The Ankh, the Egyptian Cross was more than 2000 years before christianity, right?

Answer 1

Yes, and unlike the cross the Ankh was a symbol of both life and death, good and evil. Thus I find it a little funny when Christians wear this thinking its a variation of the cross.

In reality, though, the Ankh did not inspire the cross. The Cross' shape came from crosses they used to crucify people - and not just in Rome. Some people were 'crucified' by just being tied to a pole and left to die, but with the arms extended by the cross beam it put more strain on the body and lead to a quicker and much more painful death. Thus, the cross caught on as a way to execute people in a more efficient and brutal way, and centuries later as a symbol for Jesus. While I don't like the grim nature of the symbol that is supposed to represent a messenger of peace, it sort of makes sense as a reminder of his sacrifice.

Answer 2

The long-standing importance of the Ankh, and its deep symbolism to the dynastic Egyptians, led to it being gradually adopted by the fourth century Christian church in Egypt (which eventually became the Coptic Church). This is highly significant, as it is almost certainly the genesis of the cross as the central thematic symbol of the Christian religion. A kind of cross, the ankh had long been a central religious symbol. It was non-anthropormorphic; not even animal-like. (Many Egyptian gods had been animal-faced human figures.) Anknaton's benevolent sun was the only other symbol that was so esoteric. This cross implied all of the "god ideas" that are infinite in nature. As monotheism is at the core of Christian belief, the ankh seemed a logical choice to symbolize the belief in one all-powerful God. Over time, the idea that His son had died on some type of cross made it seem all the more appropriate.

To Christians outside of the ankh's influence, the image of the Roman cross of execution was "shameful" in the same manner as a hanging noose or a headsman's ax would be. Especially to professed Christains in fourth century Egypt, the association of the ankh with the cross seemed comfortable and familiar.

Elsewhere, the main Christian symbol at the time had been a stylised alpha, resembling a fish, and therefore known as Ichthys, the Greek word for 'fish'. However, the new "more positive" symbol of a cross eventually spread throughout the Christianized Empire. The distinct circular or "gothic arch-like" upper part of the Ankh was kept well into mediaeval times. The Ankh symbol often being used as a Christian talisman.

The photograph shown of a Christian 3rd Century bust with a transitional "ankh becoming a cross" was found in the 1960s in the Fayuom, Egypt archeological region. It is analogous to the "archaeopteryx fossil", the famous "Dinosaur into Bird" relic, which lends tangible support to the transitional concept. (If you have red-cyan glasses you'll see it in museum grade 3D)

Answer 3

What it was intended to represent remains a mystery to Egyptologists, and no single hypothesis has yet been widely accepted.

Some have speculated that it was a stylized womb[citation needed]. Sir Alan Gardiner speculated that it represented a sandal strap, with the loop going around the ankle. The word for sandal strap was also spelled ʿnḫ, although it may have been pronounced differently. Howard Carter speculated it could be a primitive representation of human genitalia.

In their 2004 book "The Quick and the Dead", Andrew H. Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe speculated that the Ankh, Djed and Was symbols have a biological basis derived from ancient cattle culture (and linked to the Egyptian belief that semen was created in the spine), thus:

the Ankh - symbol of life - thoracic vertebrae of a bull (seen in cross section)
the Djed - symbol of stability - base or sacrum of a bull's spine
the Was - symbol of power and dominion - a staff made from a dried bull's penis
The original meaning of this Egyptian symbol is also not known. One suggests that it combines the male and female symbols of Osiris (the cross) and Isis (the oval) and therefore signifies the union of heaven and earth. As a hieroglyph, it likely encompassed a range of meanings depending on its associated hieroglyphs but all of these expressions centered around the concept of life or life force.

Over time, the ankh certainly came to symbolize life and immortality, the universe, power and life giving air and water. "Its keylike shape also encouraged the belief it could unlock the gates of death." The Coptic Christians used it as a symbol of life after death. The ankh has been used in ritual magic.

It also appears to be a 'cross' between a crucifix and the 'christian' (flat) fish symbol which is also represented as determining a point of origin and a vanishing point by drawing two curves around the three main pyramids[citation needed].

Two ankhs could therefore represent two crossed fishes being a combination of the symbol for Pisces and a crucifix.

Answer 4

It is true that the cross has more in common with false worship than with true Christianity.

Jesus almost certainly died while impaled on a simple stake, rather than a cross of two intersecting beams. Of course the Romans had the ability to create such devices, and probably did. But ask yourself: why they would have bothered when a simple stake would have worked just as well or better?

It is also enlightening to examine other relevant Scriptures.

You may be interested to see how your own copy of the bible translates Acts 5:30, Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, and Acts 10:39. The King James, Revised Standard, Dyaglott, and Jerusalem Bible translate the instrument of Christ's death simply as "stake" or "tree" because the original wording simply does not support the idea that this was more than a piece of upright wood.

It is also eye-opening to examine how the first-century Christians felt about idols of any kind, much less one that glorified an instrument of death.

Learn more:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2005/5/8a/article_01.htm

Answer 5

The contemporary Christian Cross could very well not have been a Cross at all but an X. The Ankh far older may have been the model for the Cross used today. Indeed there are many aspects of traditional Christianity that are not at all unique to that religion i.e. The Lords Supper..it was originally a ceremony practiced in the temple of Isis the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine.

The very word "Amen" was taken from the word used to end all prayers offered up in ancient temple to "Amon" Ra hence "Amen=Amon" and so on...

Answer 6

The ankh is not a cross, it is an ankh. The two symbols are different. Just because they look somewhat similar, does not mean that they are related in any way.

Christianity takes the symbol of the cross from a Roman method of execution, not from Egyptian culture.

Answer 7

You have several pretty good responses, here. Just take care that you do not take the Christian meaning of the cross as having the same meaning before Christianity developed.

The Ankh is merely a geometric design. People chose to attach symbolic meaning, but it is just a design. One of the responders brings up the swastika for good reason. The design appears in Native American and Southern Asian works. The design had an entirely different symbolic meaning in the middle of the last century.

Answer 8

Yeah, but the cross of Christianity is to symbolize what Jesus hung upon dying for our sins so I don't see any relevance to the 2 or whether one was there first.

The Ankh is a symbol to represent life where as the cross is one to represent death. The death of Jesus paying for the sin debt for the entire world, past present and future.

So to answer your question. Yes the Ankh was around long before jesus, but they are 2 distinctly different things, just as the star of David or any symbol to represent ones faith.

Answer 9

The ankh predates Christianity over 1000. the cross was also not a symbol used by early Chrisitans as it was reminiscent of a horrible form of capital punishment frequently made of use by the Roman Empire.

Answer 10

I don't understand what you are trying to get across. What does that matter that the Egyptian Cross was more than 2000 years before Christianity. The cross is what was used crucify Christ. That fact that the cross is a symbol of Christianity just means, it's a symbol of Jesus sacrifice. I'm agnostic and even I know that.