The book of the outstanding Russian philosopher and philologist A.F. Losev is devoted to the analysis of the whole problem of the symbol as a whole - the opposite of the symbol and allegories, the symbol and artistic image, the symbol and metaphor, the symbol and naturalistic copy, the symbol and myth. A.F. Losev gives the theory of socio-historical symbolism, illustrating it with examples taken from fiction. The book is equipped with an extensive bibliographic apparatus. Designed both for specialists in the field of philosophy and literary criticism, and for a wide range of readers. Edition corrected based on original manuscript.