Isthmian Crowns.
of the king of the Jews (see below). The laurel, pine, or parsley garlands given to victors in the great games of Greece are finely alluded to by Paul (1 Cor. ix, 26 ; 2 Tim. ii, 6, etc.). See Games. They are said to have originated in the laurel-wreath assumed by Apol- lo on conquering the Python (Tertull. de Cor, Mil. 7, 15). (On the Greek and Roman honorary crowns, see Smith, Diet, of Clots, Antiq., s. v. Corona.) See Ama- ranthine. "Crown" is often used figuratively in the Bible as a general emblem of an exalted state
(Prov. xfi,4; zvii, 6; Isa. xxvlH, 6; PluL It, 1, etc' The term is also applied to the ^lims of «Han, tii^s, etc. (Exod. XXV, 25, etc ; Deut. xxii, 8; comp-T]^ ii, 8; Q. Curt ix, 4, 80). The andents m well aitii modems had a coin called " a crown** (rov eriftuf^v 6^^«rc, 1 Mace, xiu, 89 ; x, 29 ; A. V. " Crown-tis.* V. Suid., 8. y. cTe^vtKov rtXtcfia) ; so called, dcsa- less, because coins usually bore the head of the sovs- oign encircled with a wreath. See Coin.
The chief writers on crowns are Gaachalina (2>r£v rotus, lib. x) and Meursius (De Cbrtmd^ Hafnije, ICHi For others, see Fabridus, BiU. Ant, xiv, 13.— Klito,-. V. ; Smith, s. v. See Heaivdrkss.
CROWN OF THORNS ((rr/^voc U axay9ir Matt, xxvii, 29). Our Lord was crowned with them in mockery by the Roman soldiers. The object seoc to have been insult and not the infliction of pain, u has generally been supposed. The Rhamnos, or ^^ na Christi, although abundant in the neigfabosiieod of Jerusalem, cannot be the plant intended, becaase o thorns are so strong and large that it could not kari been woven (irX«^avr«i:) into a wreath. The lai^ leaved acanthus (bear's-foot) is totally unsoited (s the purpose. Had the acada been intended, as semt suppose, the phrase would have been i^ dm^. Obviously some small, flexile thorny sbmb is meast. perhaps cappares spinosce (Reland's Pakui. ii, 5£^'. Hasselquist {Tnwels, p. 260) says that the thorn aac was the Arabian nubk, "It was very suitable far their purpose, as it has many sharp thorns which ia- flict painful wounds; and its flexible, pliant, aal round branches might easily be plaited in the fona d a crown." It also resembles the rich dark green of the triumphal ivy-wreath, which would give additioD* al pungency to its ironical purpose (RosenmiiUer, B^ any of Script, p. 202, £ng. ed.). Another plant oq»> monly fixed upon is the *' southern buckthorn," vhick was very suitable to the purpose. See B&amblx. On the empress Helena's supposed discovery of tbe crown of thorns, and its subsequent late, see Git^ico. ii, 806 ; vi, 66, ed. Milman.— Smith, s. t. Treated on the crown in question have been written in Lstai by Bartholin (Hafn. 1651), Dottier (in the B3tL Brm, viii, 942), Frenzel (Viteb. 1667, 1679), Gotsch (Ahsrt 1694), Gonsager (Hafti. 1718), Ludemann (Viteb. 1679). Sagittarius (Jena, 1672), Wedel (Jena, 1696), Glaach (Lips. 1661), Hallmann (Rost. 1757), Moller (m Mea- thenii Thes. ii, 280-288). See Thorn.
Crucifix (Low Latin crucrfixum ; tnm cnui, to • cross, and ./Sxum, fastened), a representation of Chml on the cross, executed in wood, ivory, metal, or other hard material.
I. History of Crucifixes. — Among the many symbois which the early Christians used to represent Christ si the central object of thdr faith, the lamb was amoog the most predominant. In the beginning of the 6th century the lamb bears a triumphal cross ; then it is lying on an altar at the foot of a cross ; then it ap- pears with blood flowing from a wound in its side, as well as from its feet; and finaUy, by the end of this century, a lamb is painted in the centre of the eRff^, where the body of Christ was later placed. On the celebrated " cross of the Vatican," on which this lamb thus appears, are two busts of the Saviour : one above, holding a book in his left liand, and giving a bencdk^ tion (q. V.) in the Latin manner with the right, wfaik the one below holds a scroll in the right hand, and • little cross in the left The sixth G£cumenical Cosn- cil (A.D. 680) ordered that Christ should be represent- ed with his proper human body rather than under the symbol of the paschal lamb, and in the following cen- tury crucifixes multiplied greatly throughout all Chris- tendom. The way to this decision had evidently been prepared by several intermediate steps, by which the aversion and horror of the death by the cross, tho«}^ abolished as a mode of execution by Constantino, woe
CRUCIFIX
687
CRUCIFIX
"radtiAlly oyercome in the minds of the Christian world. *li.ii8, on the Tials of Monza, vrhich Gregory the vreAt gave to queen Theodelinda, there is a head of 71ir^it in a nimbos containing a cro6S. A mosaic of ^t. £tienne, of about the same period, contains in ad- Li t.io a one of the thieves on each side of the head of ^Jliz-ist, with a highly ornamented cross below and in lie centre of the vial, with an omumented ediculum >eloMr, crowned by a cross, with an angel on one side, LTkd the two women bringing spices to the tomb of Z31ixist on the other side, indicating the resurrection of ^Iixist. On another, Christ is represented with his urms extended — like the praying persons of the Cata- ^oxnba — with the two thieves on crosses at his side, 9LTftd the snn and moon, or other emblems, added to the representation. In the pictorial cross of Monza, said to be a present from Gregory the Great to the empress Theodelinda, and in others of the most ancient crucifix- es, the figure of Christ was scratched in on the metal -vHth some sharp-pointed instrument.. Later, it was f»aiiited. It is in the 9th century that the figures first appeared in relief. The first crucifix used in a church, of ^which we have any proof, is spoken of by Gregory of Tours as being in the church of Narbonne (A.D. 593). After the council of 692 the Greek Church used painted crucifixes freely. Pope John VII, a Greek by birth (elected A.D. 705), first used the cruci- fix in St. Peter's Church, Rome. A single crucifix is found in the Catacombs, and this is considered to date from the 8th century. The crucifix soon assumed the most prominent place in the Rombh church edifice, being placed over the centre of the high altar, over- to'vrering the tapers, and being removed only at the elevation of the Host. This altar-crudfix is often made in the most costly and artistic way, being usual- ly of gold or sQver, and adorned with pearls or pre- cious stones. Crucifixes are also placed at the doors of churches, in cloisters, in chapels by the roadside, and at every place where crosses (q. v.) are erected. They are constantly used by Boman Catholics, both ecclesiastics and laymen, and especially are kept in the bedchamber. The reason given for this abundant use of the crucifix is *^ to keep the sufferings and death of Christ, and the fact of atonement, ever before the minds of believers." Among the Protestant church- es, the Lutheran has not rejected the use of the altar- crucifixes, though Protestants generally consider the use of crucifixes to lead to a worship of the material of which they are made, and to a forgetting of the true spiritual meaning of the Saviour's death ; hence they reject them altogether, regarding them as only vslua- ble, whether sculptured or painted, as marking a phase of the development of ritualistic worship, or as works of art