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later times the Egyptian Christians (Copts), attracted by its form, and perhaps by its symbolism,<br />
adopted it as the emblem of the cross... 92<br />
Fortunately, many ancient artifacts survive that demonstrate the antiquity not only of the cross but also of<br />
a human figure in the shape of a cross or in cruciform.<br />
Human in cruciform with cross<br />
around neck<br />
Chalcolithic, 3900-2500 BCE<br />
Cyprus, Greece<br />
(www.limassollink.com/history.php)<br />
Shari in Egypt wearing<br />
crosses, possibly Assyrians<br />
c. 15 th cent. BCE. (Wilkinson, I,<br />
365, 375ff)<br />
Crosses on the bottoms of<br />
ossuary<br />
c. 6 th -5 th cent. BCE?<br />
Golasecca, Italy (Seymour,<br />
25)<br />
Original Coptic cross<br />
These pre-Christian or non-Christian gods on a cross were evidently what was being discussed around<br />
150 AD/CE by Church father Justin Martyr (First Apology, 21):<br />
And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual<br />
union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and<br />
ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those<br />
whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. 93<br />
The ―sons of Jupiter‖ are Greco-Roman gods, and Justin claims Christians are ―propounding nothing<br />
different‖ than what the Pagans said about their gods—and he is describing the scenario in a linear<br />
fashion, as we are likewise compelled to do in our own mythography. The suggestion that other gods<br />
were ―crucified‖ by being put in a cross shape or cruciform is confirmed by early Christian writer Minucius<br />
Felix in his Octavius (29):<br />
CHAP. XXIX—ARGUMENT: NOR IS IT MORE TRUE THAT A MAN FASTENED TO A CROSS<br />
ON ACCOUNT OF HIS CRIMES IS WORSHIPPED BY CHRISTIANS…<br />
For in that you attribute to our religion the worship of a criminal and his cross, you wander far<br />
from the neighbourhood of the truth, in thinking either that a criminal deserved, or that any earthly<br />
being was able, to be believed God…. Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for. You,<br />
indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as parts of your gods. For<br />
your very standards, as well as your banners, and flags of your camp, what else are they but<br />
crosses gilded and adorned? Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple<br />
cross, but also that of a man affixed to it. 94<br />
Since these passionate defenders of Christianity themselves have made the comparison between Christ<br />
on the cross and Pagan figures in cruciform or affixed to crosses, we would be remiss in not following<br />
their lead.<br />
92 Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4, p. 517-518.<br />
93 Roberts, A., ANF, I, 170.<br />
94 Roberts, A., ANF, IV, 191.
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