A stele from Kalah, Iraq, the site of ancient Nimrud, depicts Assurnasiripal II holding
a long thin rod extending from the floor to the height of his chin. Over this rod hovers
a "ring with wings" which contains a "Maltese cross" formed by four broad triangular
wedges radiating out to the inner circumference of the ring from a smaller central hub.
The space between each of these four wedges is bisected by a thin slightly curved
ray. This so-called "Maltese" cross also appears on a medallion which hangs from a
cord around Assurnasiripal II's neck where it is clearly a symbol of his royal authority,
if not divinity.

The cross is an ancient symbol associated with the sun whose origins are lost in the
mists of time. The cross was clearly associated with the sun in many cultures long
before Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and more and more evidence seems to
indicate that the cross represents the total eclipse of the sun.
 

Various forms of equilateral crosses, often radiating out from circular hubs, appear on
the pottery and textiles of ancient cultures all around the world too numerous to list;
in fact, there are comparatively few ancient cultures that did not utilize this universal
symbol. A common coronal form when the sunspot phase is near maximum is that of
a four-rayed star with the polar and equatorial streamers having similar sizes.
The polar rays in particular have a tendency to fan out in a manner that clearly
reflects the wedge-shaped arms of the so-called "Maltese cross."

In 'The Sun' we are informed by a turn-of-the-century professional astronomer that,
"The corona shows a disposition to assume the form of a quadrilateral or four-rayed
star, though in almost every individual case this form is greatly modified by abnormal
streamers at one point or another." Various scientific drawings of the solar corona
which were made in the latter part of the 19th century, a period when the total eclipse
was gaining much interest in the scientific domain but before the widespread use of
photography to record the corona, show this four rayed cross-shaped pattern of the
corona in a very distinctive manner. In an engraving depicting the total eclipse of the
sun of July 29th, 1878, as it was observed over the Rocky Mountains of the U.S.A.,
appearing in Flammarion's 'Astronomie Populaire' the coronal streamers bear a striking
resemblance to a Christian cross and even more so to the much older Egyptian 'Crux
Ansata' or ankh. Two bright equatorial streamers burst from either side of the black
disc of the moon and an exceptionally long streamer hangs down from the lunar disc
while three or four shorter rays or streamers thrust upwards from the sun's upper pole.
 

One of the oldest, most beautiful, detailed and intricate, and best preserved examples
of the "Maltese cross" is on a crown of the ancient Egyptian princess Sit-Hat-Hor
Yunet who lived between 1887-1849 B.C. and was probably the daughter of the
pharaoh Sen-Wosret II. The simple gold band of the circlet is adorned with 15
"rosettes." A caption to the photograph of this simple yet beautifully crown reads,
"The design is an elaborated cross of lotus flowers with a lily pad in each quarter.
On the underside of the rosette at the back opposed to the uraeus, and of the two
rosettes on the opposite sides of the circlet there are soldered pairs of small gold
rings from which are suspended and hinged double streamers. . . Inside the back of
the circlet is riveted a tube topped with a solid, plain gold papyrus flower into which
fits a stem at the bottom of a removable pair of plumes. . . The streamers and plumes
are cut out of perfectly plain sheet gold like the circlet, so thin that the plumes would
have waved slightly with every movement of the wearer's head."

The royal crowns of Egypt were, as I have explained elsewhere, clearly symbolic of the
sun, as are most royal crowns, and more particularly were symbols of the total solar
eclipse. The plumes and streamers of the Egyptian royal crown were almost certainly
inspired by the so-called plumes and streamers of the solar corona. Astronomers have
made such heavy use of these two words to describe the solar corona that they have
become standard terms of professional astronomy. The rosette is clearly a solar
symbol which was inspired by total solar eclipse phenomenon and the cross-like
rosettes on this Egyptian crown, almost four thousand year old, clearly indicate this.
The four main arms of these "Maltese crosses" are indeed formed by stylized Egyptian
lotus flowers which radiate out from a round central hub, and the lotus was a flower
definitely used as a solar symbol. The four "lily pads" which fill the spaces between
the four main arms have an appearance that is virtually identical to the uraeus serpent
that juts from the front of the crown, and I have good reason to believe that this is
exactly what they are intended to represent and that the designation of "lily pads" is in
error. The four lotuses which form the main arms of the cross clearly represent the
polar plumes and equatorial streamers of the solar corona which form a quadrilateral
radiating out from the black disc of the moon. If the "lily pads" are in fact stylized
uraeus serpents as I suspect then they would obviously represent the flaming red
solar prominences which are seen at totality which the Egyptians saw as fiery cobras.
The fifteen elaborate "Maltese crosses" which encircle the royal crown of Sit-Hat-Hor
Yunet are perhaps the most intricate and beautiful solar eclipse symbols that have
ever been devised by human hands and they are a lasting tribute to the craftsmanship
of the ancient Egyptian jewellers who made them almost four thousand years ago.

Assurnasiripal is by no means the only Assyrian ruler to use the "Maltese cross" as
a royal symbol, although his stele is one of the few that I have yet seen where this
ancient symbol is clearly portrayed within the ring of the ubiquitous "ring with wings"
symbol which has been conclusively shown to depict the total eclipse of the sun, even
if it was often used to represent the sun in general. Many of the Assyro-Babylonian
rulers are depicted wearing this emblem hanging from cords around their neck.
Sometimes it is contained within a ring at other times this "Maltese cross" has no
outer ring although it retains the curvature of the outer edges of its four wedges.
A wonderful stela of Shamshi-Adad V, who reigned between 823-811 BCE, depicts
him wearing a single, large, round "Maltese cross" which hangs from a thick cord
around his neck and is worn over a simple tunic. The bold simplicity of this symbol
combined with the sheer austerity of Shamshi-Adad's wardrobe greatly enhances
the overall impression of power and authority manifested on this ancient stela for a
long forgotten Assyrian ruler.

It should be noted that the Mesopotamian version of the ancient "winged disk" symbol
could be seen as a form of cross in its own right with the wings forming the horizontal
axis and the tail the vertical axis of a T-shaped cross. In 'The History of the Cross' we
are informed that, "Ancient Assyria developed a majestic form (of cross), known as the
feroher, the principal portion being a winged globe. One famous example from Nineveh
shows the deity Ashur, who fights for his people in battle. The whole figure is in the
form of a Tau-shaped cross." Thus the cross is clearly associated with the total eclipse
of the sun since the feroher is nothing other than a highly accurate representation of
the bird-like pattern that occurs in the sun's corona when the sun-spot activity is at its
minimum phase.
 

A "Maltese cross" which is virtually identical to those portrayed on Assyrian stelae and
reliefs appears on a pottery bell or drum of the Mochica Indians of Peru. This cross is
depicted against a light background enclosed in a thick dark ring. Above this cross, on
a needle-like line running through its vertical axis, is a hexagram shape radiating out
from a circle whose diameter is about one quarter that of the ring around the cross.
Below, the cross is a crescent whose points face downwards. It is abundantly clear
that the hexagram/circle combination represents the sun and the crescent represents
the moon. There can be very little doubt that the "Maltese cross" which is depicted
between the sun and the moon represents their conjunction in the total eclipse of the
sun just as it does in Assyro-Babylonian depictions, although there is a slight
possibility that it could represent the Earth. Supporting the eclipse hypothesis is the
fact that a dragon-like figure and two "winged serpents" are also depicted on this
earthenware artefact, and we now know that dragons and "winged serpents" are
mythical creatures which have been clearly linked to the total solar eclipse
phenomenon in other cultures.

Pre-Columbian examples of pottery made by the Ica Indians of southern Peru also
depict various forms of crosses and again they would appear to be linked to total solar
eclipses since they tend to radiate outwards from central, eye-like, concentric circles.

One example in particular bears a striking resemblance to a drawing of the cross-like
form of corona of the 1860 total eclipse drawn by a professional astronomer. An
example of Ica pottery depicts both circular "Maltese" crosses and square crosses with
eyes at the centre in a context that would tend to link these symbols to the total solar
eclipse.
 

The first page of the Mayan Codex Ferjervary-Mayer represents the five regions of the
world and their respective tutelary deities within the framework of a large "Maltese
cross." Bisecting the angles between the four arms of this cross are four loops over the
end of each loop hovers a bird. These birds have well defined heads with normal size
eyes and beaks. Their bodies, however, are perfectly circular discs with an outer ring
of white surrounding an inner ring of a darker shade. Their similarity to the standard
Mesopotamian "ring with wings" symbol and some Egyptian versions of the winged
disc in which the red sundisk forms the body of a falcon is immediately apparent. Each
ring contains within it a symbol and the symbol contained within the ring of the parrot
on the lower right corner is an eye. The bird on the upper left corner of the cross
sports a hand with what appears to be an eye in its palm contained within the disc.
The "eye in the hand" is a sign of divine omniscience which appears not only on native
American Indian stone inscriptions but also on Hindu statues of their gods. The
symbols in the discs of the other two birds are unclear to me but it would seem that
there is good cause to consider that these four birds are also clear eclipse symbols
and the Mayan use of the now all too familiar "Maltese cross" can hardly be accidental.
It is within possibility that the four different types of birds depicted in this illustration
were used by the Mayan Indians to represent different types of coronal forms.
 

In 'The History of the Cross' we are told that, "In Palenque, in Mexico, are the remains
of an ancient Aztec temple. At the back of one of the altars in that temple is a bas-
relief cross some ten feet high. It is a superb design, rich in symbolic carving. Above
the cross perches the figure of a bird. The specific meaning of this latter symbol is not
known." Here again the cross is clearly associated with a bird and there should be
little doubt that this bird represents the bird-like pattern of the solar corona seen at
sunspot minimum.

The natives of Hawaii drew elaborate crosses to represent their gods long before the
first European explorers arrived. In a book depicting some of these ancient Hawaiian
crosses the cross of the Goddess Marama is shown formed by four white lozenge
shaped arms radiating out in an 'X' from a dark central disc. Four triangles or "Maltese
cross" style wedges intersect the angles of the four arms of the 'X' but do not reach the
central disc. The drawing of this cross of Marama looks virtually identical to a drawing
of the intermediate form of the coronal streamers which occur between the minimum
and maximum phase of sunspot activity depicted in Théophile Moreux`s "Les Eclipses".
The caption attached to this drawing reads, "The Goddess of the Sun was also known
as the Goddess of the Moon, Marama, who watched over Tane's children while they
slumbered in peace when the sun was out of the sky." This is a rather sketchy caption
to say the least but it is not difficult to see that this Cross of the Goddess Marama may
well have been inspired by the cross-like form that is readily perceivable in the sun's
corona during an "intermediate phase" total solar eclipse.
 

The Cross of Tane depicted in this book has similar, though slightly thinner, lozenge-
shaped arms divided by dark "trunks" each having three sprouting "stems" along its
length. A veritable "Maltese cross" with flared ends also radiates out from the hub of
the cross which is clearly an eye. The caption is much more explicit than that for the
cross of Marama and plainly states, "The "eye," which forms the centrepiece of this
cross and slants downward, is a reminder that "the Eyes of God are upon you;
therefore, beware of your behaviour lest He witness your misbehaviour."" The cross
of Tane clearly represents the "All-Seeing Eye of God" as symbolized by the total
eclipse of the sun. The caption goes on to say, "It is interesting to note that this cross
is similar to the ones which sit on top of the crowns of British royalty. Yet this pattern
was drawn by Hawaiian artists centuries before the first British crown made its
appearance in Hawaii. A variation of this cross was selected by the kings of the
Tameha. ? . a dynasty as the foundation for their holy emblem."
 

What is truly interesting to note is the incredible universality of the use of the "Maltese
cross" symbol, not only has it been depicted on the crowns of European royalty for
centuries but it was utilised by Assyrian rulers as a royal, and possibly sacred, emblem
many centuries prior to its first use by any European king. It appears prominently in the
sacred artwork of Mayan, Aztec, and various American Indian cultures. No doubt it
crops up elsewhere and always the sun and moon and the "all-seeing eye of God"
seem to be closely associated with this ancient symbol. Can there be any doubt that
the "Maltese cross" and numerous other non Christian variations on this theme were
inspired by, and even depict, the total eclipse of the sun?

Both God and Jesus Christ are symbolized by the sun in the Holy Bible and it is
entirely possible that God has deliberately chosen to symbolically represent itself to
humanity as the sun. The Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters that form the
proper name of God (Y-H-W-H) in the Bible, has a numerical value of 26.

Just by coincidence the period of surface rotation of the sun at its equator is about
26 Earth days. The NIV Bible tells us in a text note on the 19th Psalm, "Of the created
realm, the sun is the supreme metaphor of the glory of God, as it makes its daily
triumphant sweep across the whole extent of the heavens and pours out its heat
(felt presence) on every creature." Compare this with the words of the 17th century
scientist, Christian mystic, and philosopher, Emanuel Swedenborg, who in his work
"Divine Love and Wisdom" puts forward the proposition that God does in fact
represent itself as a sun in both heaven and in the material universe we inhabit,

"The Divine Love and Wisdom which emanate from the Lord as the sun and make
warmth and light in heaven are the emanating divine which is the holy spirit."

The ancient religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia did involve sun worship but most
practitioners were aware of the "creator of created things" responsible for its existence.
Hindu religion considers the sun to be the "visible form of Vishnu," the "impersonation"
of the mystic Om, but few modern Hindus would say that the sun is God. If the total
solar eclipse can be taken as a symbolic statement of the Creator can we not then
see the sun itself as a symbolic personification of God?
 

In the 84th Psalm we find the statement, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield. . ."
and, in Luke 1:78, the Messiah is referred to as "the rising sun". Malachi 4:2 refers to
the Messiah as, "the sun of righteousness". One may well ponder what Jesus might
have been alluding to when, according to Matthew 13:43, he said, "Then the righteous
will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears let him hear."
It is my belief that when Jesus used phrases such as, "He who has ears let him hear",
it was to indicate that there was a more profound spiritual truth in what he was saying
than was immediately apparent. A great many of the parables and sayings of Jesus
can be read and interpreted on a spiritual level that goes well beyond their literal
meaning.

It is possible to see a symbolic crucifixion and resurrection in the total solar eclipse in
that the sun is seemingly obliterated and thus 'slain' by the moon, then during totality
or in 'death' the sun's corona or 'spirit' breaks forth to overcome the darkness, and
finally the sun reappears and is 'resurrected' or 'reborn' after the moon completes its
crossing over the face of the sun. In "The Mask , The Unicorn and the Messiah"
by Elmer G. Suhr we read, "When the sun was delivered from its confinement of
darkness, early man was no doubt under the impression that it shone with renewed
energy and brightness and was therefore regarded as a resurrected body. And as
the sun, the source of life, passed through the despair of death to some kind of
renewal, man was convinced that this same experience could be paralleled
elsewhere in the cosmos and in his own life."

It is perhaps not insignificant that in the gospels of Mark and Matthew we are told that,
when Jesus was on the cross, "At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land
until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani?" - which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
The gospel of Luke states that, "the sun was darkened" and Luke has Jesus calling
out, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

In Chapter 8 of the Gospel of Nicodemus, one of the so-called 'lost books of the Bible'
the darkness is specifically attributed to an eclipse, "And it was about the sixth hour,
and darkness was upon the face of the whole earth until the ninth hour. And while the
sun was eclipsed, behold the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom."
Pontius Pilate is told of the eclipse by the centurion guarding the crucifixion site and
calls a meeting with the council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, asking, "Have ye seen
the miracle of the eclipse, and the other things which came to pass, while Jesus was
dying?", to which the council answer's, "The eclipse of the sun happened according
to its usual custom."

A major difficulty with all of the foregoing is that the Passover is celebrated at the time
of the full moon when it is clearly impossible for the sun to be eclipsed by the moon,
since the sun can only be eclipsed by the moon when the moon is between the Earth
and the sun in its new phase. Therefore a total solar eclipse could not have "happened
according to its usual custom." Another problem is that the period of darkness is far too
long for a natural eclipse since the total phase of an eclipse of the sun never exceeds
8 minutes. Well over a century ago, in the book "Wonders of the Heavens", Duncan
Bradford stated, "It is evident that the darkness at our Savior's crucifixion was super-
natural; for he suffered on the day on which the passover was eaten by the Jews,
on which day it was impossible that the moon's shadow could fall on the earth, as the
Jews kept passover at the time of the full moon; nor does the darkness in total eclipses
of the sun last above four minutes in any place, whereas the darkness at the crucifixion
lasted three hours, and overspread at least all the land of Judea."

Is it possible that a darkening or obscuring of the sun of such a long duration occurred
during Jesus' crucifixion by some other means, as yet unknown to us? Is it reasonable
to consider the possibility that a celestial body other than the moon obscured the sun
during the crucifixion? Was the sun eclipsed or darkened at all or did the gospel
writers simply make use of this far from uncommon dramatic device in their desire to underline the cosmic significance of their Messiah's crucifixion by means of this
celestial symbolism which is not even mentioned in the gospel of John?

These questions I leave to be answered by others as they are not my primary concern.

We know that it was a common practice in ancient times to tell of such unusual
celestial phenomena occurring at the time of the births or deaths of great historical or
mythological figures. We remember also the death and resurrection myths associated
with Osiris, Ashur, and Marduk. Whatever the answer, it is none-the-less quite note-
worthy that the synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, as well as the non-
canonical Gospel of Nicodemus, clearly tell of such a phenomenon occurring in
conjunction with the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, whom many millions of people
consider to be the only begotten son of God, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind.

In that, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus was the Logos of God and an agent
in the creation of all things who therefore would have played a significant role in the
design and creation of Earth, the sun, and the moon, and thus by extension the total
solar eclipse, there is a great deal for Christians and others to ponder. In this case
Jesus would have been in the unique position of being able to reveal to humanity the
religious significance of the total solar eclipse as a clear sign of his son ship to God
yet for reasons unknown to us he did not do so or at least there is no record of his
having done so in any of the canonical Gospels. In this context the total solar eclipse
would appear to raise nearly as many questions about God and Jesus as it answers.

As has often been said, "The Lord works in mysterious ways."

Medieval icons of Eastern Orthodox Christianity frequently depict the sun and moon on
either side of the cross and Jesus' halo is often depicted as a red circle representative
of the sun. Indeed, the halo is a symbol that is clearly derived from observations of the
sun's corona and pre-existed its Christian usage by hundreds, if not thousands of
years. Some depictions of halos show them containing a "Maltese cross" virtually
identical to those used by various Assyrian rulers many centuries before Jesus'
crucifixion. An illumination from the medieval "Rothschild Canticles" depicts Jesus on a
crude tree-like cross which is supported by a large seated figure who may be God the
Father or perhaps the risen Christ. This seated figure is at least twice the size of the
crucified Jesus and is clothed in fine robes but does not have a human head. In place
of the head is a four-leaf clover shape containing a thin rayed cross. This figurative
but also quite literal "godhead" is flanked on its right side by an angel holding the sun
and on its left side by another angel holding a crescent moon whose horns point
upwards. The sun held by the angel contains what appears to be a dark "pupil"
surrounded by iris like rays. This "pupil" in the sun appears to be whited out but this
might have been done at a later date than the original illumination. The sun looks very
much like an eye and the eclipse imagery of the "godhead" between the sun and moon
is unmistakable. Is it possible that the monks who illustrated this medieval canticle
witnessed a total eclipse of the sun and perceived it as a "sign in the heavens" of the
resurrected Jesus, their Sun of Righteousness, and perhaps also saw it as a symbolic
"All-Seeing Eye of God?"

The stonework on medieval cathedrals often depicts the sun and the moon associated
with the Christian cross, sometimes the sun is shown as an eye-like concentric circle,
and rosettes which although appearing to be flowers are actually solar eclipse inspired
symbols are also commonly found in association with Christian crosses. Some early
Christian crosses used by the Gnostics are T-shaped or have a very short upper bar
and are topped by concentric circles giving the distinct impression of human figures
with outstretched arms. One fine example shows a "Maltese cross" flanked on either
side by such a figure. The horizontal arms of these figures are considerably shorter
than the lower vertical shaft or "body" of the figures and both the arms and body are
flared at their ends in the manner of the typical "Maltese cross." The two figures are
each topped by a large, three ringed concentric circle giving the impression of an
oversized human head. The overall impression of these figures is of a stylized version
of a robed priest with arms uplifted in praise. The figures' close resemblance to the
Egyptian ankh or 'Crux Ansata' does not go unnoticed either.

The cross, "Maltese" or otherwise, may also be used to symbolize the total eclipse of
the sun for the very simple reason that any solar eclipse only occurs when the celestial
path of our moon's orbit literally "crosses" over that of our sun in the skies above Earth.
Stellate (i.e. pointed) and regular, straight lined, crosses are commonly depicted within
the sun disc in sun-moon conjunction symbols and winged discs on Mesopotamian
cylinder seals dating as far back as the Isin-Larsa period circa 2000-1800 B.C. and
similar crosses appear within the sun disc motif of numerous other cultures around
the world, thus lending no inconsiderable support to this straightforward hypothesis.
 

It is abundantly clear that various forms of the cross were used as solar symbols by
numerous cultures in diverse regions of the world, and that these crosses were
virtually certainly inspired by the cross-like pattern of the coronal streamers that are
seen in the total eclipse of the sun between the minimum and maximum phases of
sunspot activity. These crosses were quite common some millennia before the
crucifixion of Jesus and the subsequent adoption of the cross as the primary symbol
of the Christian faith. The ancient Egyptian's used the "Crux Ansata" or "ankh" as a
symbol of life and Egyptian Croix Patées or "Maltese crosses" appear in numerous
ancient hieroglyphic inscriptions. The Mesopotamians similarly used various forms of
the cross including the "Maltese Cross" as a solar symbol on their cylinder seals,
stelae, and bas-relief sculptures. The Mayans and Aztecs of Meso-America and the
Nazca, Ica, Moche, and Inca civilizations of ancient Peru used crosses for evidently
identical reasons and some versions are uncannily analogous to the "Maltese cross"
found in the winged disc on Assyrian bas-reliefs.
 

The people of Hawaii used various crosses often radiating out from eyes to represent
the omniscience of their gods long before the arrival of the first European settlers who
apparently noted the similarity of these crosses to those on the crowns of their kings
and queens. Crosses appear in the halos not only of Christ and other Christian
personages but also in the those of ancient Hindu gods and goddesses although
I cannot yet vouch for the antiquity of the depictions which they appear in.

The quite extensive, and exclusivist, use of the cross symbol by the Christian faith
gradually overshadowed (perhaps I should say eclipsed) its previous almost universal
significance as a solar symbol. The formative Christian Church clearly appropriated
the solar cross (or so-called 'Maltese cross') a symbol which we have conclusively
shown to have been utilised by the Assyrians as a solar symbol, and quite probably
as a symbol of the total eclipse of the sun, several centuries, indeed some millennia,
prior to the birth of Jesus, to say nothing of its use by the Egyptians at least two
millennia before the birth of Jesus. In doing so the Christian Church, quite probably
in ignorance, but none the less effectively because of this, concealed the original
significance and meaning of this ancient solar symbol for many centuries.