Penta[gon/gram]

The pentagon is a sign that has a wide variety of meanings. Its most obvious meaning refers to a geometric shape with 5 sides, but this figure has come to represent much more than its geometry. In America, we often associate the geometric shape with our "Pentagon," the Department of Defense, due to its pentagonal structure.

Often, however, we associate the geometric shape of the pentagon with the pentagram, a five-sided star. Although this association is mostly the result of the two similar words (and their root, "pent," meaning "five") being mistaken for each other. This association opens up a host of connotations for the simple "pentagon," as it becomes closely related to the strong religious connections of the "pentagram." In fact, the pentagram is heavily associated with Satanism, most notable as a rejection of the Holy Spirit, which is signified by the alignment of the pentagram, having three points facing downward. However, some would be surprised to know that the pentagram has a Christian meaning which goes back to medieval times. The five points of the star were used to symbolism the five wounds in Christ's body (side, hands, and feet). Also, it was used to represent the five senses as well as the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption of Christ. But as the symbol began to take on a perceived Satanist meaning, the pentagram was gradually rejected by Christians and is now almost exclusively associated with the occult.

Ironically, the pentagram stands on its own as a geometric figure in its distinction as the simplest regular star polygon. In addition to this, the pentagram makes an appearance in the flags of Morocco and Ethiopia, as well as in some orthogonal, higher dimensional polytopes.

Thus we see that our simple pentagon (by definition, nothing more than a five-sided polygon) assumes a host of different meanings to a variety of semiotic domains - most notably, in its mistaken identification with the religious-laden pentagram.