Symbols for truth

Searching for a symbol for truth

This site walks, and most of the time crosses, a line between being introspective and interesting or being self important and asinine. It doesn't really matter too much because 99% of the visits to this site are by me, as I'd intended. When I first started this site, I was looking for a way to practice standards based web development, and happened to be in an arrogant mood, so decided to make the site about truth. I'm no artist, so I did a little Googl'ing to find an idea for a graphic that would take attention away from the otherwise dry and boring (but W3C compliant) web site. I turned up several symbols for truth from around the world and throughout history that weren't cataloged in one place, so i thought I'd deposit them here.

Greece:

The origins of the torch as a symbol of truth most likely are derived from the sun. It's light shed clarity and lack of fear on the land, and so the torch was thought to be a small piece of the sun. Several Greek and Roman gods carried torches and were associated with truth and justice. There were many parallels between fire and life for the ancients, and the torch became a symbol of life. The torch became a religious symbol and is seen in Christianity, often inverted, to symbolize death.

Africa:

In Nsibidi, the language of the Ejagham people of Nigeria, this structure indicates a situation where two witnesses contradict each other, and one is telling the truth (the straight line).

America:

In an unknown Native American language (still looking), the upper line represents the celestial (heaven) and the bottom line represents the terrestrial (Earth). The connection between Heaven and Earth represents the creation of innocence, which has no good or bad, and this is reflected by the center line.

I'll make my usual plea: If you've happened across this site (who knows what Google turns up) and know of another symbol for truth that has ever been used by anyone, let me know and I'll include it here.