Small Early Bronze Christian Pectoral Cross - Eastern Roman/Byzantine, c. 6th – 8th Century AD
(34 x 25 mm – 1 3/8 x 15/16”)
The design portrays the stigmata or five wounds of Christ. It has a fine glossy, dark patina. This is a small, well-crafted ancient pectoral cross of unusual shape, in excellent condition, retaining its suspension loop so that it might be worn today, 1200+ years after it was produced.
Small pendant crosses with this design were popular in the Holy Land during the Byzantine Period. See the exhibition catalog “Kreuz und Kruzifix” (Diocese Museum of Friesing, Germany, 2005), Ne II.4.1. For other crosses with stigmata see The Israel Museum (Jerusalem) catalog “The Cradle of Christianity,” p142.
Byzantine lives were centered on an ordered Christian hierarchy offering salvation through Christ. By the 5th and 6th centuries the cross replaced the Chi-Rho as the standard emblem of religious devotion. Its meaning transcended that of the simple monogram to visually recall the crucifixion. The cross was worn by individuals from every social stratum, from the elaborate bejeweled golden cross of the patriarch to the simple crosses of the common man. Christianity to the Byzantines was more than mere religion. Its theology and practice formed an all-encompassing way of life, permeating every act and decision from the foreign and domestic policies of the emperor to the briefest of small talk at the town square.
