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Stauros/Crux
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 14:35:50 -0400
From: ingria@BBN.COM
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:10:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Coomler <davidco@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us>
...
One source suggests that the most likely (as that intended in the NT) is
the crux immissa or "latin" cross, because of the inscription nailed above
the head of Christ. That is not entirely logical, however, because that
would easily be possible on both the simple post and the "T"-shaped "Tau"
cross. The "Tau" cross seems to have been very prominent in the early
years of Christianity, and as late as the time of Luther one finds many
paintings showing either Christ or those crucified beside him placed upon
a "Tau" cross.
Interesting. As I remember, the grafitti on the propylaion of
Eleusis, which were scratched on its steps to keep its ``demons''
within the temple precinct, include Greek crosses (i.e. all 4 arms of
the cross of equal length) inscibed within circles. It's possible
that these were meant to be chi's, but the arms were 90 degrees apart,
as in a cross, rather than at a smaller angle, as in a chi.
I realized after I sent this out that I didn't make it clear that the
grafitti were inscribed by Christians during the early years of the
church, at least according to the standard commentaries and guides.
-30-
Bob Ingria
References: