The Non-Christian Cross Part 9

On numerous other coins also, the Sun-G.o.d is represented as holding a small round object.

Other significant Sun-G.o.d legends to be met upon the coins of this alleged Christian Emperor, are _Comis Constantini Aug., Soli Invicto, Soli Comiti Augg. NN, Soli Invicto Com. D.N._ and the like.

Upon a coin bearing the legend _Soli Comiti Aug. N._ we see the Sun-G.o.d presenting Constantine with a small round object surmounted by a Victory.

On a coin with the legend _Pax Augustorum_, Constantine holds a standard ornamented with a cross.

Upon another coin Constantine is to be seen holding what is said to be a representation of the Zodiac.

On a coin issued in his own name, as upon others already mentioned as issued in the names of his sons, we see two Victories supporting a s.h.i.+eld upon an altar ornamented with a cross.

Upon a somewhat similar coin the altar is ornamented with the star-like object which in days of old so often stood for the radiate sun.

A coin with the inscription _Divo Constantino_, and on the reverse the legend _Aeterna Pietas_ and a representation of Constantine holding a round object surmounted by the symbol {image "monogram4.gif"}, though usually included in the coins of that Emperor was evidently struck after his death and deification.

The same remark applies to a somewhat similar coin, which has an additional symbol in a plain cross in the field to the right of the Emperor-G.o.d.

It should be noted that the question here arises as to how far it is fair of us to claim this cross and so-called Monogram of Christ as Christian and at the same time denounce as Pagan the deification of Constantine referred to upon the same coins.

As to the coins of Constantine the Great as a whole, it need only be remarked once more that while upon many of the pieces struck by him Constantine attributed his victories to the Sun-G.o.d, not upon a single one of them did he attribute them to the Christ; while it was ever the Sun-G.o.d and never the Christ whom he alluded to on his coins as his Companion, Partner, Guardian, or Saviour.

This being so, how can we honestly claim that the so-called Monogram of Christ, and other forms of the cross, were ever placed upon his coins by Constantine as symbols of the Christ, yet never as symbols of the Sun-G.o.d?

CHAPTER XII.

ROMAN COINS AFTER CONSTANTINE.

Pa.s.sing on to the Christian successors of Constantine the Great, we are at once met with the significant fact that Constantine the Second issued many different coins bearing a representation of the Sun-G.o.d holding a small round object; and, as the surrounding legend, _Claritas Reipublicae_.

Another coin of this son of Constantine the Great, and one which deserves special attention, has upon its reverse a Cross and a Crescent in juxtaposition, as if the cross signified the sun.

A very similar coin has the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} between the military standards.

Upon another coin we see on the reverse both this Christian Emperor and the Sun-G.o.d; the former holding a small round object, and the latter crowning him. The surrounding legend is _Soli Invicto Comiti_.

The reverse of another coin bears the same Sun-G.o.d legend, and represents the Sun-G.o.d as holding a small round object.

Upon another coin we see Constantine holding a small round object surmounted by a Victory. On the reverse is the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"}.

Constans I., another son of Constantine the Great, issued a coin on which he is represented as holding in one hand a simply formed labarum or military standard consisting of a straight pole terminating at the top in a crossbar, from which hangs a banner bearing the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"}; while in the other hand he holds a small round object surmounted by a _Phoenix_.

Constantius II., yet another son of Constantine the Great, issued a coin on which is the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} between the letters {alpha} and {omega} (? APX{omega}); the legend being _Salus Aug Nostri_.

On another coin is Constantius II. as the Sun, upon one side; and upon the other the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} between the letters alpha and omega once again.

Nepotia.n.u.s, a nephew of Constantine the Great who took Rome in A.C. 350 but was killed as an usurper the same year, issued a coin on the reverse of which, surrounded by the legend _Urbs Roma_, is a female figure representing Rome and holding in her hand a round object surmounted by the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"}.

The symbol {image "monogram4.gif"} frequently occurs upon the coins of Valeus (A.C. 364-378). And upon one coin of this Emperor we see the letter P surmounting a cross; surrounded by the legend _Gloria Romanorum_.

Upon a coin of Valentinia.n.u.s II. we see Victory holding a round object surmounted by a cross, the legend being _Victoria Augustorum_.

On the coins of Theodosius I. (A.C. 378-395) we find representations of the Emperor holding a round object surmounted by a Phoenix, and of the Emperor holding a round object surmounted by a Victory; as also of Victory holding a round object surmounted by a cross.

This Emperor Theodosius I., better known as Theodosius the Great, after securing sole control of the Roman Empire brought about the final disruption of the world-wide dominions of Rome by bequeathing them in two portions to his sons Arcadius and Honorius; the elder, Arcadius, becoming Emperor of Constantinople and the East, while the younger, Honorius, became Emperor of Rome and the West: A.C. 395.

Less than a century later, _viz._, between the years A.C. 475 and 480, the Western Empire was finally extinguished by Odoacer; the Eastern Empire surviving it nearly a thousand years, lasting as the latter did from the part.i.tion in A.C. 395 to the capture of Constantinople by Mahomet II. in A.C. 1453.

It was, as stated in a previous chapter, upon the coins of an Emperor of the East, _viz._, Theodosius II., that the first example occurs of a representation of an Emperor holding a round object surmounted by a cross; though, as has been noted, instances of Victory carrying an object so surmounted had previously occurred. And it need only be added that the symbols {image "monogram3.gif"} and {image "monogram4.gif"}, often the centre of a circle or surrounded by a circular wreath of bay or laurel, continually occur upon the coins of the Eastern Empire, the symbol {image "asterisk.gif"} frequently, and the undisguised solar wheel, {image "solarwheel1.gif"} upon the coins of Eudoxia, Theodosius II., Leo I., and others.

The evidence of the coins of the Roman Empire given in this and the two preceding chapters, coupled with the too-often forgotten fact that the only form of cross which could possibly be a representation of the instrument of execution to which Jesus was affixed was the very last form of cross to be adopted as a Christian symbol, cannot, it will be seen, lead the unprejudiced enquirer to any other conclusion than that the cross became the symbol of Christendom because the advent of Constantine and his Gauls made it a prominent symbol of the Roman Empire. And that the symbol in question was not altogether unconnected with Sun-G.o.d wors.h.i.+p, should be equally clear to the reader.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MONOGRAM OF CHRIST.

The so-called "Monogram of Christ "--a term which has at one time or another been applied to each of the symbols {image "solarwheel1.gif"} or {image "asterisk.gif"}, {image "monogram1.gif"} or {image "monogram3.gif"}, and {image "monogram2.gif"} or {image "monogram4.gif"}, as but variations of one and the same symbol--deserves a chapter to itself.

Though not first placed upon the coins of the Roman Empire by Constantine any more than was the right-angled cross of four equal arms or the so-called St. Andrew's cross, the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} was, like the {image "x.gif"} cross and the many varieties of right-angled crosses of four equal arms, first brought into prominence as a Roman symbol by the Emperor in question.

From the evidence at our disposal it would appear that Decius was the first Roman ruler to make use of this form of the so-called Monogram of Christ. Anyhow, as has already been remarked, this symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} occurs upon a coin of the Emperor Decius struck at Maeonia about A.C. 250; and therefore more than half a century before the days of Constantine. And it is noteworthy that it was as a Pagan symbol that the {image "monogram3.gif"} thus first appeared upon the Roman coinage.

The coin in question is a bronze one, and the "Monogram of Christ"

occurs in the centre of a Greek inscription surrounding a representation of the Sun-G.o.d Bacchus; and, apparently, as an amalgamation or contraction of the two Greek letters equivalent to our R and CH, _viz._: the Greek letters P and X.[50]

Why these particular letters should have been contracted, is, however, uncertain; and the question arises as to whether the {image "monogram3.gif"} first arose as a contraction of such Greek letters, or as an amalgamation of the Roman letters P and X, or as the cross {image "x.gif"} _plus_ the Greek P (our R) as the initial letter of the Greek name for Rome.

Moreover if it be decided that the symbol first arose as a contraction of certain letters, yet further questions arise; _viz._; in what order those letters were first read, and what word they first represented.

Before going into such matters as these, however, it is important that we should fully realise how certain it is that the so-called Monogram of Christ was originally a _Pagan_ symbol. For even if this be not considered demonstrated by its occurrence upon a Roman coin long before, according to our Church, the Christ caused Constantine to use it as the military standard of the Gauls, it is clearly shown by its occurrence upon many relics of pre-Christian date.

The so-called "Monogram of Christ" can be seen, for instance, upon a monument of Isis, the Virgin Mother of the Sun-G.o.d, which dates from the second century before our era.[51] Also upon the coins of Ptolemaeus; on one of which is a head of Zeus Ammon upon one side, and an eagle bearing the {image "monogram3.gif"} in its claws upon the other.[52] The symbol in question also appears upon Greek money struck long before the birth of Jesus; for instance upon certain varieties of the Attic tetradrachma. And the {image "monogram4.gif"} occurs upon many different coins of the first Herod, struck thirty years or more B.C.

Whether the Pagan {image "monogram3.gif"} and the Pagan {image "monogram4.gif"} originally had the same signification or not, is uncertain.

Almost equally uncertain is the date at which we Christians first adopted these Pagan symbols as Christian symbols because they could be interpreted as formed of the two first letters of the Greek word XPI{sigma}TO{sigma}, _Christos_, Christ.

The probability is that Christians had at least drawn attention to this possible interpretation of the symbols in question before the days of Constantine. But this scarcely renders less noteworthy the fact, shown further on, that the favourite symbol of the Gaulish warriors, the solar wheel {image "solarwheel1.gif"} or {image "solarwheel2.gif"}, was sooner or later altered by their leader into {image "monogram1.gif"} or {image "monogram2.gif"} to please the Christians; while the symbols {image "monogram3.gif"} and {image "monogram4.gif"} were also made use of by Constantine.

Which form of solar wheel, monogram, or cross, was that actually carried by the Gauls in triumph within the walls of Rome and set up by their leader in the heart of the Eternal City, is not quite certain.

But it is clear that as both the {image "monogram3.gif"} and the {image "monogram4.gif"} appeared upon coins struck before our era, Constantine cannot very well have been ignorant of the fact that these were originally Pagan symbols, when he favoured the addition of a loop to the top of the vertical bar of the Gaulish solar symbols {image "solarwheel1.gif"} or {image "asterisk.gif"} and {image "solarwheel2.gif"} or {image "plus.gif"} in order that what his Gaulish army venerated as triumphal tokens might be accepted as symbols of victory by his Christian supporters also.

That this Gaulish monarch did so alter, and for the reason named, the symbol or symbols venerated by his troops, is admitted by, amongst others, that well known writer the Reverend S. Baring Gould, M.A. For, referring to the solar wheel as a symbol of the Sun-G.o.d venerated by the ancient Gauls, this author tells us that Constantine

"Adopted and adapted the sign for his standards, and the _Labarum_ of Constantine became a common Christian symbol. That there was policy in his conduct we can hardly doubt; the symbol he set up gratified the Christians in his army on one side and the Gauls on the other. For the former it was a sign compounded of the initial letters of Christ, to the latter it was the token of the favour of the solar deity."[53]