ROMAN COINS BEFORE CONSTANTINE.
Bearing in mind the matters mentioned in the two last chapters, let us
now pass in review the coins struck by the Romans, and make a note of
such features as may, directly or indirectly, bear upon the history of
the cross.
The first cross we meet with on the coins in question, is upon one of
Julius Caesar; who was appointed _Flamen Dialis_ B.C. 87, _Pontiff_
B.C. 74, Military Tribune B.C. 73, Quaestor B.C. 68, _Pontifex Maximus_
B.C. 63, and Dictator B.C. 49.
The cross in question consists of the name _C. Cossutius Maridianus_
arranged as a cross of four equal arms. And it should be noted that it
is admitted, even by such well-known authorities as Mr. C. W. King,
M.A., that the name was so arranged out of compliment to the official
in question _because his name had reference to the meridian sun_.[46]
Upon a coin struck by Caesar's heir, the almost equally famous Augustus
(Consul B.C. 43, Emperor B.C. 29--A.C. 14), about twenty years before
our era, we see a head of the Sun-God Bacchus upon one side; and on the
reverse a man presenting a military standard, the banner of which is
ornamented with a St. Andrew's cross.
Two other coins of the same reign and about the same date, have upon
them representations of military standards bearing the same symbol.
Upon another coin struck by Augustus we see a crescent with a star or
radiate sun within its horns, the ancient phallic symbol adopted by the
followers of the prophet Muhammad centuries later.
A similar symbol occurs upon the coins of Hadrian (A.C. 117-138).
Upon two coins of Antoninus Pius (A.C. 138-161) we see the Sun-God
Hercules plucking the Golden Apple from a tree around which the
traditional serpent is coiled.
On another coin of the same reign the Sun-God Hercules can be seen
holding a round object which admittedly represents the Golden Apple;
that symbol both of the Sun-God as (1) the bi-sexual Giver of Life and
(2) the personification of the Male Principle, and of the Goddess who
represented (1) the Love of the two sexes and (2) the Female Principle.
Upon another coin Jove holds a similar looking object.
Many coins issued in the name of Annia Galeria Faustina the wife of
Antoninus Pius, and by Marcus Aurelius (A.C. 161-180), and in the name
of his wife Annia Faustina, have upon them representations of Venus the
Goddess of Love holding a round object which is admittedly meant for
the Golden Apple. The favourite legends are _Venus Victrix_, _Venus
Felix_, and _Venus Genetrix_, and of phallic import; and in one
instance the Goddess of Love holds an infant wrapped in swaddling
clothes as well as the phallic apple.
Other coins of Marcus Aurelius or his wife have upon them
representations of Eternity as a female figure holding a round object.
In some cases the round object is surmounted by a Phoenix.
Upon a coin struck by Lucius Aurelius Verus (A.C. 160-169) that ruler
is to be seen holding a round object surmounted by a Victory.
On the coins of Commodus (A.C. 180-192) sometimes Jove and sometimes
the Emperor holds a small round object. A Victory in some cases
surmounts it.
Venus holding the Golden Apple--that is, a round object which in such
instances is admitted to have represented the Golden Apple--is to be
seen upon many coins issued in the name of Lucilla, the sister of
Commodus.
Upon coins issued by Caius Pescennius Niger a small round object
surmounted by a Victory is to be seen in the hand of Jove. On a coin
struck by Septimus Severus (A.C. 193-211) we see Rome represented as a
female figure with a shield at her side marked with a cross.
Upon another coin we see the Goddess of Love holding a round object
admittedly meant for the Golden Apple, while a child is stationed at
her feet. The legend is _Venus Genetrix_. Among the coins issued in the
name of Julia Domna, the wife of the last named Emperor, are nearly a
dozen varieties upon which Venus is represented as holding a round
object. A crescent occurs upon the reverse in some instances.
Upon several coins of Caracalla (A.C. 211-217) we see that Emperor
holding a small round object surmounted by a Victory; upon others he is
to be seen holding a Victory only.
Various coins issued in the name of Fulvia Plantilla the wife of
Caracalla, show us the Goddess of Love holding a round object. The
legends are _Venus Felix_ and _Venus Victrix_.
In the reign of Elagabalus or Heliogabalus (A.C. 218-222) a coin was
struck on which we see the Goddess Astarte, Ashtoreth, Ishtar, or
Venus, holding a cross.
Venus holding a round object is to be seen upon many coins issued in
the names of Soaemias the mother of Elagabalus, his wife Julia Aquilia
Severa, Julia Mamma the mother of Alexander Severus, and his wife
Orbiana.
On a coin of the Emperor Decius (A.C. 249-251) struck at Maeonia, we
meet with the so-called "Monogram of Christ" upon a Roman coin in the
form {image "monogram3.gif"} for the first time.
Upon a coin of Trebonianus Gallus (A.C. 251-254) Eternity is
represented as a female holding a small round object.
On another coin of this reign we see a Phoenix instead of a Victory
upon the round object held by the Emperor.
Many of the coins of ancient Rome acclaim the Sun-God as the Saviour,
and upon a coin issued by Gallienus (A.C. 254-268) we see the Sun-God
Apollo holding a cross.
Upon a coin issued by the younger Valerian we see the Sun-God holding a
small round object.
A coin struck by Tetricus (A.C. 267-264) has upon its reverse a
representation of the Sun-God holding a round object, while in the
field near the Sun-God is a cross.
On a coin issued by Claudius II. we see the Sun-God Hercules holding a
round object admittedly meant for the Golden Apple.
Upon a coin issued by Aurelianus we see the Sun-God holding a round
object surmounted by a crescent.
On a coin issued by Vabalathus we see the Sun-God Hercules holding a
round object admittedly representing the Golden Apple.
Upon a coin of Numerianus (A.C. 283-284) we see the Goddess of Love
holding a round object surmounted by a Victory. Such instances as this
should be specially noted, as nothing distinguishes the round objects
so surmounted from those held by Venus which admittedly represent the
Golden Apple, and the present fashion of our symbol the Coronation Orb
or Imperial Apple is due to the fact that a century later Theodosius
II. Emperor of Constantinople started the idea of substituting a cross
for the Victory.
Upon several coins of Carinus (A.C. 282-284) we see the Sun-God holding
a small round object.
On other coins of this reign Eternity appears as a female holding a
small round object surmounted by a Phoenix.
Upon the coins issued in the name of Magnia Urbica, wife of Carinus, on
which we see Venus holding a small round object which admittedly
represented the Golden Apple, the Crescent frequently accompanies the
representations of the Goddess of Love.
On coins issued by Diocletian (A.C. 284-305) we see both Jove and the
Sun-God holding a small round object; like the Emperor himself. A
Victory in some cases surmounts it.
The Sun-God Hercules holding a round object which admittedly signified
the Golden Apple is to be seen on other coins issued during this reign.
Among the coins issued by Diocletian's co-Emperor Maximian, is one
bearing a representation of the Sun-God Hercules in the Garden of the
Hesperides near the Tree encircled by the Serpent he slew. The Sun-God
holds a round object representing a Golden Apple plucked from the Tree
in question.
On the reverse of another coin bearing the names both of Jove the
All-Father and Hercules the Sun-God, we see the latter represented as
holding a round object, admittedly meant for the Golden Apple.
In some cases where Hercules holds the Golden Apple-for instance, upon
a coin bearing the legend _Herculi invicto Aug_.--the Golden Apple is
surmounted by a Victory.
A coin issued by Constantius Chlorus, the ruler of Gaul and father of
Constantine the Great, represents the Sun-God Hercules in the act of
plucking a Golden Apple from the famous Tree.
A coin issued in the joint names of Galerius and Constantius Chlorus,
bearing the legend _Genio Populi Romani_, has in the field on the
reverse side a cross, which takes the place occupied upon otherwise
similar coins by a star-like object not improbably representing the
sun.
Such are the more striking features of the evidence which can be
obtained from the Roman coins issued prior to the accession of
Constantine to the throne of Gaul.
The reader will have seen that the symbol of the cross occurs several
times upon the coins in question, and in almost if not quite every
instance in connection with the Sun-God.
The fact that upon a coin of Julius Caesar, and therefore before our
era, a cross admittedly occurs as a symbol of the sun, will also have
been remarked.
It will also have been noticed in how very large a number of cases the
round symbol which was a precursor of our Coronation Orb admittedly
signified the Golden Apple, and therefore was of phallic import.
Another point which the reader cannot very well fail to bear in mind,
is that where the Goddess of Love, as the representative of the sex
whose felicity lies in motherhood or the victorious production of life,
is seen carrying the symbol in question, the surrounding legend is
Venus _Genetrix_, or _Victrix_, or _Felix_, or some variation or other
of the same; and that the said legends are obviously phallic in
signification.
If we also keep before us the fact that the Golden Apple whether held
by the Sun-God or his complement the Goddess of Love, was at times
surmounted by the figure of Victory for which Christian Emperors
gradually and only gradually substituted the figure of the cross, it is
curious to note that in early Christian representations of the Christ
he is often to be seen with the Apple or forbidden fruit of the Tree of
Life or of the knowledge of good and evil.
When the Christ is in such cases depicted as a youth, the phallic apple
is usually to be seen lying near him; but when the Christ is
represented as a man, it is placed in his hand.
For instance a good example of the Christ holding the fruit of the Tree
of Life is reproduced for us in the well known work on the likeness of
Jesus by the late Thomas Heaphy.[47] Here we see, in a picture which
occurs upon a glass ornament found in the Catacombs of Rome in the tomb
of a Christian named Eutychia, an illustration of the Christ standing
by the side of the Tree of Life. The rays of the Sun surround the head
of the Christ, and in his hand is the phallic Apple.
It will have been remarked that the round object to be seen upon
innumerable Roman coins in the hand of this or that ruler or deity, and
popularly supposed to have always represented the round world upon
which we dwell although it is at the same time believed that the world
was not then considered to be round, frequently occurs in the hand of a
female figure representing Eternity. It is self-evident that a
representation of the world we live on is less likely to have been so
placed than a symbol of Life.
A still more striking fact, which cannot fail to have been noticed by
the reader of the evidence from the coins of ancient Rome quoted in the
earlier part of this chapter, is that in several instances a Phoenix
and not a Victory surmounts the so-called orb. For the story of the
Phoenix was derived from the Egyptian City of the Sun.[48] And the
fabulous bird in question was, according to Tacitus as well as
Herodotus, specially connected with the temple of the Sun-God at
Heliopolis.
Upon this point it may be added that the famous story of the Phoenix
seems to have been known to the writer of _Job_; the Septuagint version
of _Job_ xxix. 18, being "I shall die in my nest and shall multiply my
days as the Phoenix" according to some of the best authorities.
The various ages allotted to this allegorical bird had reference to the
calendar; as indeed we learn from Pliny, who tells us that
"The revolution of the Great Year in which the seasons
and stars return to their former places, agrees with the
life of this bird."[49]
This is borne out by the periods spoken of as the lifetime of the
Phoenix; as among them are one of 600 years, the Great Year referred to
by Josephus and others, and one of 1,461 years, which was the Sothic
period of the Egyptians.
It is also clear that, like the Victory and the Golden Apple it
surmounted, the Phoenix and its wonderful egg were not only connected
with the Sun-God, but also had a phallic signification.
The problem as to whether bird or egg first existed scarcely applies to
the fabulous Phoenix and its equally fabulous egg, and need not be
discussed here. Suffice it to say that the round object from which that
Christian symbol the Coronation Orb is descended, though it may at
times have more or less represented the world upon which we dwell,
seems to have primarily signified, as associated with each other in
idea, both the Golden Apple of Love and the Phoenix-like life principle
enshrined in the Egg, both the egg-like _Cosmos_ or Universe and
Eternity; but in all, and through all, and above all, the basis of all
power whether finite or infinite, _viz._, Life.
It is therefore not surprising to find that the monarchs of ancient
days claimed to rule by divine right as vice-gerents of the Sun-God, to
whose favouring influence all earthly life is traceable; and caused
themselves to be represented, upon Roman coins as receiving the Golden
Apple, and upon Egyptian monuments as receiving the Cross, from the
Sun-God, as the symbol of their authority.
Yet another point to be borne in mind, is that we Christians are
expressly taught that God the Father and God the Son are as nearly
identical as the ancients considered the Central Fire, which they
deemed the Parent of all things, and the Warmth and Light issuing
therefrom to be; or the Sun's disc and the emanations therefrom; the
Christ being represented as saying "I and My Father are one" and "He
that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." For though we describe ours as
a _co-equal_ Trinity, no such identity with either God the Father or
God the Son is affirmed of God the Holy Ghost, and it is remarkable
that in our ancient illustrations of the Three Persons, both the First
and the Second are represented as holding the so-called globe and
Cross, while the Third, even where depicted as of human shape like the
other two, is not.
The fact is that the co-equality of the Holy Spirit of a God who is
Himself, as Jesus declared, a Spirit, is an idea which did not find
much acceptance among Christians till a comparatively late date and is
the outcome of confused thought. And the separate personality of this
Spirit of a Spirit being entirely a Christian conception, and without a
counterpart in the theology of the ancients, few if any Pagan symbols
such as the so-called globe and the cross would have been associated
with it in any case.