Wasn't the cross a pagan symbol prior to Christianity?

Question

What did it symbolize for Pagans?

Answer 1

"The Celtic Cross existed long before Christianity came to the Celts. The cross symbolizes the manifest world, while the unbroken circle reminds us that the oneness of spirit underlies all forms. The circle is perhaps the most sacred figure in primal cultures, including the pre-Celtic and Celtic worlds. The Celts lived in natural surroundings, watching the sun the moon and the wheeling stars around the rim of the horizon. They lived in circular houses and danced in rings at the circles of stone built by the original inhabitants of the British Isles. The entire life of the Celt was one based on their spiritual beliefs."

for a pic of the celtic cross or to learn more about the celts, follow the link.

Answer 2

The Catholic Digest magazine, May, 1948, page 108, had the following to say on the subject of the cross: “Long before the birth of Christ the cross was a religious symbol. On the site of ancient Troy discs of baked clay stamped with a cross, were recently discovered. Two similar objects were found at Herculaneum. The Aztecs of ancient Mexico carved the cross on amulets, pottery, and temple walls. Many traces of use of the cross by North American Indians have been discovered. Buddhists of Tibet see in the cross a mark of the footprint of Buddha. The Mongolians draw a cross on paper and place it on the breasts of their dead. Egyptian inscriptions often have the Tau (T) cross. They considered the scarab (beetle) sacred because markings down the back and across the thorax form a T. A cross of this form was used as a support for the arms of Hindu ascetics in India who were wont to sit for days and nights in a Buddhalike attitude. The crux ansata (handled cross) has a loop serving as a handle. For the Egyptians this cross was a symbol of life and in their sign language meant ‘to live.’” See also The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, page 517; the footnote on pages 312, 313, of Gibbon’s History of Christianity, Eckler’s edition, 1891.
But how was the cross a “symbol of life” to the pagans? Well, a father, the male, is life-giver to his children by and through the mother. Hence, those sex-worshiping pagans, under the inspiration of the Devil and his demons, constructed a phallic image of the erected male genitive organ, with a crossbar toward one end to represent the testes. Carrying the symbolism a step further in the crux ansata, the loop on the top, which pious religionists choose to describe as a “handle”, represented the female genitive organ joined to the masculine symbol.
That these diabolical facts are true, see the following references: Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen, by Villiers Stuart; Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship, by Sha Rocco; Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop; Essays on the Worship of Priapus, by Richard Payne Knight.

Answer 3

Yes. Both as a phallic symbol and as the symbol of a sacrificed gods - like the scarecrow was a symbol of the sacrificed god spilling his blood into the earth for the crops (ever see a crow scared off by a scarecrow?).

The Church didn't use it as a symbol for a couple hundred years because of its pagan connections.

Answer 4

“Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples . . . The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times and among non-Christian peoples may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1946), Vol. 6, p. 753.

“The shape of the [two-beamed cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”—An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (London, 1962), W. E. Vine, p. 256.

“It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolised to their votaries by a cruciform device.”—The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art (London, 1900), G. S. Tyack, p. 1.

“The cross in the form of the ‘Crux Ansata’ . . . was carried in the hands of the Egyptian priests and Pontiff kings as the symbol of their authority as priests of the Sun god and was called ‘the Sign of Life.’”—The Worship of the Dead (London, 1904), Colonel J. Garnier, p. 226.

“Various figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian monuments and tombs, and are considered by many authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the male sex organ] or of coition. . . . In Egyptian tombs the crux ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found side by side with the phallus.”—A Short History of Sex-Worship (London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16, 17; see also The Non-Christian Cross, p. 183

Answer 5

The cross is a very simple symbol, so it's no surprise that it would appear in various cultures and religions, coincidentally. A lot of Christian symbolism was taken from older pagan traditions, but I don't think the cross is one of one.

Answer 6

I wasn't going to bother with this one, but after looking at the other answers I felt obliged to tell you NOT TO WASTE YOUR TIME with the zeitgeist movie thing. It's...well, the message ("think for yourself") is all right, but the first part is full of hogwash (the second and third parts might be as well, but I don't know enough about them to say).

For example, somebody mentioned "Crux" as why we have the cross as a symbol of Christianity. Crux is a constellation in the southern hemisphere, into which the "sun" (god) was supposed to descend in winter. Problem is, the point in the ecliptic closest to the south celestial poll (where the sun sits in winter) is something like 30 degrees away from Crux, basically nowhere near it.

Furthermore, it says that we use the "Jesus fish" to represent Jesus, because Jesus's "age" is supposed to be correlated with the zodiac constellation Pisces. This too his hogwash; the "Jesus fish" is more appropriately called an "Ichthys"; ICHTHYS is a Greek acronym: the word itself means "fish", hence the symbol, but the letters stand for what in English means "Jesus Christ God's Son Saviour".

Again, don't waste your time. Because that's what it is: a waste of time.

Answer 7

Just shooting from the hip but I believe that the cross was a symbol associated with the Babylonian god Tammuz. The letter of his name "t" was venerated and in fact was a cross.

Our alphabet is derived from many different ancient alphabets, before you jump to any conclusions.

Answer 8

ICHTUS = Fish (Fishers of Men)
Cross = Crucifixion

Christian Symbols does not really matter

Answer 9

It was used as a grave marker before Chrisitanity used it.

For any who may have not gotten it, the Christian cross is based on an execution device from before and of the time of Christ used by the Romans.

Answer 10

What difference does it make? The cross of Christianity is a Roman execution tool. It isn't a symbol so much as a physical reminder of what he did for us.