_Forms of the Cross--Ancient Maltese Cross--Phallic Character of some
Crosses--Offensive Forms of the Cross in Etruscan and Pompeian
Monuments--Thor's Battle-axe--The Buddhist Cross--Indian Crosses--The
Fylfot or Four-footed Cross--Danish Poem of the Thors of
Asgard--Legend of Thor's Loss of his Golden Hammer--Original Meaning
of these Crosses--Reception of Christianity amongst the Britons--Plato
and the Cross--The Mexican Tree of Life--Rain Makers--The
Winds--Various Meanings attributed to the Cross--The Crux
Ansata--Phallic Attributes--Coins, Gaulish and Jewish--Roman
Coins--The Lake Dwellings--The Cross in the Patriarchal Age._
In studying the origin and signification of the pre-Christian cross, we,
naturally of course, turn our attention to the forms in which it is
delineated; these are both numerous and varied--so varied indeed that a
writer, some years ago, in the _Edinburgh Review_ stated that his
commonplace-book contained nearly two hundred representations, which he
had found combined as often as not with other emblems of a sacred
character, and which had been collected from all parts of the world. We
may notice a few of the principal which are really, generally speaking,
types of all.
Most people are familiar with the Maltese cross--that consisting of four
triangles meeting in a central circle, or as it is generally described,
the cross with the four delta-like arms conjoined to or issuing from the
nave of a wheel or a diminutive circle. It derives its name from its
discovery on the island of Malta, and from its adoption by the Knights of
St. John for their coat-of-arms. There is no doubt it is one of the most
ancient forms of the cross we are acquainted with, as it is found, as we
have already stated, on the sculptures of the Assyrian monarchs long
before the Christian era, and may be seen on the sculptures in the
British Museum. In some of the Nineveh monuments representing
subject-people bringing tribute to the king, it occurs in the form of
ear-rings.
In Assyria, it is believed to have been the emblem of royalty, as it is
found on the breasts of the most powerful of the rulers. As it was known
originally in Malta, it was of a very different character to the ornament
worn either by the Assyrian monarch or by the modern inhabitants of
civilised nations. It was indeed of so gross a character, that the Knights
of St. John soon set to work to make something more decent of
it--something which while not altogether discarding the old form, should
yet be inoffensive to the eye of the more modest onlooker. It was made up,
in fact, of four gigantic phalli carved out of the solid granite, similar
to the form in which it is found in the island of Gozyo, and on some of
the Etruscan and Pompeian monuments.
The reason why it assumed a phallic character in the locality which gives
it its name, is not perhaps clear, but the study of Assyrian antiquities
has revealed the meaning attached to it in the palmy days of Nineveh and
Babylon; it referred to the four great gods of the Assyrian pantheon--Ra,
and the first triad--Ana, Belus, and Hea; and when inserted in a roundlet,
as may be seen in the British Museum, it signified Sansi, or the sun
ruling the earth as well as the heavens. It was therefore the symbol of
royalty and dominion, which accounts for its presence on the breasts of
kings.
On the Etruscan and Pompeian monuments generally, this cross is as gross
and offensive in form as in ancient Malta, but it is found in a character
as unobjectionable as in Assyria, on the official garments of the Etruscan
priesthood. It has been found in Asia Minor, Cyprus, and Sicily; and Dr.
Schliemann discovered many examples of it (with other crosses) on the
vases which he dug from the seat of ancient Troy. It was also found in
what was described as a "magnificent cruciform mosaic pavement, discovered
about thirty years ago in the ruins of a Gallo-Roman villa at Pont d'Oli
(Pons Aulae), near Pau, in the Basses-Pyrenees, accompanied by several
other varieties of the cross, including the St. George and the St. Andrew,
all glowing in colours richly dight, and surrounding a colossal bust of
Proteus, settled in the midst of his sea monsters."
The cross generally regarded as the most notable type of that emblem,
because it is said to have figured in the religious systems of more
peoples than any other, is that known as "Thor's hammer," or "Thor's
battle-axe." It may, perhaps, also be set down as the most ancient of the
crosses--how many years back it dates we cannot say, several thousands
evidently. It consisted of the last letter of the Samaritan alphabet, the
tau or tav in its decussated or most primitive form, and may be described,
as it has been sometimes, as a _cruciform hammer_.
It derived its name from being borne in the hand of Thor, as the
all-powerful instrument by means of which his deeds recorded in the Eddas
were accomplished. "It was venerated by the heroes of the north as the
magical sign which thwarted the power of death over those who bore it; and
the Scandinavian devotee placed it upon his horn of mead before raising it
to his lips, no doubt for the purpose of imparting to it the life-giving
virtues." To this hour it is employed by the women of India and of the
north-eastern parts of Africa as a mark of possession or taboo, which they
generally impress upon the vessels containing their stores of grain, &c.
A writer in the _Edinburgh Review_ of January, 1870, hazards the opinion
that this was the mark which the prophet was commanded to impress upon the
foreheads of the faithful in Judah, as recorded in Ezekiel ix. 4. He gives
no reason or authority for this statement, but probably derived it from
St. Jerome and others of his time, who said that the letter _tau_ was
that which was ordered to be placed on the foreheads of those mourners.
Jerome says that the Hebrew letter _tau_ was formerly written like a
cross.
As to the name of this cross, the popular designation is clearly a
mistake, since its origin dates back centuries before the mythology of the
north was developed. In India it was known as the swastika of the
Buddhists, and served as the monograms of Vishnu and Siva. Such are its
associations and uses at the present day, and, no doubt, they have been
the same from the very advent of the religions of these respective
deities. The enquirer has, however, not even here measured the limit of
its antiquity, for in China it was known as the Leo-tsen long before the
Sakya-Buddha era, and was portrayed upon the walls of their pagodas and
upon the lanterns used to illumine their most sacred precints. It has ever
been the symbol of their heaven. In the great temple of Rameses II., at
Thebes, it is represented frequently with such associations as
conclusively prove that its significance was the same in the land of the
Nile as in China. All over the East it is the magic symbol of the Buddhist
heaven; the chief ornament on the sceptres and crowns of the Bompa deities
of Thibet, who dispute the palm of antiquity with all other divinities;
and is beautifully pressed in the Artee, or musical bell, borne by the
figure of Balgovina, the herald or messenger of heaven. The universality
of the use of this symbol is proved by its prevalence as well in Europe as
in Asia and Africa. Among the Etruscans it was used as a religious sign,
as is shown by its appearance on urns exhumed from ancient lake-beds
situated between Parma and Pacenza. Those taken from the Lacustrine
cemeteries are thought to date back to 1000 B.C. On the terra-cotta vases
of Alba Longa the same sign is impressed, and served as the symbol of
Persephone, the awful queen of the shades, the arbiter of mortal fate;
while on the roll of the Roman soldier it was the sign of life. On the
old Runic monuments it is ever present. Even in Scotland it is found on
sculptured stones of unknown age. The most numerous examples of this form,
however, are found in the sculptures of Khorsabad, and in the ivories from
Nimroud; here occur almost all the known varieties. It has been observed,
too, in Persia; and is used to this day in Northern India to mark the jars
of sacred water taken from the Indus and Ganges. It is especially esteemed
by the inhabitants of Southern India as the emblem of disembodied Jaina
saints. Very remarkable illustrations of it, carved in the most durable
rock, and inserted in the exterior walls of temples and other edifices of
Mexico and Central America, also occur, which may be seen in Lord
Kingsborough's _Mexican Antiquities_. It is found on innumerable coins and
medals of all times and of all peoples; from the rude mintages of Aegina
and Sicily, as well as from the more skilful hands of the Bactrian and
Continental Greeks. It is noteworthy, too, in reference to its extreme
popularity, or superstitious veneration in which it has been almost
universally held, that the cross-patee, or cruciform hammer, was one of
the very last of purely pagan symbols which were religiously preserved in
Europe long after the establishment of Christianity. To the close of the
Middle Ages the stole, or Isian mantle, of the Cistercian monk was usually
adorned with it; and men wore it suspended from their necklaces in
precisely the same manner as did the vestal-virgins of pagan Rome. It may
be seen upon the bells of many of our parish churches in the northern,
midland, and eastern counties, as at Appleby, Mexborough, Hathersage,
Waddington, Bishop's Norton, West Barkwith, and other places, where it was
placed as a magical sign to subdue the vicious spirit of the tempest. It
is said to be still used for the like purpose, during storms of wind and
rain, by the peasantry in Iceland and in the southern parts of
Germany.[2]
This cross is also known as the "Fylfot," or "Fytfot" (four-footed cross),
or "Gammadion"--"the dissembled cross under the discipline of the secret."
Jewitt, who has written in an interesting manner upon the subject,
supports what we have already stated in the foregoing pages with the
observation that this is one of the most singular, most ancient, and most
interesting of the whole series of crosses. Some say it is composed of
four gammas, conjoined in the centre, which as numerals expressed the Holy
Trinity, and by its rectangular form symbolised the chief corner-stone of
the Church. We mentioned that it was known in India as the swastika of the
Buddhists; we note further that it is said to be formed of the two words
"su" (well) and "asti" (it is), meaning "it is," or "it is well;" equal to
"so be it," and implying complete resignation. "From this the Swastikas,
the opponents of the Brahmins, who denied the immortality of the soul, and
affirmed that its existence was finite and connected only with the body
upon earth, received their name; their monogrammatic enblem, or symbol,
being the mystic cross formed by the combination of two syllables, _su_ +
_ti_ = _suti_, or swasti."[3]
The connection of this cross with Thor, the Thunderer, is not without its
signification and importance, in considering the forms and origin of these
emblems and their transmission from the Pagan to the Christian world. Thor
was said to be the bravest of the sons of Odin, or Woden, and Fria, or
Friga, the goddess of earth. (From Thor, of course, we get our Thursday;
from Woden, Wednesday; and from Friga, Friday). "He was believed to be of
the most marvellous power and might; yea, and that there were no people
throughout the whole world that were not subjected unto him, and did not
owe him divine honour and service; and that there was no puissance
comparable to his. His dominion of all others most farthest extending
itself, both in heaven and earth. That, in the aire he governed the winds
and the clouds; and being displeased did cause lightning, thunder, and
tempest, with excessive raine, haile, and all ill weather. But being well
pleased by the adoration, sacrifice, and service of his suppliants, he
then bestowed upon them most faire and seasonable weather; and caused
corne abundantly to grow, as all sorts of fruits, &c., and kept away the
plague and all other evil and infectious diseases."
Thor's emblem was a hammer of gold, represented as a fylfot, and with it
he destroyed his enemies the Jotuns, crushed the head of the great Mitgard
serpent, killed numbers of giants, restored the dead goats to life that
drew his car, and consecrated the pyre of Baldur. This hammer, boomerang
like, had the property, when thrown, of striking the object aimed at and
then returning to the thrower's hand. Mr. Jewitt thinks we have, in this,
a curious insight into the origin of the form of the emblem itself. He
says:--"I have remarked that the fylfot is sometimes described as being
formed of four gammas conjoined in the centre. When the form of the
boomerang--a missile instrument of barbaric nations, much the shape of the
letter =V= with a rounded instead of acute bottom, which, on being thrown,
slowly ascends in the air, whirling round and round, till it reaches a
considerable height, and then returns until it finally sweeps over the
head of the thrower and strikes the ground behind him--is taken into
consideration, and the traditional returning power of the hammer is
remembered in connection with it, the fylfot may surely be not
inappropriately described as a figure composed of four boomerangs,
conjoined in the centre. This form of fylfot is not uncommon in early
examples, and even on a very ancient specimen of Chinese porcelain it
occurs at the angles of the pattern--it is the ordinary fylfot, with the
angles curved or rounded.
Ancient literature abounds in curious and sensational stories about the
wonders accomplished by Thor with the assistance of this hammer. Once he
lost his weapon, or tool, and with it his power, by stratagem however he
regained both.
The Danish poem, called the "Thorr of Asgard," as translated by De Prior,
says:--
"There rode the mighty of Asgard, Thor,
His journey across the plain;
And there his hammer of gold he lost,
And sought so long in vain.
'Twas then the mighty of Asgard, Thor,
His brother his bidding told--
Up thou and off to the Northland Fell,
And seek my hammer of gold.
He spake, and Loki, the serving-man,
His feathers upon him drew;
And launching over the salty sea,
Away to the Northland flew."
Greeting the Thusser king, he informed him of the cause of his visit,
viz., that Thor had lost his golden hammer. Then the king replied that
Thor would never again see his hammer until he had given him the maiden
Fredenborg to wife. Loki took back this message to Thor, who disguised
himself as the maiden in woman's clothes, and was introduced to the king
as his future bride. After expressing his astonishment at the wonderful
appetite of the maiden, he ordered eight strong men to bring in the hammer
and lay it across the lap of the bride. Thor immediately threw off his
disguise and seized the hammer, with which, after he had slain the king,
he returned home.
The fylfot cross is frequently found on Roman pottery in various parts of
England, as for instance on the famous Colchester vase, on which is
depicted a gladiatorial combat, the cross being distinctly marked on the
shields of the combatants. Another fine example is found on a Roman altar
of Minerva at High Rochester. "The constant use of the symbol," says
Jewitt, "through so many ages, and by so many and such varied peoples,
gives it an importance which is peculiarly striking."
To sum up this part of the subject then, we have amongst numerous others
the following chief forms of the cross common in all parts of the world.
The Latin, a long upright with shorter cross beam; the Greek, an upright
and bar of equal lengths; the St. Andrews, in the form of a letter =X=;
the Maltese, four triangles conjoined to a circular centre; the Hammer of
Thor; and the Crux Ansata, or handled cross.
The question now arises, what was the origin or original meaning of these
crosses? Uninformed Christians are generally under the impression that all
refer to one and the same thing, viz., the instrument of the death of
Jesus Christ: historical evidence just produced, however, clearly
disproves that, and what we may say further will add additional weight to
the argument.
It has been noticed that the Britons received Christianity with remarkable
readiness, and this has been attributed to the following among other
circumstances, viz., the impression which they held in common with the
Platonists and Pythagoreans, that the Second Person of the Deity was
imprinted on the universe in the form of a cross. We have already
explained that the Druids in their groves were accustomed to select the
most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the Deity they adored, and
having cut off the side branches, affixed two of them to the highest part
of the trunk in such a manner as that those branches, extending on each
side like the arms of a man, together with the body, should present to the
spectator the appearance of a huge cross, and that on the bark of the
tree, in various places, was actually inscribed the letter =T=,--Tau.
"Some have gone so far as to suppose a Celtic origin for the word cross,
and have derived it from _Crugh_ and _Cruach_, which signify a cross in
that language, though others suppose these have a much more probable
origin in the Hebrew and Chaldee. _Chrussh_, signifies boards or pieces of
timber fastened together, as we should say, cross-wise; the word is so
used in Exodus xxvii. 6. This seems a very natural and probable etymology
for the term, but it may also allude more to the agony suffered on such an
erection, and then its origin perhaps may be traced to Chrutz,
'agitation.' This word also means to be 'kneaded,' and broken to pieces
like clay in the hands of a potter. Chrotshi, in Chaldee, we are told by
Parkhurst, means accusations, charges, revilings, reproach, all of them
terms applied to Jesus Christ in his sufferings. Pliny shows that the
punishment of the cross among the Romans was as old as Tarquinus Priscus;
how much older it is perhaps difficult to say.
"Plato, born 430 years before Christ, had advocated the idea of a Trinity,
and had expressed an opinion that the form of the Second Person of it was
stamped upon the universe in the form of a cross. St. Augustine goes so
far as to say that it was by means of the Platonic system that he was
enabled to understand properly the doctrine of the Trinity."
Perhaps, originally, the cross had but one meaning, whatever its form; it
is probable that it was so. However that may be, it is certain that as
time went on and its form varied, different significations were attached
to it. It represented creative power and eternity in Egypt, Assyria, and
Britain; it was emblematical of heaven and immortality in India, China,
and Scandinavia; it was the sign of freedom from physical suffering in the
Americas; all over the world it symbolised the Divine Unity--resurrection
and life to come.
"In the Mexican tongue it bore the significant and worthy name, 'Tree of
our Life,' or 'Tree of our Flesh.' It represented the god of rains and of
health, and this was everywhere its simple meaning. 'Those of Yucatan,'
say the chroniclers, 'prayed to the cross as the god of rains when they
needed water.' The Aztec goddess of rains bore one in her hand, and at the
feast celebrated to her honour in the early spring (as we have previously
noted) victims were nailed to a cross and shot with arrows. Quetzalcoatl,
god of the winds, bore as his sign of office a mace like the cross of a
bishop; his robe was covered with them strewn like flowers, and its
adoration was throughout connected with his worship."
We have mentioned that "when the Muyscas would sacrifice to the goddess of
waters, they extended cords across the tranquil depths of some lake, thus
forming a gigantic cross, and that at the point of intersection threw in
their offerings of gold, emeralds and precious oils. The arms of the cross
were designed to point to the cardinal points, and represent the four
winds, the rain bringers. To confirm this explanation, let us have
recourse to the simpler ceremonies of the less cultivated tribes, and see
the transparent meaning of the symbol as they employed it.
"When the rain maker of the Lenni Lenape would exert his power, he retired
to some secluded spot and drew upon the earth the figure of a cross,
placed upon it a piece of tobacco, a gourd, a bit of some red stuff, and
commenced to cry aloud to the spirits of the rains. The Creeks at the
festival of the Busk, celebrated to the four winds, and according to the
legends instituted by them, commenced with making the new fire. The manner
of this was to place four logs in the centre of the square, end to end,
forming a cross, the outer ends pointing to the cardinal points; in the
centre of the cross the new fire is made."[4]
"As the emblem of the winds which disperse the fertilising showers," says
Brinton, "it is emphatically the tree of our life, our subsistence, and
our health. It never had any other meaning in America, and if, as has been
said, the tombs of the Mexicans were cruciform, it was perhaps with
reference to a resurrection and a future life as portrayed under this
symbol, indicating that the buried body would rise by the action of the
four spirits of the world, as the buried seed takes on a new existence
when watered by the vernal showers. It frequently recurs in the ancient
Egyptian writings, where it is interpreted _life_; doubtless, could we
trace the hieroglyph to its source, it would likewise prove to be derived
from the four winds."[5]
The Buddhist cross to which allusion has been made was exactly the cross
of the Manicheans, with leaves and flowers springing from it, and placed
upon a Mount Calvary as among the Roman Catholics. The tree of life and
knowledge, or the Jambu tree, in their maps of the world, is always
represented in the shape of a Manichean cross 84 yojanas, or 423 miles
high, including the three steps of the Calvary. This cross, putting forth
leaves and flowers (and fruit also, Captain Wilford was informed), is
called the divine tree, the tree of the gods, the tree of life and
knowledge, and productive of whatever is good and desirable, and is placed
in the terrestrial Paradise. Agapius, according to Photius, maintained
that this divine tree, in Paradise, was Christ himself. In their
delineation of the heavens, the globe of the earth is filled with this
cross and its Calvary. The divines of Thibet, says Captain Wilford, place
it to the S.W. of Meru, towards the source of the Ganges. The Manicheans
always represented Christ crucified upon a tree, among the foliage. The
Christians of India, though they did not admit of images, still
entertained the greatest veneration for the cross. They placed it on a
Calvary in public places and at the meeting of cross roads, and even the
heathen Hindus in these parts paid also great regard to it.
Captain Wilford was presented by a learned Buddhist with a book, called
the Cshetra-samasa, which contained several drawings of the cross. Some of
these his friend was unable to explain to him, but whatever the variations
of the cross were in other particulars, they were declared to be
invariable as regards the shaft and two arms; the Calvary was sometimes
omitted. One of these crosses seemed to puzzle the Buddhist completely, or
he would not say either what he thought or knew about it. It consisted of
the ordinary cross with shaft and cross-bar, pointed at the ends, but with
two other bars intersecting the right angles formed by the shaft and
cross-bar, thus giving six points. No one can look at this cross, and not
at once discern its phallic character. Some writers affect to laugh at
this, but we have ample evidence that at times such a meaning has been
attributed to the cross. In connection with this, Dr. Inman makes some
remarks which we shall do well to consider, whether we receive them or
not; there may be nothing in them, and there may be much. He says:--"There
can be no doubt, I think, in the mind of any student of antiquity, that
the cross is not originally a Christian emblem; nay, the very fact that
the cross was used as a means of executing criminals shows that its form
was familiar to Jews and Romans. It was used partly as an ornament, and
partly in certain forms of religious worship. The simple cross, with
perpendicular and transverse arms of equal length, represented the nave
and spokes of the solar wheel, or the sun darting his rays on all sides.
As the wheel became fantastically developed so did the cross, and each
limb became so developed at the outer end as to symbolise the triad.
Sometimes the idea was very coarsely represented; and I have seen, amongst
some ancient Etruscan remains, a cross formed of four phalli of equal
length, their narrow end pointing inwards; and in the same work another
was portrayed, in which the phallus was made of inordinate length so as
to support the others high up from the ground; each was in itself a triad.
The same form of cross was probably used by the Phoenicians, who appear to
have colonised Malta at a very early period of their career; for they have
left a form of it behind them in the shape of a cross similar to that
described above, but which has been toned down by the moderns, who could
not endure the idea of an union between grossness and the crucifix, and
the phalli became as innocent as we see them in the Maltese cross of
to-day."
So many traces of the cross, as used in ancient times in all parts of the
world, meet us on every hand that we find it difficult within the limited
space at our command even to enumerate them; we have already traversed in
our account a greater part of the known world, and still vast numbers of
instances remain unnoticed. Almost as varied as its principal forms are
the explanations offered respecting its origin and significance. We are
told by some that for its origin we must go to the Buddhists and to the
Lama of Thibet, who is said to take his name from the cross, called in his
language Lamh. Higgins quotes Vallence as saying that the Tartars call the
cross Lama, from the Scythian Lamh, a hand, synonymous to the Yod of the
Chaldeans; and that it thus became the name of a cross, and of the high
priest with the Tartars; and with the Irish, Luarn, signifying the head of
the church, an abbot, &c.
The last form of cross to which we shall here allude is that known as the
Crux Ansata, or Handled Cross. Whatever may be the signification of that
instrument, or ornament, it is certain that no other has ever been so
variously explained, or has been so successful in puzzling those who have
sought to give it a meaning. Some have said it was a Nilometer, or measure
of the rise of the Nile; one--a bishop--thought it was a setting stick for
planting roots; another said it represented the Law of Gravitation. Don
Martin said it was a winnowing fan; Herwart said it was a compass; Pococke
said it represented the four elements. Others, again, suggest that it may
be only a key. "It opened," says Borwick, "the door of the sacred chest.
It revealed hidden things. It was the hope of life to come." And he
continues, "However well the cross fit the mathematical lock, the phallic
lock, the gnostic lock, the philosophical lock, the religious lock, it is
quite likely that this very ancient and almost universal symbol was at
first a secret in esoteric holding, to the meaning of which, with all our
guessing, we have no certain clue."
This cross has certainly a most remarkable connection with the ancient
history of Egypt, being found universally represented on the monuments,
the tombs, the walls, and the wrapping cloths of the dead; hence,
evidently, the idea that it is peculiarly Egyptian and its ascription of
"Key of the Nile." From Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Ruffinus, we
learn that it was known to the Egyptian Christians at the close of the
fourth century as the symbol of eternal life. Later on, Dr. Max Uhlman
wrote, "that the handle cross means _life_, is manifest from the Rosetta
inscription and other texts." Zoeckler, another German author, notices the
opinion of Macrobius that it was the hieroglyphic sign of Osiris, or the
sun, it being a fact that when the ancient Egyptians wished to symbolise
Osiris, they set up a staff with an eye upon it, because in antiquity the
sun was known as the eye of God, and then claims that the round portion
represented the orb of the sun, the perpendicular bar signifying the rays
of the high mid-day sun, and the shorter horizontal bar symbolising the
rays of the rising or setting sun. The discovery of this emblem by M.
Mariette in a niche of the holy of holies in the ancient temple of
Denderah, points significantly to its importance and peculiar sacredness,
and it has been thought probable that it was the central object of
interest in the inner precincts of the temple.
It seems that the Egyptian priests, when asked for an explanation of this
cross, evaded the question by replying that the Tau was a "_divine
mystery_."
However varied the explanations offered may be, and whatever the mystery
said to surround this object, the feature always remains,--its
symbolisation of life and regeneration. From this, its phallic character
was very easily inferred--its derivation from the _lingam-yoni_ symbol,
said Barlow, seemed a very natural process. The junction of the yoni with
the cross, in Dr. Inman's judgment, sufficiently proved that it had a
phallic or male signification; a conclusion which certain unequivocal
Etruscan remains fully confirmed. "We conclude, therefore," says this
writer, "that the ancient cross was an emblem of the belief in a male
creator, and the method by which creation was initiated."
Not the least remarkable exemplification of the universal prevalence of
the cross both as to time and country, is found amongst coins and medals:
here as in other things it is ever prominent. Take the ancient Gaulish
coins, for instance, and the fylfot and ordinary Greek cross abound; take
the ancient British coins of the age long prior to Christianity, and the
same thing occurs. "On Scandinavian coins, as well as those of Gaul, the
fylfot cross appears, as it also does on those of Syracuse, Corinth, and
Chalcedon. On the coins of Byblos, Astarte is represented holding a long
staff, surmounted by a cross, and resting her foot on the prow of a
galley. On the coins of Asia Minor, the cross is also to be found. It
occurs as the reverse of a silver coin, supposed to be of Cyprus, on
several Cilician coins; it is placed beneath the throne of Baal of Tarsus,
on a Phoenician coin of that time, bearing the legend 'Baal Tharz.' A
medal possibly of the same place, with partially obliterated Phoenician
characters, has the cross occupying the entire field of the reverse side.
Several, with inscriptions in unknown characters, have a ram on one side
and the cross and ring on the other. Another has the sacred bull,
accompanied by this symbol; others have a lion's head on obverse, and a
cross and circle on the reverse."[6]
Strangely enough, even Jewish money is marked with this emblem, the shekel
bearing on one side what is usually called a triple lily or hyacinth; the
same forming a pretty floral cross.
On Roman coins the cross was of very frequent occurrence, and
illustrations of good examples may be seen in the pages of the _Art
Journal_ for the year 1874. An engraving of the _quincunx_, or piece of
five _unciae_, is given, bearing on one side a cross, a =V=, and five
pellets; and on the other a cross only. This is an example of the earlier
periods; of course when we come to the later periods the emblem is still
more frequent. These coins are often found in ancient graves and
sarcophagi, and these latter again supply examples of various familiar
forms of crosses of very remote antiquity,--not simply the adornment of
coffin and gravecloths, but the actual construction of the tomb or
grave-mound in that form. Fine specimens of these have been discovered at
Stoney-Littleton, at New Grange, at Banwell, Somerset, at Adisham, at
Hereford, at Helperthorpe, and in the Isle of Lewis.
"Before the Romans, long before the Etruscans, there lived in the plains
of northern Italy a people to whom the cross was a religious symbol, the
sign beneath which they laid their dead to rest; a people of whom history
tells nothing, knowing not their name, but of whom antiquarian research
has learned this, that they lived in ignorance of the laws of
civilisation, that they dwelt in villages built on platforms over lakes,
and that they trusted in the cross to guard, and may be to revive their
loved ones whom they committed to the dust. Throughout Emilia are found
remains of these people; these remains form quarries whence manure is dug
by the peasants of the present day. These quarries go by the name of
_terramares_. They are vast accumulations of cinders, charcoal, bones,
fragments of pottery, and other remains of human industry. As this earth
is very rich in phosphates it is much appreciated by agriculturists as a
dressing for their land. In these _terramares_ there are no human bones.
The fragments of earthenware belong to articles of domestic use; with them
are found querns, moulds for metal, portions of cabin floors, and great
quantities of kitchen refuse. They are deposits analogous to those which
have been discovered in Denmark and Switzerland. The metal discovered in
the majority of these _terramares_ is bronze; the remains belong to three
distinct ages. In the first none of the fictile ware was turned on the
wheel or fire-baked. Sometimes these deposits exhibit an advance of
civilisation. Iron came into use, and with it the potter's wheel was
discovered, and the earthenware was put in the furnace. When in the same
quarry these two epochs are found, the remains of the second age are
always superposed over those of the bronze age. A third period is
occasionally met with, but only occasionally; a period when a rude art
introduced itself, and representatives of animals or human beings adorned
the pottery. Among the remains of this period is found the first trace of
money, rude little bronze fragments without shape.
"Among other remains in these lake-dwellings, pottery has been in many
cases found, and these vessels bear, on the bottom, crosses of various
forms, as well also curious solid double cones. That which characterises
the cemeteries of Golasecca, says M. de Mortillet, and gives them their
highest interest, is this:--first, the entire absence of all organic
representations; we only found three and they were exceptional, in tombs
not belonging to the plateau; secondly, the almost invariable presence of
the cross under the vases in the tombs. When we reversed the ossuaries,
the saucer-lids, or the accessory vases, we saw almost always, if in good
preservation, a cross traced thereon ... the examination of the tombs of
Golasecca proves, in a most convincing, positive, and precise manner, that
which the _terramares_ of Emilia had only indicated, but which had been
confirmed by the cemetery of Villanova; that above a thousand years before
Christ, the cross was already a religious emblem of frequent
employment."[7]
"There is every reason to suppose that the cross was a symbol of more
import in the early patriarchal ages than is generally imagined. It was
not only the _first letter_, but it was also the emblem, of Taut, the
Mercury, the word, the messenger of the gods, the angel, as we may say, of
his presence, himself a god among the Egyptians and the Britons, whose god
Teutates was analagous both in name and nature; a winged messenger. M. Le
Clerc, one of the ablest mythologists who ever wrote, has shown that the
Teutates of the Gauls, the Hermes of the Greeks, the Mercury of the
Romans, were all one and the same.
The Ethiopic letter _Taui_, or _Taw_, says Lowth, still retains the form
of a cross, =X=; and the Samaritan =T=, which the Ethiopians are said to
have borrowed from the Samaritans, was in the form of a =X= cross. In
several Samaritan coins, says Montfaucon, to be found in the collections
of medallists, the letter Tau is engraved in the form of a cross, or Greek
Chi, and he gives as his authority Origen and Jerome.
The Jewish High-priest, we are informed by the Rabbis, was anointed on his
investiture, while he who anointed him drew on his forehead with his
finger the figure of the Greek letter Chi, =X=."[8]