If we suppose that the so-called monogram
arose as a combination of the Greek letters in question occurring in the order Ρ Χ, the student of such matters can scarcely fail to note that the letters in question occur in that order as the centre both of the word ΑΡΧΗ, the Head, Chief, or First; and also as the centre of the kindred word ΑΡΧΩ, to be first, the only remaining letters of which, and therefore the first and the last of this word as of the old Greek alphabet, are, as will be seen, Alpha and Omega, the letters so continually placed on either side of the symbol
in Christian times.
In this connection it should be pointed out that according to some of the best authorities the first
which occurs upon any Roman coin, coming as it does after the letter alpha in a Greek inscription, should be taken with that letter as forming the ΡΧ of ΑΡΧ, the latter being an abbreviation of some form or other of the title Archon. This title was that given to the dignitary who was at one and the same time the chief magistrate of the state and its chief priest, and it may be worth remark that as Bacchus was the deity worshipped in Lydia, the Archon in question would therefore have been the chief priest of the Sun-God.
Several writers have, in their zeal for our religion, outrun their discretion, and gone so far as to assume that the existence of the so-called monogram of Christ upon this coin of the Emperor Decius is due to some Christian having been employed in turning out the coin in question, and having in his zeal surreptitiously introduced a symbol of his faith. But though gravely supported by more than one great authority, this is obviously an absurd position to take up. And in any case the facts remain that it was in this instance placed over a representation of the Sun-God, and had for centuries been in use as a Pagan symbol.
Passing on, however, we have next to note that, as before hinted, even if the symbol