page_title: Sigma
section_title: Lunate sigma
hierarchical_section_title: Sigma / History / Lunate sigma
caption_attribution_description: A mosaic map of 6th century Jerusalem found under the floor of St George's Church in Madaba, Jordan. The map depicts some famous Old City structures such as the Damascus Gate, St Steven's Gate, the Golden Gate, the gate leading to Mount Zion, the Citadel (Tower of David), the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, and the Cardo Maximus.
context_page_description: Sigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase ∑ is used as an operator for summation. When used at the end of a letter-case word, the final form is used. In Ὀδυσσεύς, for example, note the two lowercase sigmas in the center of the name and the word-final sigma at the end.
context_section_description: In handwritten Greek during the Hellenistic period (4th–3rd century BC), the epigraphic form of Σ was simplified into a C-like shape, which has also been found on coins from the 4th century BC onward. This became the universal standard form of sigma during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. 
  Today, it is known as lunate sigma (uppercase Ϲ, lowercase ϲ), because of its crescent-like shape, and is still widely used in decorative typefaces in Greece, especially in religious and church contexts, as well as in some modern print editions of classical Greek texts.
  A dotted lunate sigma (sigma periestigmenon, Ͼ) was used by Aristarchus of Samothrace (220–143 BC) as an editorial sign indicating that the line marked as such is at an incorrect position. Similarly, a reversed sigma (antisigma, Ͻ), may mark a line that is out of place. A dotted antisigma (antisigma periestigmenon, Ͽ) may indicate a line after which rearrangements should be made, or to variant readings of uncertain priority. 
  In unicode, the above variations of lunate sigma are encoded as U+03F9 Ϲ ;
  U+03FD Ͻ ;
  U+03FE Ͼ ; and
  U+03FF Ͽ
caption: The Madaba Map, a sixth-century mosaic of Jerusalem (Η ΑΓΙΑ ΠΟΛΙϹ) uses the lunate sigma
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