How did the fish symbol come about to reprent Christ?

Answer 1

It didn't represent Christ, but his followers. Back then when Christians were being persecuted, they used a signal to recognize each other. One would draw a half circle and if the other was a christian, he would complete the drawing with another semi circle so it looked like a fish.

Answer 2

The Greek name for fish is ichthus. Each of the Greek letters that spell Ichthus are an acronym and stand for, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior".

Shortly after Christ died, Christians would be killed or put in prison if they were found out to have accepted Christ. See Acts 8:1-3 & Acts 9:1-2 for example. To avoid being killed and still have fellowship with other Christians, they came up with a secret symbol. They would take a stick and draw an arc in the dirt. If the other person drew another arc to finish the fish picture, they knew they were both Christians and it was safe to talk.

Answer 3

It doesn't represent Christ directly, but Christianity. In the early Church days, the Roman government made it a CRIME punishable by death for Christians to congregate in groups of more than three for the purpose of worship, so the services had to be held in "underground" methods. Whenever a group of more than three wanted to get together, two of them who were most trusted would signal one another in public and strike up a seemingly casual conversation. While talking, one would draw half of the icthyus or fish symbol. This is also where we get our word "ichthyology" which is the study of fish. If it was safe to set up a meeting for service, the other would draw the other half of the symbol, and through their coded conversation would set up the time and place for the service. If it wasn't safe, they'd simply erase the drawing with their sandal and move to another location.

Answer 4

Well, you've asked a good question, and as with most questions, the best answer is going to be more questions...Here is what you can start with...The fish symbol is indeed linked to the assertion of Jesus being the "fisher of men". Jesus is also linked to being the water or cup bearer. In terms of astronomy(NOT astrology, so stay away from the horoscopes), Jesus's alleged birth took place at a time when during the astronomical process called the presession of the equinoxes, there was a switch. In brief, so look this up too, the solar system and our orbit as a planet are like a watch. On the vernal equinox, the sun rises "into" one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. The sun rises into the same constellation on the vernal equinox for about 2,160 years, before it enters another(not exactly, but again, look it up). This is where the idea of "Ages" comes from, like that gibberish "Age of Aquarius" song from the Fifth Dimension in the 60's.
Okay, so Jesus was "born" as we had begun to get into the Age of Pisces, which is of course the Fish. The Age before this was Aries, the Bull, or the "lamb of God" in Christ-speak, as the Age of Ares was ending, hence the reference to the calming and impotence of the tradtionally more fierce Bull symbol. Jesus was after all talking about peace. After the Age of Pisces comes the Age of Aquarius, which is linked to Jesus through the Cup-Bearer aspect.
Basically then, you have a religion formulated upon using symbols of telling time, which is what precession is all about in the end. It is not surprising then that Christianity has lasted such a long time, when it has been linked by some very smart people way back when to not just the age Jesus supposedly lived in , but also the the immense weight of the past, and the far-reaching future, at least as far as a couple of thousand years is far-reaching. The pagan symbol mention is right, but we're getting more into where the symbol came from, which I think is more the thrust of your question. The symbol was used back to the time of the Sumerians, for the same astronomical reasons. The Egyptians called astronomy the "Royal Science". The Sumerian fishgod was called Dagon, and the Pope's funny hat is still based on a design relating symbolically to this ancient cult. And as far as your new questions, what are we calling ancient? Knowledge of precession of the equinoxes has evidence all the way back to Egypt and Sumeria. Yet if these were two of the first advanced civilizations, then how did they come by the knowledge of a process that our scientists have come into knowledge of fairly recently, as you have to watch the precession for over 2000 years to figure out that it's happening, and consequently, you have to have an advanced scientific understanding going back far before the time of Sumeria even, for the Sumerians to know about the long process? As I said, these are your new questions, along with, why do the Christians use these symbols then? Are there other symbols used in Christianity and other religions which point to cycles of astronomy?(here's a hint, check out the Hindus-especially the relation of Vishnu, Brachma and Indra to each other, and their life-cycles), and what is the difference between a religion as interpreted by "believers", and the actual social, economic, cultural, and often scientific factors that give birth to it? Okay, we've really glossed over some heavy information here, but go do your own research, and stay away from the conspiracy type crap, as it only lends discredit to an actual branch of learning called archaeo-astronomy, which is a heading you'll find helpful material under. For sarters, find a book called "Hamlet's Mill", which will give you a heavy read as far as theory and data, but which will give you an understanding towards why Jesus is represented by a fish.
To add a little more length(sorry), the answer you got from someone else pointing out that Jesus's followers used to make the sign of the fish to secretly recognize each other in the time of vicious Roman persecution is true, but points to what you're getting yourself into with this question as far as what you need to learn. Because nobody uses ANY symbol arbitrarily, they all come from somewhere and have a meaning, which in some cases is malleable from context to context, and sometimes are archetypes and not so mutable, the latter you can learn a lot about by reading either Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, or both. The point is that you're dealing with an archetype symbol, so where did it come from? Now you're ready to find out.

Answer 5

Jesus preached he was a fisher of men. Fish played a role in his miracles. Before the worship of Christ was open, the fish became the symbol between believers.

Answer 6

The greek (which is the language used in Israel at the time of Christ) word for FISH is "IXTHUS", which is an acronym that translates into (Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior).

Someone smarter than me can provide the reference.

Answer 7

it comes from the Greek acronym IXOYE, which represents Iesous, Xristos, theo, yious, soter, that translates to Jesus Christ God Son Savior. The acronym IXOYE, when sounded out as a word, is Icthys, which is greek for fish.

Answer 8

If you take the first letters of the Greek words for "Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God," it spells the word for "fish" in Greek. (sounds like "ickthus" -- I can't figure out how to use the Greek alphabet here, sorry!)/

Answer 9

The fish symbol was adapted from an earlier pagan symbol. The early christian church wanted to supplant the existing pagan religions so they frequently took over pagan worship sites (many churches are on pagan meeting grounds or burial sites), pagan festivals (both easter and christmas are pagan festivals) and pagan symbols.

The pagan symbol was like this () and was a fertility symbol representing the female genitalia. Christians took the symbol and turned it on its side and later added the tail to make a fish.

The next time you see a fish symbol on someone's car, remember what you're really looking at...

Answer 10

Because he fed the 5000. I don't know when the exact time is when people decided to use the symbol.