Chistian Symbols
The
Crux Quadrata
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Crosses
were used in ancient times long before our era and in almost all parts of the
world as religious or other symbols. It is not always easy to say if these
crosses have a special (institutional) meaning or if they are just a sign to
mark a property or an annexation. In the Christian Imperium Romanum
and in the postulated Imperium Christianum the square cross or Crux
Quadrata (also called ‘Greek Cross’) has developed into a symbol of the
christian administrative authority, together with the rectangular cross for
the religious- and the cypher of Christ for the armed authority. These
symbols are described by Eusebius and Lactantius in a rather confusing way
and their meaning is not explicitely stated anywhere, reason why they
sometimes are thought to be merely different forms of the same symbol. Because
these symbols often occur together and sometimes also in certain
combinations, we can be sure they actually have different meanings. This
section, following the introduction of Christian
Symbols is meant to throw some light on the meaning and use of the square
cross. |
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The Kassite Dynasty ruled Babylon from about 1729 until 1155 BC. From this period seals are known showing the socalled Kassite cross. Its meaning can not be deducted from the context in which it is depicted. Nor is given an explanation on the seal itself.
Print of Kassite Seal (1729-1155
B.C.) Seal of chalcedon, H. 31 mm, Æ
13 mm (Musée du Louvre coll. Ph. Roger Parry) Ruler and his prime minister, dog, square cross charged with another
cross. |
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Print of a Babylonian Kassite seal (1729-1155 B.C.) Seal of yellow chalcedon. H. 40 mm. ( Collection Mrs. Agnes
Baldwin Brett) Sitting ruler, cross charged with a sun. Frieze with animals. |
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A square cross patée occurs in the
Middle East under the reign of Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria (883-859). This
ruler wears this symbol on a stone on which he is depicted together with other
symbols which can be interpreted to be national symbols. [1]
Alas it is not reported what the meaning of this cross has been. On
other memorial stones or reliefs the cross patée is the charge of a
medaillon, itself supported by a pair of wings and in an augmented form this achievement is charged with the imago
of the ruler. On still other reliefs the charge of the winged medaillon is an
archer and thus the achievement could be the emblem of the armed forces. At best we can suppose that the Assyrian cross
is the royal emblem (in Ancient Egypt symbolized by a cobra) and as such the
achievement would mean “The heavenly government of the King of the Four
Regions of Assyria”. In this achievement the disc would symbolize Assyria,
the wings the heavenly mandate, the cross the King of the Four Regions and
the imago the ruler himself. [2] |
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Top of the carved stone of Adad-nirari III (810-783 B.C.) Image
of the king crowned with a tiara, on his wrist a bracelet with a twelve-rayed
sun, on his breast a cross patée. On the left of his head are the symbols for
the sun, the moon and the Pleiades and on the right are the standards of some cities, a crown and a
winged sun, charged with a cross patée. (Iraqi Museum inv. 70543) |
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Disc charged with a flaming cross patée. |
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Winged disc charged with a flaming cross patée. |
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Winged disc charged with a flaming cross patée, charged with the bust of a prince, crowned, and with staff and ring. Detail
of a doorpanel of glazed tiles in the
southern wall of Room T3 of Fort
Salmanassar, build in the time of Adad-nirari
III (810-783) Nimrud. (Iraqi
Museum inv. 72136.) |
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Detail from a relief in the throne hall of Assurnasirpal (883-859). Winged sun, charged with a flaming cross patée and an archer. From the Northwestern Palace in Nimrud. British Museum, London, inv.
nr. 124551. |
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Print of Neo-Assyrian Seal (625-539 B.C.). Cow nursing her calf, attacked by a lion. Eagle and emblems of sun,
star, crescent and cross. [3] |
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If we take into account the Assyrian conquest
and occupation of Judea from 722 until 609 BC, we may understand why the cross
was adopted by the Judeans. As such it was the symbol of the ruler of Judea
who was of divine status and by its adoption the Judeans would explicitely
have recognized Assyrian supremacy. Another question is why the Judeans
apparently clinged to the symbol of the vanquished King of the Four Regions
after the conquest by Median-Babylonians in 609 BC.. Maybe this has something
to do with the Babylonian Exile which followed Assyrian rule. At that time
the Judeans could have remained loyal to their imaginary Assyrian ruler (of
which they could not make an imago anymore) and the display of the
cross would have been a manifestation of protest. Be it as it is, in modern literature a
different reason is given of the use of the cross by the Judeans. In the kanaanite alphabets, it is said, a
cross or a cross saltire is the last letter with the value of our letter ‘T’. [4] In the hebrew alphabet the letter
T is called ‘taw’ and is also the last letter but has a different form
[5] The little crosses on
Jewish ossuaries from
the first century AD in Palestine for example, sometimes are interpreted to
be the kanaanite letter ‘T’ which, because of its position at the end of the
alphabet, would symbolize the Youngest Day. This would be the ‘sign’
mentioned in Ezekiel IX.4: “And
the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst
of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that
cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”
This could have been a manifestation of protest of course
but it could also have been a mark of selection in particular in the Last
Judgement (see Revelation 9.4: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the
earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which
have not the seal of God in their foreheads). [6]
According
to the paleo-christian authors Tertullian (155-220) and Origen (185-254) the
early Christians thought the passage of Ezekiel to be a prophecy of the sign
of the cross. From this
all it may be clear that the cross was originally a symbol of the Christians
in their quality of a Jewish sect. It meant that the Christians
considered themselves to be selected to belong to a certain people or
society (i.e. the Jewish). In that sense the cross does not differ from other
socio-political symbols. |
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Eusebius of Caesarea relates that many years after
the strange events of 312 (when Constantine saw a sign in the sky)
Constantine assured him that these consisted of two parts: the first during
the day in the presence of the army followed by a dream in the night
explaining and confirming the vision (Vita,
I. 28-29). This time, according to the double testimony of Eusebius and
Constantine, the salutary sign (segno-salutis)
consisted of a luminous cross appearing in the sky, written with the words τουτω νιχα. [7].
From another passage in the work of Eusebius it can be gathered that
the crux quadrata was adopted as a symbol by Constantine immediately
after his victory over Maxentius in 312: Chap. XL: Of the Statue of Constantine holding a Cross, and its
Inscription. MOREOVER,
by loud proclamation and monumental inscriptions he made known to all men the
salutary symbol, setting up this great trophy of victory over his enemies in
the midst of the imperial city, and expressly causing it to be engraved in
indelible characters, that the salutary symbol was the safeguard of the Roman
government and of the entire empire. Accordingly, he immediately ordered a
lofty spear in the figure of a cross to be placed beneath the hand of a
statue representing himself, in the most frequented part of Rome, and the
following inscription to be engraved on it in the Latin language: BY VIRTUE OF THIS SALUTARY SIGN, WHICH IS THE TRUE TEST OF VALOR, I
HAVE PRESERVED AND LIBERATED YOUR CITY FROM THE YOKE OF TYRANNY. I HAVE ALSO
SET AT LIBERTY THE ROMAN SENATE AND PEOPLE, AND RESTORED THEM TO THEIR
ANCIENT DISTINCTION AND SPLENDOR. [8] This statue of Constantine has not been
preserved and on other portraits of Constantine there is no cross-staffto be
seen. His Christian successors Valens and Valentian I however, are depicted
with a cross-staff on the Murano Diptych (illustrated below) and another
emperor bearing the cross-staff is Valentinian III († 455) in the upper
register of the socalled Barberini Ivory from Paris. An early picture of the square cross is on a
Roman coin showing Roma with the legend URBS
ROMA, and on the
reverse the Capitoline Wolf nursing Romulus and Remus and two square crosses
with almond-shaped rays above:
Roman coin, 333 AD
Constantinian square cross from the end of his reign |
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In later designs of the square cross however,
the cross is always patée, thus avoiding optical distortion, like on
this floor-mosaic from Caesar Augusta:
Photo H.d.V. Part of a floor-mosaic from the Villa suburbana de Santa Engracia,
2nd half of the 4th c. AD Museu Nacional d’Art de
Catalunya, Barcelona |
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After the
fall of Rome the square cross did not disappear because the Eastern Roman
Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire still existed. In this Empire, of course
the use of Christian Symbols was continued, including the square cross, which
can be called a Greek Cross since then. Nevertheless,
the use of the square cross was also continued in those empires of which the
rulers were considered to be the
successors of the Western Roman Emperors or of former officials of the
Western Roman Empire. In this
way the square cross was used by the Franks, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the
Lombards and the Visigoths from the moment their rulers were converted
to Christianity. Most of
the time some specific symbols were added to make a difference between these
local rulers and the emperor. These crosses are mainly on coins. Golden
square crosses, richly decorated with precious stones, were also made to
symbolize the Christian administrative authority of a certain part of the
former Western Roman Empire. Such crosses for example are known from Lombardy
and the Empire of the Visigoths but also from the Eastern Frankish Empire and
the Hungarian Empire. These crosses were kept in Royal Treasuries and were
exposed at coronations and other ceremonies of state and actually can be
called Imperial Crosses. Their
religious counterparts were golden crosses in the shape of a latin / or
rectangular cross and should be called Ecclesiastiacal crosses. These crosses
will be dealt with in the section about the latin cross. The
square cross also is a part of the royal or imperial orb, and the
combination of the cross and the globe symbolizes the Christian
administrative authority of the nation or empire. The same configuration is
found in square crosses encircled, the cross symbolizing the administrative
authority, the (sun-) disc the Empire.
In the
same way the square cross on the rim of the royal crown symbolizes the administrative authority of
the ruler wearing it, the fleur-the-lys symbolizing his armed authority. It maybe
of some interest to realize that the groundplan of the greek orthodox
churches is a square cross, probably because the head of the Orthodox
church was for a long time the Byzantine Emperor (and later his successor the
Ottoman Sultan). His emblem was a double-cross existing of a
combination of a square cross and a rectangular cross, symbolizing his
administrative and religious authority. On the
contrary, the Roman Catholic churches have a groundplan in the form of a rectangular
cross, because the head of the Roman Catholic church was the Pope, that is to
say a pontifex maximus who held
religious authority only. |
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There are
many examples of square crosses supported by angels or other beings. These
achievements are in a millenium-old tradition established in the valleys of the
Nile and the Euphrates and the Tigris. An example of such an ancient
achievement is the winged sun mentioned above. In fact,
the Roman achievement differs only from the Assyrian one in that the wings
are replaced by angels. These, as we know, are the messengers of God and as
such symbolize the divine mandate. Even the
crown or garland we notice in some of the Roman achievements is a
continuation from the black-and white bordure we see in the achievement of
Salmanassar. A
difference is that the cross certainly symbolizes administrative authority
instead of the dynasty or royal title, but for the rest we may be sure that
the achievement means: The Administration of the Roman Empire by the Grace of
God. * Be
aware that in the Assyrian achievement the administration of the divine ruler
is supported by heaven and that in the Roman achievement the administration
is supported by messengers of God, which makes all the difference for the
position of God.
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Upper register of the Murano Diptych (Monza Cathedral), ca. 365 AD Square
cross with almond shaped rays, supported by two angels between the imago’s
of Valentian I (Emperor of the West,
364-‘75) and Valens (Emperor of the East 364-’78) with cross-staff and globe.
The Crux Quadrata between two imperial imago’s and
supported by two angels on
the Pillar of Arcadius, 403 AD. (After a drawing in the Trinity College,
Cambridge). |
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Upper register of the Lorsch Diptych, ca. 792. Square
cross radiant supported by two angels. This
achievement apparently is the emblem of the administration of the Byzantine
Empire. |
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Photo
R.M.O Square Cross supported by two deer with latin crosses tied to their
necks. Koptic,
4th-5th c. AD. (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden) As a deer
is a symbol of an elder teacher (psychopompos), the stone may the
emblem of the government of a (high) koptic prelate, for example the
patriarch of Alexandria. [9] |
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Fragment of a marble arch,
beginning 9th c. Cortona (Umbria), Academia Etrusca. The arch shows a square cross supported by two
peacocks. Below is the legend: IPORIBVS DN CARVLO IMPERATOR IBO
P & B FI ERI FECI PRO AMORE DIE.... Probably Charlemagne is meant by Carvlo
Imperator and in that case the achievement would mean “The Prefectural
Administration (of the Frankish Empire)”, as the peacocks are a symbols of a
prefect. This is in agreement with the style of prefect which he adopted
after his recognition as the emperor of the West by Emperor Nicephoros I in
807. A silken cloth sent to him by this emperor shows a quadriga,
which was the privilege of a prefect. This remarkable arch also shows early pictures of
a fleur-de-lys. |
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Socalled “Cristo Giovannetto”, 4th c. AD Museo
Aquileia (Square)
cross charged with a haloed imago probably of Valentian I (364-’75) |
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Valentian III saluted, 425AD. Mosaic
in the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome [10] |
When the square cross is combined with an imago,
the symbol of (the) Christian ruler/administrator (Pantocrator)
arises. An early example of such a combination is a metal cross showing the
bust of a prince with a halo around his head. [11] Later, the cross is placed on the
halo itself as can be seen on a portrait from the fifth century of Valentian
III (425-455) on which he has a halo with a small white greek cross around
his head. [12] A still younger example is the
portrait of the Emperor Justin II (565-578) on the mosaic in the apse of the S. Vitale in Ravenna, but we can not be sure if the
cross has been added later. Later emperors and empresses are not depicted
with a halo with a cross anymore. After the ultimate division of the Imperium
Romanum and the fall of Rome, the idea of an Imperium Christianum
and an Imperium Mundi took shape. This would comprise all of the
former Roman Empire and all of the Christian World. [13] The supreme administrator or
ruler of this Empire would be Christ himself. The symbol of this supreme
ruler is the imago of Jesus with a halo charged with a square cross.
In this configuration the imago of Christ is the symbol of the ruler, the
halo is the symbol of the empire and the square cross the symbol of
administrative authority. |
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When supported by two or four angels the
symbol arises of the ‘heavenly sanctioned imperial administration of the
Empire.’[14]
As this composed emblem is related to the Imperium Christianum as
a whole, it occurs in the Eastern as well as in the Western Christian world. |
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Christ Pantocrator in the Hagia Sophia in
Istanbul |
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Christ Pantocrator, a halo
with a square cross behind his head. In his hands a codicil. The medallion
surrounded by a crown of laurel and supporterd by four angels. Mosaic on a vault in the San Zeno in Santa Prassede, Rome. Built by
Pope Paschalius I (817-824). |
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When at some time
in Christian history the armed forces came under the direct supervision of
the imperial administration, the cypher XP, symbolizing armed authority
became obsolete. As a result the square cross became the symbol of christian secular
authority and could be combined with military symbols. Well known are eagles
with a square crosses on their breasts from early mediaeval Europe, but also,
for example from Sudan.
Lions and square crosses are known from Armenia. Soldiers with square crosses
on their breasts are known from the time of the Crusades. |
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Byzantine
Banner |
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Also, from this
time on, the square cross occurs on banners and shields, symbolizing parts of
the armed forces of the secular government. As such, for example, there is
the shield of the Byzantine Imperial Guard or the shield of William the
Conqueror. These shields are the successors of the shields of the Christian
Roman Empire showing, on a circular shield, a large christogram XP. This, in
itself was replaced by the fleur de lys, the symbol of the police
force. |
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Shield of
the Byzantine Imperial Guard. After the Madrilene Chronicle of John
Skylitzes. Palermo, ca. 1150-’75. Bibl. Nacional,
Madrid, Vitr. 26-2 fol 28 v°. ï ð Shield
of William the Conqueror as on the Bayeux Tapestry, 1066. |
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These are the prototypes of many
other banners and shields |
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© Hubert de Vries 2010-07-05.
Updated 2014-03-03
Heraldry of the World