A Christogram (Latin Monogramma Christi) is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a religious symbol within the Christian Church. One of the oldest Christograms is the Chi-Rho, which are the first two letters of Greek “Christ”.
The meaning “Christogram” is of uncertain origin; Millin (1817) suggests derivation from “khrēsmós” (“oracle”) specifically in the instance of the “Chrismon Sancti Ambrosii” (i.e. the “oracle of St. Ambrose), an ancient Chi-Rho symbol on a marble slab in Milan cathedral, from which the term chrismon would have been transferred to the Chi-Rho symbol in general.
Chrismon (chrismum; also chrismos, chrismus) since the 17th century has been used as a New Latin term for the Chi Rho monogram. Because the chrismon was used as a kind of “invocation” at the beginning of documents of the Merovingian period, the term also came to be used of the “cross-signatures” in early medieval charters.
Chrismon in this context may refer to the Merovingian period abbreviation I. C. N. for in Christi nomine, later (in the Carolingian period) also I. C. for in Christo, and still later (in the high medieval period) just C. for Christus.
St Cuthbert’s coffin (late 7th century) has an exceptional realisation of the Christogram written in Anglo-Saxon runes, as ᛁᚻᛋ ᛉᛈᛋ, as it were “IHS XPS”, with the chi rendered as the eolh rune (the old z or algiz rune) and the rho rendered as the p-rune.
The meaning “chrism” is attested in the 12th century, apparently by corruption of Ancient Greek “khrísma”. In antiquity, the cross, i.e. the instrument of Christ’s crucifixion (crux, stauros) was taken to be T-shaped, while the X-shape (“chiasmus”) or, less commonly, chiasm (Latin term from Greek “crossing”, from the Greek “chiázō”), had different connotations.
The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the Χ (or more accurately, the Greek letter chi), representing the first letter of the word Christ, in such abbreviations as Xmas (for “Christmas”) and Xian or Xtian (for “Christian”).
The Alpha and Omega symbols may at times accompany the Chi-Rho monogram. The usurper Magnentius appears to have been the first to use the Chi-Rho monogram flanked by Alpha and Omega, on the reverse of some coins minted in 353.
The IX monogram or XI monogram is a type of early Christian monogram looking like the spokes of a wheel, sometimes within a circle. The IX monogram is formed by the combination of the letter “I” or Iota for IHSOYS (Jesus in Greek) and “X” or Chi for XPISTOS (Christ in Greek). The spokes can also be stand-alone, without the circle. These monograms can often be found as ancient burial inscriptions.
Chi or X is often used to abbreviate the name Christ, as in the holiday Christmas (Xmas). When fused within a single typespace with the Greek letter Rho or P, it is called the labarum and used to represent the person of Jesus Christ.
There has been a lot of scholarly speculation on the development of the Christian cross, the letter Chi used to abbreviate the name of Christ, and the various pre-Christian symbolism associated with the chiasmus interpreted in terms of “the mystery of the pre-existent Christ”.
In Plato’s Timaeus, it is explained that the two bands which form the “world soul” (anima mundi) cross each other like the letter chi, possibly referring to the ecliptic crossing the celestial equator. Justin Martyr in the 2nd century makes explicit reference to Plato’s image in Timaeus in terms of a prefiguration of the Holy Cross.
An alternate explanation of the intersecting celestial symbol has been advanced by George Latura, claiming that Plato’s visible god in Timaeus is in fact the intersection of the Milky Way and the Zodiacal Light, a rare apparition important to pagan beliefs that Christian bishops reinvented as a Christian symbol.
The Chi Rho, also known as chrismon or sigla, is formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos) in such a way that the vertical stroke of the rho intersects the center of the chi.
In pre-Christian times, the Chi-Rho symbol was also to mark a particularly valuable or relevant passage in the margin of a page, abbreviating chrēston (good). Some coins of Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 246–222 BC) were marked with a Chi-Rho.
The Chi-Rho symbol was used by the Roman emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337) as part of a military standard (vexillum). Constantine’s standard was known as the Labarum. Early symbols similar to the Chi Rho were the Staurogram and the IX monogram.
An early visual representation of the connection between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection, seen in the 4th century sarcophagus of Domitilla in Rome, the use of a wreath around the Chi-Rho symbolizes the victory of the Resurrection over death.
After Constantine, the Chi-Rho became part of the official imperial insignia. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence demonstrating that the Chi-Rho was emblazoned on the helmets of some Late Roman soldiers. Coins and medallions minted during Emperor Constantine’s reign also bore the Chi-Rho. By the year 350, the Chi-Rho began to be used on Christian sarcophagi and frescoes.
In Roman Britannia, a tesselated mosaic pavement was uncovered at Hinton St. Mary, Dorset, in 1963. On stylistic grounds, it is dated to the 4th century; its central roundel represents a beardless male head and bust draped in a pallium in front of the Chi-Rho symbol, flanked by pomegranates, symbols of eternal life.
In Insular Gospel books, the beginning of Matthew 1:18, at the end of his account of the genealogy of Christ and introducing his account of the life, so representing the moment of the Incarnation of Christ, was usually marked with a heavily decorated page, where the letters of the first word “Christi” are abbreviated and written in Greek as “XPI”, and often almost submerged by decoration.
Though the letters are written one after the other and the “X” and “P” not combined in a monogram, these are known as Chi-Rho pages. The “X” was regarded as the crux decussata, a symbol of the cross; this idea is found in the works of Isidore of Seville and other patristic and Early Medieval writers.
Taw, tav, or taf is the twenty-second and last letter of the Semitic abjads. In Arabic, it is also gives rise to the derived letter Ṯāʼ. Its original sound value is /t/. The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek tau (Τ), Latin T, and Cyrillic Т. Taw is believed to be derived from the Egyptian hieroglyph meaning “mark”.
Tav is the last letter of the Hebrew word emet, which means ‘truth’. The midrash explains that emet is made up of the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph, mem, and tav). Sheqer (falsehood), on the other hand, is made up of the 19th, 20th, and 21st (and penultimate) letters.
Thus, truth is all-encompassing, while falsehood is narrow and deceiving. In Jewish mythology it was the word emet that was carved into the head of the golem which ultimately gave it life. But when the letter aleph was erased from the golem’s forehead, what was left was “met”—dead. And so the golem died.
Tau (uppercase Τ, lowercase τ; Greek: ταυ [taf]) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 300. Tau was derived from the Phoenician letter taw. Letters that arose from tau include Roman T and Cyrillic Te (Т, т).
The symbolism of the cross was connected not only to the letter chi but also to tau, the equivalent of the last letter in the Phoenician and Old Hebrew alphabets, and which was originally cruciform in shape.
In ancient times, tau was used as a symbol for life or resurrection, whereas the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, theta, was considered the symbol of death. In Biblical times, the taw was put on men to distinguish those who lamented sin, although newer versions of the Bible have replaced the ancient term taw with mark (Ezekiel 9:4) or signature (Job 31:35).
Rho is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is derived from Phoenician letter Rēsh, the twentieth letter of the Semitic abjads. Its uppercase form uses the same glyph, Ρ, as the distinct Latin letter P; the two letters have different Unicode encodings.
The sound value of Rēsh is one of a number of rhotic consonants: usually [r] or [ɾ], but also [ʁ] or [ʀ] in Hebrew and North Mesopotamian Arabic. The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Rho (Ρ), Etruscan, Latin R, and Cyrillic Р.
The word resh is usually assumed to have come from a pictogram of a head, ultimately reflecting Proto-Semitic *raʾ(i)š-. The word’s East Semitic cognate, rēš-, was one possible phonetic reading of the Sumerian cuneiform sign for “head” (SAG) in Sumerian.
Nin-hursag means “lady of the sacred mountain” (from Sumerian NIN “lady” and ḪAR.SAG “sacred mountain, foothill”, possibly a reference to the site of her temple, the E-Kur (House of mountain deeps) at Eridu. Her temple, the Esagila (from Sumerian E (temple) + SAG (head) + ILA (lofty)) was located on the KUR of Eridu, although she also had a temple at Kish.
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague, indirect references to other gods who are not even named.
The Egyptian language’s terms for these beings were nṯr, “god”, and its feminine form nṯrt, “goddess”. Scholars have tried to discern the original nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance, and the terms’ origin remains obscure.
The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity. The most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole.