ABSTRACT
One of the oldest amuletic signs in the world, perhaps even the oldest, is the cross, that is to say the figure which is made by two straight lines which bisect each other at right angles 𓇬. This is what is commonly understood by the word “ cross,” and not the single wooden pillar or pole to which malefactors condemned to death were tied, and which is spoken of by some writers as the crux simplex. It was at one time believed by many writers on ecclesiastical symbols, relics, etc., that the cross was entirely of Christian origin, but such is not the case, for it was in use among the pagan peoples of Western Asia and Europe many centuries before the death of Christ. That the pagan cross symbolized something quite different from that which the Christian cross commemorated hardly needs to be said. But judging by what we think we know of the symbolism of the pagan cross we are justified in regarding it as a forerunner of the Christian cross. On the other hand, the pagan cross may have been used as a simple ornament, and it may have symbolized nothing, or modern writers in discussing it may have been influenced by their Christian beliefs and traditions, and attributed to it a meaning and symbolism which it never possessed.
