08-25-2004, 03:49 PM
OK, I've been spending some time at my library and here go some sources:<br>
<br>
Lactantius (De mortibus, 44,5) says (sorry, I'm translating from a Spanish translation!): Constantine was warned in a dream so he would engrave on all the shields the heavenly sign of god and engage the battle that way. He does what he had been ordered and, rotating the letter X with its apex curved in a circle, engraves the name of christ on the shields'<br>
<br>
There is some discussion on the sign. If this translation is correct, then it wouldn't be a Xi-Ro but just a monogrammatic cross (i.e. a cross with its upper side ended like a ro)<br>
<br>
Eusebius (Vita Constantini, I, 28-31) tells the same story but without mentioning the shields. He says that Constantine made a vexillum (labarum) with the 'sign' and that he used it later in his war against Licinius (II, 7-9)<br>
<br>
Not very conclusive and both authors, unlike Zosimus, were nasty Galilean flatterers...<br>
<br>
Aitor<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>
<br>
Lactantius (De mortibus, 44,5) says (sorry, I'm translating from a Spanish translation!): Constantine was warned in a dream so he would engrave on all the shields the heavenly sign of god and engage the battle that way. He does what he had been ordered and, rotating the letter X with its apex curved in a circle, engraves the name of christ on the shields'<br>
<br>
There is some discussion on the sign. If this translation is correct, then it wouldn't be a Xi-Ro but just a monogrammatic cross (i.e. a cross with its upper side ended like a ro)<br>
<br>
Eusebius (Vita Constantini, I, 28-31) tells the same story but without mentioning the shields. He says that Constantine made a vexillum (labarum) with the 'sign' and that he used it later in his war against Licinius (II, 7-9)<br>
<br>
Not very conclusive and both authors, unlike Zosimus, were nasty Galilean flatterers...<br>
<br>
Aitor<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
Rolf Steiner
Rolf Steiner
