THE HISTORY OF THE CROSS AND THE SYMBOL

History of the Word Cross

The cross has been an instrument of execution since ancient times. Herodotus mentions death by crucifixion among the Medes and Persians. The cross was used by the Assyrians and then gradually passed to the Babylonians, Medes and Persians. Diodorus Siculus mentions the custom of death by crucifixion among the Assyrians and Indians. In the era of the patriarchs of the Israelite people, death by crucifixion was also common among the Egyptians. The death by crucifixion practiced by the Greeks and Romans came from the eastern peoples, perhaps the Carthaginians. The word "cross" is of great interest from a cultural, religious, social and anthropological point of view due to its widespread use. In modern times, the word has been largely associated with the meaning derived from the event of Jesus' death on the cross, while on a philological level, as shown by lexicographers of the early Byzantine period (Hesychius - 5th century) and the Middle Ages (Soudas - 10th century, Eustathios 12th-13th centuries), the word "cross" and its derivatives were given, without distinction, all the meanings attributed to it from the time of Homer to the years of the New Testament and beyond.

Homeric epics

The word appears for the first time in the Homeric epics (Iliad Ω 453, Odyssey 11/9th-8th century BCE). In both of these cases, the word refers to straight sections of wood (poles), derived from a trunk or trunks of trees (e.g. fir), which, placed next to each other and nailed to the ground, were used in the construction of a house

Classical and Hellenistic Years

The word enjoyed widespread use over the following centuries. We will meet it in Herodotus ("three crosses of faith" - 6th century B.C.), in Thucydides several times as a material for the construction of a wooden wall (in fact, a "cross" is the wall made of pointed stakes - 5th century B.C. .). It is also used by Xenophon (5th-4th century BC) and Diodorus Sikeliotis (1st century BC).

Among the above, the word is noted in various ways, as 'stake, tree trunk, paluki', as firewood or fortification work. In Appianus the crosses are thrown parallel to the sea so that planks can be placed on top of them and a rough bridge is formed. It appears that the original use of the cross as a means of capital punishment that simultaneously offered public exposure for exemplification came from the pointed stakes of antiquity, which were designed so that the body of the would-be invader would pass through them in his attempt to climb over the wall (Thucydides, Xenophon). The captured or condemned were later placed on the pointed top of the log and gravity took over the torturous death. Eventually, many were tied or nailed to wood.

The symbol

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

The existence of the cross as a symbol dates back to the depths of antiquity. Its use had and still has both an artistic (decorative) and a strongly religious and nationalistic character. Thus, the cross functions as a motif in decorations, clothing, buildings, jewelry, and so on. In addition, it has been used as a religious symbol for worship or honoring deities. Therefore, it has been used as a national symbol on banners, flags and coats of arms, mainly to declare the religious beliefs of the bearer but also the support of the god or saint represented. In this sense, the symbol of the cross has been used as an amulet, as a symbol of protection against evil (e.g. against demonism), as a means of excommunication (vaskantira). The shape of the cross is as diverse as its uses, the national, linguistic, and religious groups that use it.

-There is the Marble Holy Cross from the Treasury of the Sanctuary of Knossos. It dates back to 1600 BC.

The story of the cross

It is not known when the first effigy of a cross—the symbol most commonly drawn (after the circle) by children of all cultures—was made. Some of the earliest images of crosses have been found in the steppes of Central Asia and in the Altai (mountainous regions near the borders of Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia). In the ancient Altaic religion called Tengriism the cross symbolizes the god Tengri. It did not have a longer lower end but resembled the prosthesis symbol

The Ankh cross (crux ansata) was used by the Egyptian religion. It appears with great frequency in tomb frescoes and other artefacts. It is often depicted on the fingers of some deity at the moment when he bestows the gift of life upon a mummified dead person. Sometimes a god was shown touching a mortal with an Ankh, which symbolized fertilization. According to some sources this cross is a symbol of the union of the genitals, but this has not been fully ascertained. The Egyptians wore the Ankh cross as a talisman and made mirrors in its shape. The Egyptians also used the so-called Greek cross (crux immissa quadrata) in their clothing or adornment (e.g. in earrings and necklaces).

For the Assyrians, the cross symbolized the solar deity as well as the deity who controlled the weather conditions. It was usually symbolized by a Maltese cross and three bundles of sun rays arranged in a T-shape around it. Various forms of the cross can be traced back to pagan religions of antiquity, such as Zoroastrianism, Chaldean/Babylonian religion, Egyptian religion, Buddhism, Celtic religion, etc.

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THE HISTORY OF THE CROSS AND THE SYMBOL

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