The Non-Christian Cross / An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our Religion

by John Denham Parsons

in its claws upon the other.[⁵²] The symbol in question also appears upon Greek money struck long before the birth of Jesus; for instance upon certain varieties of

the Attic tetradrachma. And the

occurs upon many different coins of the first Herod, struck thirty years or more B.C.

Whether the Pagan

and the Pagan

originally had the same signification or not, is uncertain.

Almost equally uncertain is the date at which we Christians first adopted these Pagan symbols as Christian symbols because they could be interpreted as formed of the two first letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, Christos, Christ.