2. Other Symbols.— The Fish was early combined with other symbols, such as the Dove,ltlie Cross, the Ship, the Shepherd, and especially with the Anchor, tlie combination of the Fish and the Anchor (first found on the sarcophagus of Livia Primitiva about the middle of the 2nd cent. ) being a hieroglyph for the common epitaph ' Sjies in Christo.'
There is an early mention of Christian symbols in St. Clement of Alexandria (Ptcrf. iii. 11): 'Let the engravintj upon the gem of your ring be either a dove, or a fish, or a ship running before the wind, or a musical lyre, the device used by Polycrates, or a ship's anchor, which Seleucus had carved upon his signet. And if the device represent a man Ashing, it will remind us of ail apostle, and of children drawn out of water.'
All these symbols, it will be noticed, are com- mon ones, such as would not excite comment among pagans. However, the Dove (at first a symbol of peace) and the Ship (which represented the Church), the Lyre (a symbol of Orpheus, see below) and the Anchor of hope (see also under 'Cross') are not direct symbols of Christ ; nor, except by way of the Eucharist, are they representations of bread, wine, or tlie grape. The Agnus Dei, a post- Constantinian symbol, may more conveniently be considered under the head of ' NT types.'
In mediifival art a trace of the Fish symbol survived — as indeed it survives to-day— in the eesica piscis, a figure which is still customarily restricted to the seals of ecclesiastical pei-sons and corporations. The Dove, at first used as an emblem of peace, sometimes with an olive branch in its mouth (though it occurs in pictures of the Baptism of Christ in the Catacombs), was the recognized symbol of the Holv Spirit in the apsidal mosaics of the 4th and .Sth centuries, and thus has contmued ever since : the Lanili, the Hand of God, and the Cross (see below), found in connexion with the Dove in these mosaics, also continued as common symbols in the Middle Ages, when inter- laced triangles and circles further represented the Trinity.
Two emblems of immortality, the Peacock (from
the fabled indestructiliility of its flesh) and the Phoenix, rising from its ashes, were early used as types of Clirist. The Star (Rev •22"i) and the Sun (Mai 4-) -were also used ; the Rose and Lily (Ca 2*) were very favourite subjects of decorative art after the 13th cent., but they came to be used rather as emblems of Christ's Mother than of our Lord Him- self, and often as badges of the royal houses in England and France : the Pomegranate, split open, originally a type of Divine grace, became similarly common as a Tudor badge. In the Middle Ages, when great emphasis was laid upon the Eucharistic sacrifice, symbols of the Passion were much in vogue, in addition to tlie Vine and Com, the Chalice and the Host. Hence the use of the Pelican, the great prevalence of theAqnusDei and the Crucifix, and the constant use of the Instru- ments of the Passion, in addition to the almost infinite varieties of the Cros.s. The Instruments of the Passion, so common still in decorative art, are the Crown of Thorns, the Nails, the Coat and Dice, the Scourges, Pillar, Ladder and Sponge, the Five Wounds, Hammer, Pincers ; to which are sometimes added the Sword and Staff, Lantern, Thirty Pieces and Cock, the Pierced Heart, and the Vernicle or Najikin of Veronica, and the Super- scription INRI. The Passion-flower, a popular emblem at the present day, was introduced by the Jesuit missionaries from Mexico, as containing symbols of the Twelve Apostles, the Five Wounds, the Tliree Nails, and the Crown of Thorns.
3. Sacred Monograms.— The Alpha and Omega naturally appear early (though not in monograin- matic or interwoven form) because of Rev 1* ; the first instance in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla, 2nd cent. — ' Modestina Afl,' which means ' Modestina live in Christ.' Some of the sacred monograms are really contractions ; for instance, the familiar IHC and XPC are the first two and the Inst letters of IHCOTC and XPICTOC, just as MR stands for MARTYR, or DO for DOMINO ; contractions of this sort were extremely common in sepulchral in- scriptions (e.g. ' Lucretia pax tecum in DO '), but there was no fixed method ; the abbreviations IH and Xf .-lidDe .'ire scimetimes found, and also the initials l.\, wliii^h, cumbiiied, formed the earliest or pre-Constantinian monogram N^ (the first in- stance being in a 3rd cent, fresco in the Catacomb of SS. Peter and Marcellinus). None of these, however, are found by themselves, but only as abbreviations in the course of an inscription. The Constantinian monogram sP (for XP) is the first to stand alone, though it does also occur in inscrip- tions (e.g. ' Roges pro nobis quia scimus te in ^ ') ; this monogram was considered a form of the Cross (see below) ; it is characteristic of the con- version of the Empire, and is rarely found sub- sequent to the Sack of Rome by Alaric in 410. It is often surrounded by a wreath, and often has the A and fi on either side to mark the divinity of our Lord ; in a 4th cent, lead coffin from Saida in Phoenicia, the letters of the old symbol IXGTC lie between the arras of the monogram. Three main variations of it appear in which the Cross is made more apparent ^, JE, and ^, but these are later and less common.