The Non-Christian Cross: An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our ReligionParsons, John Denham
Religion
The Non-Christian Cross: An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our Religion
Parsons, John Denham
Crosses
In those days Cyprus was a centre of Phoenician enterprise. And, as we
are told in that fine work _'Kypros, the Bible, and Homer: Oriental
Civilisation, Art and Religion in ancient times,'_ "The oldest extant
Phoenician inscriptions, _themselves the earliest examples of letters
properly so called_, come from Cyprus."
As, moreover, when face to face with the relics of the Phoenicians we
are, as Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter also remarks, "In the very midst of
ancient Canaanitish civilisation as depicted in the Old Testament," it
will be seen that a study of the antiquities of Cyprus should have a
special interest for us Christians.
Let us therefore see what the ancient remains found in the island in
question, and others referred to in the work mentioned as illustrative
of the same, can tell us regarding phallic worship in general and the
pre-Christian cross in particular.
One of the first points to be noted in the illustrations supplied by
Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter is in a cut of an ancient Cyprian coin on
Plate X.; upon which coin we see over a temple gateway the phallic
symbol since adopted by the Moslems, and commonly spoken of as the
'_star_ and crescent' although, as already shown, it originality
represented the radiate Sun or Male Principle in conjunction with the
Crescent moon or Female Principle.
Upon Plate XIX. we see several examples of the Svastika cross occurring
upon an ancient Cyprian vase.
On Plate XXV. we are shown a gold leaf taken from an ancient grave,
upon which the Svastika cross occurs.
Figure 10 upon the same plate shows us a gold leaf discovered at
Amathus upon which we see the Sun and Moon in conjunction, the Sun in
this instance being represented as a disc in the horns of the crescent.
Upon Plate XXVI. we have representations of stone pillars at Atheniaon,
upon the capitals of which are phallic emblems, including that of the
Sun as a disc within the horns of the Crescent moon.
On Plate XXX. we have in figure 7 a cut of an important cylinder now
stored in the Berlin Museum, upon which are represented both the Sacred
Tree and the Ashera. The winged Sun-disc appears over the former and
the Crescent moon over the latter.
Figure 11 upon the same plate shows us a Masseba representing the Male
Principle, surmounted by the star-like form which represented the
radiate Sun; and an Ashera, representing the Female Principle,
surmounted by the Crescent moon.
Just as in modern Christianity we make a distinction without alleging
much difference between the Father and the Son, even so in ancient
times a distinction of a similarly vague kind was made between the
All-Father _Fire_ and His Image and First-begotten Son _Light_. The
disc of the Sun seems to have represented the former and the Sun-star
or radiate Sun the latter where both were represented in one
illustration, as for instance in figure 12 on the plate last mentioned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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