Upon the Sassanian coins the so-called star, in reality a
representation neither of a star nor of a planet but of the radiate
Sun, seems to have been first substituted for the round disc as a
representation of the Sun, by Perozes, about A.C. 457; the disc in the
horns of a crescent being the symbol on the coins of his father
Isdigerd II. and other predecessors. But the dual symbol miscalled the
"star and crescent" was one even then of great antiquity, as will be
shown in a later chapter dealing with Phoenician relics discovered in
Cyprus and elsewhere.

The primary signification of the dual symbol in question, often
accompanied on the Sassanian coins by a prayer that the monarch might
"increase," or flourish generally, was undoubtedly _Life_. And it is
clear that the conjunction of the Crescent as the symbol of the Female
Principle of Life with the star-like figure which represented the
radiate, life-giving, or impregnating Sun, must have not only signified
Life, but also the necessarily bi-sexual Giver of Life.

We are thus brought to the conclusion that the Cross and the so-called
Crescent are more or less allied in signification.

Nor is this noteworthy fact to be wondered at. For only words and forms
divide the faiths of Mankind, and at heart the one object of our
desires is Life. Even those who piously lay down their lives for others
here, do so in the hope of being rewarded with longer life and more
blissful life hereafter.

Another point which is too often overlooked, is that if the followers
of the so-called Crescent have, as would appear to be the case,
forgotten the meaning of their symbol and the fact that it alludes to