Cross, ANTE

-CHRISTIAN. The use of the cro symbol before the Christian era or outside of Christian influences is a well-defined fact, attested by the "Relief of the Cro " at Palenque in Yucatan, and by many other monuments of ancient American as well as Mediterranean art. It appears to have been a sign of the Four Quarters or Directions with many primitive peoples. It was also undoubtedly one of the variants of the SWASTIKA (q.v.). The Latin cro is worn as an amulet by a captive represented in an Egyptian relief, and appears on a Cypriote cylinder seal. The Greek cro is the ordinary Ante Christian form, thus found in gold by Dr. Schliemann at Mycenæ and seen on Cypriote pottery. That at Palenque is a Latin cro .