crucifix origins

Variations of the cross abound – from traditional crucifixes and Latin crosses to St. Peter’s cross, St. Philip’s cross, the Tau cross and others. The word crucifix itself stems from the Latin cruci fixus, which means “one fixed to a cross.” A crucifix is thus an image of Jesus on the cross as compared to a bare cross; the representation of Jesus himself on the cross is known as the corpus, which is Latin for body.

The very concept of crucifixion originated as a method of capital punishment devised by the Romans in which the victim was tied or nailed to a large wooden crossbeam (gibbet) and left to hang for several days until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. Crucifixion was widely performed to dissuade the public from committing similar crimes and intended to provide a death that was painfully slow, gruesome and humiliating. This is precisely how the term excruciating emerged from the word “crucifying.”

the spectrum
There are four basic types of iconographic representations of the cross, including the Latin cross whose base stem is longer than the other three arms; the Greek cross with four equal arms; the crux commissa or tau cross, which is a T-shaped cross called so because it resembles the Greek letter tau – also known as Saint Anthony’s cross in referring to Saint Anthony of Egypt; and the crux decussata, named from the Roman decussis, or symbol of the numeral 10, also called St. Andrew’s cross for the manner in which he was said to have been martyred by crucifixion. While a Latin cross is a traditional upright cross, St. Peter’s cross is displayed upside down and St. Philip’s cross is sideways. Coptic crosses are common to Coptic Christians and are often shown with each arm of the cross divided into three points with a circle at the center.