This research aims to investigate the opinions of ancient Arab rhetoricians and critics about the concept of the symbol in order to derive the general intellectual lines involved in those opinions, and to seek a common denominator in it that helps to define the features of the concept of the symbol in the Arab rhetorical and critical heritage. And its limits for the ancient Arab rhetoricians and critics to determine the extent of its relevance to the concept of the modern literary symbol by showing its nature and extracting its levels.