It should be remembered, in connection with this, that the Emperor Hadrian saw no difference between the worshipers of Serapis and the worshipers of Christ Jesus. In a letter to the Consul Servanus he says:
"There are there (in Egypt) Christians who worship Serapis, and devoted to Serapis are those who call themselves 'Bishops of Christ.'"[342:3]
The ancient Egyptians were in the habit of putting a cross on their sacred cakes, just as the Christians of the present day do on Good Friday.[342:4] The plan of the chamber of some Egyptian sepulchres has the form of a cross,[342:5] and the cross was worn by Egyptian ladies as an ornament, in precisely the same manner as Christian ladies wear it at the present day.[342:6]
The ancient Babylonians honored the cross as a religious symbol. It is to be found on their oldest monuments. Anu, a deity who stood at the head of the Babylonian mythology, had a cross for his sign or symbol.[343:1] It is also the symbol of the Babylonian god Bal.[343:2] A cross hangs on the breast of Tiglath Pileser, in the colossal tablet from Nimroud, now in the British Museum. Another king, from the ruins of Ninevah, wears a Maltese cross on his bosom. And another, from the hall of Nisroch, carries an emblematic necklace, to which a Maltese cross is attached.[343:3] The most common of crosses, the crux ansata ([Fig. No. 21]) was also a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. It occurs repeatedly on their cylinders, bricks and gems.[343:4]
The ensigns and standards carried by the Persians during their wars with Alexander the Great (B. C. 335), were made in the form of a cross—as we shall presently see was the style of the ancient Roman standards—and representations of these cross-standards have been handed down to the present day.
Sir Robert Ker Porter, in his very valuable work entitled: "Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, and Ancient Babylonia,"[343:5] shows the representation of a bas-relief, of very ancient antiquity, which he found at Nashi-Roustam, or the Mountain of Sepulchres. It represents a combat between two horsemen—Baharam-Gour, one of the old Persian kings, and a Tartar prince. Baharam-Gour is in the act of charging his opponent with a spear, and behind him, scarcely visible, appears an almost effaced form, which must have been his standard-bearer, as the ensign is very plainly to be seen. This ensign is a cross. There is another representation of the same subject to be seen in a bas-relief, which shows the standard-bearer and his cross ensign very plainly.[343:6] This bas-relief belongs to a period when the Arsacedian kings governed Persia,[343:7] which was within a century after the time of Alexander, and consequently more than two centuries B. C.
Sir Robert also found at this place, sculptures cut in the solid rock, which are in the form of crosses. These belong to the early race of Persian monarchs, whose dynasty terminated under the sword of Alexander the Great.[343:8] At the foot of Mount Nakshi-Rajab, he also found bas-reliefs, among which were two figures carrying a cross-standard. [Fig. No. 26] is a representation of this.[343:9] It is coeval with the sculptures found at Nashi-Roustam,[343:10] and therefore belongs to a period before the time of Alexander's invasion.
The cross is represented frequently and prominently on the coins of Asia Minor. Several have a ram or lamb on one side, and a cross on the other.[344:1] On some of the early coins of the Phenicians, the cross is found attached to a chaplet of beads placed in a circle, so as to form a complete rosary, such as the Lamas of Thibet and China, the Hindoos, and the Roman Catholics, now tell over while they pray.[344:2] On a Phenician medal, found in the ruins of Citium, in Cyprus, and printed in Dr. Clark's "Travels" (vol. ii. c. xi.), are engraved a cross, a rosary, and a lamb.[344:3] This is the "Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world."