The badge of the Fraternity is a small, black, enameled shield super-imposed upon a gold shield, bearing a five pointed crown with the letters ZTA arranged around it, and below it the word “Themis” in Greek.

The banner of the Fraternity is rectangular and made of turquoise and gray satin. It bears the letter “A,” the word “Themis” in Greek, and a burning torch. The meaning of the banner is secret, but it may be hung in a place that is visible to anyone entering a chapter house, lodge, suite or chapter room.

The colors of Zeta Tau Alpha are turquoise blue and steel gray. The significance of these colors is explained in the Initiation Service.

Only initiated members may use this in any manner, which is dignified and in good taste. The ritualistic meaning of the Coat of Arms is secret and is revealed to each member at the time of her Initiation.

The five-pointed Crown is an official symbol of the Fraternity. The significance of the five points is revealed to each member upon her Initiation.

The flower of the Fraternity, chosen by Founder Ruby Leigh Orgain, is the white violet. Its symbolic meaning is explained in the Initiation Service.

It is silver with the coat-of-arms superimposed upon a turquoise stone, flanked on either side by an open Bible and the crown. The national Fraternity upon approval of National Council shall award the Honor Ring.

This pin is a silver carpenter’s square enameled in turquoise, to be worn by all duly pledged new members of the Fraternity.

The Founders chose Themis to represent the Fraternity. Themis is, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, daughter of Gaea (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), and the mother of the three Fates and the Seasons. The goddess of divine justice and law, Themis was the constant companion of the god Zeus and sat beside him on Olympus. In ancient art she is represented holding aloft a pair of scales on which she weighs the claims of opposing parties.

In the late 1800s, an admirer of one of ZTA’s Founders, Mary Campbell Jones (Batte), sent her a gift of strawberries. The scrumptious present prompted the group of nine friends to host their first purely social gathering and to become officially recognized as a campus organization.