The Eye of Providence
Often attributed to the Illuminati — but never used by them.
Popularly attributed — not documented
- Period
- Christian iconography; 17th century onwards
An eye within a triangle surrounded by rays is a Christian image of the all-seeing God, found in European religious art long before 1776.
It appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, adopted in 1782 by a committee process unconnected with Bavaria. There is no evidence that the Bavarian Illuminati ever used it. Its association with the Illuminati is a twentieth-century invention.
Sources
- Richard S. Patterson and Richardson Dougall, The Eagle and the Shield: A History of the Great Seal of the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 1976).
- René Le Forestier, Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande (Paris, 1914).
- Richard van Dülmen, Der Geheimbund der Illuminaten (Stuttgart, 1975).