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This coin of Crispus, son of Constantine, with a chi rho on the shield (struck c. 326) shows that the symbol mentioned by Lactantius and Eusebius was a chi rho. Emperor Constantine the Great's labarum, a standard incorporating the wreathed Chi-Rho, from an antique silver medal.
Eusebius then continues to describe the Labarum, [5] the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign. The accounts by Lactantius and Eusebius, though not entirely consistent, have been connected to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312 AD), merging into a popular notion of Constantine ...
The labarum (Greek: λάβαρον or λάβουρον [2]) was a vexillum (military standard) that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, a christogram formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" (Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, or Χριστός) – Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). [3] It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. [4]
Also often attributed to Lactantius is the poem The Phoenix, which is based on the myth of the phoenix from Egypt and Arabia. [2] Though the poem is not clearly Christian in its motifs, modern scholars have found some literary evidence in the text to suggest the author had a Christian interpretation of the eastern myth as a symbol of ...
He followed the commands of his dream and marked the shields with a sign "denoting Christ". Lactantius describes that sign as a "staurogram", or a Latin cross with its upper end rounded in a P-like fashion. There is no certain evidence that Constantine ever used that sign, as opposed to the better known Chi-Rho sign described by Eusebius. [8]
Eusebius describes the sign as Chi (Χ) traversed by Rho (Ρ), or ☧ a symbol representing the first two letters of the Greek spelling of the word Christos or Christ. [79] [84] [85] The Eusebian description of the vision has been explained as a "solar halo", a meteorological phenomenon which can produce similar effects.
Averil Cameron says Lactantius records that Constantine had a dream the night before battle where he was told to place the chi-rho (a symbol of Christ) on his soldiers' shields. Eusebius, however, makes no mention of such a vision.
The Christogram is one of the earliest symbols of the faith. Roman Emperor Constantine implemented the symbol Chi Rho as part of his military insignia. The Greek letters Chi Rho are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of Christ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ pronounced Christos. The vertical stroke of the rho intersects the center of the chi. [2]