The Holy Cross

Why would it have been preserved? A few centuries later there was quite a lucrative trade in religious relics, but no one at the time would have realized its future value.

It would most likely have been burned for firewood or something.

I thought it might be displayed in a museum somewhere but I have never actually heard of anyone knowing the whereabouts of the cross.

I was probably re-used, over and over again. The romans had a hankering for that sort of thing.

Have any Crosses been recovered and dated back to that period?

I heard that when jesus was crucified the olive tree lost it,s heart and that is why they are hollow.

Where did you hear that?

I heard it on Crete. We were speaking of the cross and because it was also made from some olive tree, the olive tree transformed itself ever since....

Olive trees are hollow? Who knew!

For a story of the Crucifixion told from the point of view of the cross read The Dream of the Rood.

I never knew that the Cross was made from an Olive tree. Are you sure of this? Isn't the wood from the Olive tree sort of weak and flexible? The Cross has always looked like it was made out of a really sturdy wood.

The cross has always looked like it was made out of a really sturdy wood? Hmmm...unless you were actually there at the time of the crucifixion Miller, I can only assume that you are referring to how the cross looks in paintings, on television, and in movies.

That's right!

The Olive tree is also known as the silent witness.

The Olive Tree - A Silent Witness (Luke 2239-46)

I read somewhere it wasn't actually a cross but more of an upright stake.

The orginal greek and hebrew words mean stake not cross, the cross actually was a very popular pagan symbol before jesus' time, and it crept into religon.

That's the way, the Romans did it.

At the end of the first century B.C., the Romans adopted crucifixion as an official punishment for non-Romans for certain limited transgressions. Initially, it was employed not as a method of execution, but only as a punishment. Moreover, only slaves convicted of certain crimes were punished by crucifixion. During this early period, a wooden beam, known as a furca or patibulum was placed on the slave's neck and bound to his arms.

The first historical record of Crucifixion was about 519 BC when "Darius I, king of Persia, crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon" .

Generally, cruxifction has been an important method of capital punishment, particularly among the Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished it in the Roman Empire in AD 337, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion.

Thanks Walter. Damn you're smart.

No, not really - I only know a bit, where to find what :wink:

I have heard that the cross was actually two pieces. The stake was a large tree trunk on the mountain and the cross beam was the part jesus dragged. His was apparently an unusual cruxifition for the times.

The Olive is stury and actually formidably strong.When looking at old tree ie 800 years plus the configuration of the bark is nothing short of amazing. When in Greece or other places its fun just seeing how many creatures oner can find in their gnarled wood.