 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=BlackGreen1992>{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |first2=Anthony |last2=Green |title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05LXAAAAMAAJ |publisher=The British Museum Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-7141-1705-8 |pages=54, 135 |access-date=October 28, 2017 |archive-date=August 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819021935/https://books.google.com/books?id=05LXAAAAMAAJ&hl=en |url-status=live}}</ref> who was the father of [[Inanna|Inanna/Ishtar]], the goddess of the planet [[Venus]] (symbolized as the [[Octagram|eight pointed]] [[Star of Ishtar]]),<ref name="Nemet1998"/><ref name=BlackGreen1992/> and [[Utu|Utu/Shamash]], the god of the Sun ([[Solar symbol|symbolized as a disc, optionally with eight rays]]),<ref name="Nemet1998"/><ref name=BlackGreen1992/> all three often depicted next to each other. Nanna/Sîn is, like some other lunar deities, for example Iah and Khonsu of ancient Egypt, [[Mene (goddess)|Mene]]/[[Selene]] of ancient Greece and [[Luna (mythology)|Luna]] of ancient Rome, depicted as a [[horned deity]], featuring crescent shaped headgears or crowns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zschietzschmann |first=W. |date=2006 |title=Hellas and Rome: The Classical World in Pictures |location=Whitefish, Montana |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |isbn=978-1-4286-5544-7 |page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Beth |date=2006 |article=Outline as a Special Technique in Black- and Red-figure Vase-painting |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyufPUA_S74C&pg=PA178 |title=The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-0-89236-942-3 |pages=178–179 |access-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-date=August 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819021937/https://books.google.com/books?id=YyufPUA_S74C&pg=PA178&hl=en |url-status=live}}</ref>

The particular arrangement of the crescent with a star known as the [[star and crescent]] (☪️) goes back to the Bronze Age, representing either the Sun and Moon, or the Moon and the planet Venus, in combination. It came to represent the selene goddess [[Artemis]], and via the patronage of [[Hecate]], which as [[triple deity]] under the [[epithet]] ''trimorphos''/''trivia'' included aspects of Artemis/[[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], came to be used as a [[Byzantine flags and insignia|symbol of Byzantium]], with [[Virgin Mary]] ([[Queen of Heaven]]) later taking her place, becoming depicted in [[Marian veneration]] on a crescent and adorned with stars. Since then the [[heraldry|heraldric]] use of the star and crescent proliferated, Byzantium's symbolism possibly influencing the development of the [[Ottoman flag]], specifically the combination of the Turkish crescent with a star,<ref>"It seems possible, though not certain, that after the conquest Mehmed took over the crescent ''and'' star as an emblem of sovereignty from the Byzantines. The half-moon alone on a blood red flag, allegedly conferred on the Janissaries by Emir Orhan, was much older, as is demonstrated by numerous references to it dating from before 1453. But since these flags lack the star, which along with the half-moon is to be found on Sassanid and Byzantine municipal coins, it may be regarded as an innovation of Mehmed. It seems certain that in the interior of Asia tribes of Turkish nomads had been using the half-moon alone as an emblem for some time past, but it is equally certain that crescent and star ''together'' are attested only for a much later period. There is good reason to believe that old Turkish and Byzantine traditions were combined in the emblem of Ottoman and, much later, present-day Republican Turkish sovereignty." Franz Babinger (William C. Hickman Ed., Ralph Manheim Trans.), ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time'', Princeton University Press, 1992, p 108</ref> and becoming a popular [[Symbols of Islam|symbol for Islam]] (as the ''[[wikt:hilal#Noun|hilal]]'' of the [[Islamic calendar]]) and [[Star and crescent#Contemporary use|for a range of nations]].<ref name="Kadoi 2014">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kadoi |first=Yuka |title=Crescent (symbol of Islam) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam Online |date=October 1, 2014 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/crescent-symbol-of-islam-COM_25588?s.num=27&s.start=20}}</ref>