Staurogram

{{Short description|A "ligature", or combination of letters.}}{{Redirect|⳨|3=Ruble}}File:Staurogram.svg

File:P. Bodmer XIV-XV, staurogram.jpg, 2nd century).]]

File:Solidus Anastasius.jpg minted under Anastasius I Dicorus (struck in Constantinople between 507–518). On the obverse is Victory standing left, holding a staff surmounted by a staurogram.]]

File:Nahsholim-Tel-Dor-3187.jpg with staurogram from Caesarea Maritima. Glass Factory Museum, Nahsholim, Israel.]]

The staurogram (⳨), also monogrammatic cross or tau-rho,The term staurogram in this sense is of relatively late coinage (1960s); "monogrammatic cross" is in use in the later 19th century. is a ligature composed of a superposition of the Greek letters tau (Τ) and rho (Ρ).

Early occurrence and significance

File:Herod coin1.jpg Hērōdou}}. Visible staurogram.]]

The symbol is of pre-Christian origin. It is found on copper coins minted by Herod I in 37 BC, interpreted as a tr ligature representing trikhalkon indicating the coin value.F. W. Madden, History of Jewish Coinage (1864), 83–85.

=Abbreviation for ''stauros''=

The staurogram was first used to abbreviate stauros ({{lang|grc|σταυρός}}), the Greek word for cross, in very early New Testament manuscripts such as {{Papyrus link|66}}, {{Papyrus link|45}} and {{Papyrus link|75}}, almost like a nomen sacrum, and may visually have represented Jesus on the cross.{{cite book |editor-last= Kraus |editor-first= Thomas |title= New Testament Manuscripts |publisher= Brill |location= Leiden |year= 2006 |isbn=978-90-04-14945-8 |chapter= The Staurogram in Early Christian Manuscripts: the earliest visual reference to the crucified Jesus? |first= Larry |last= Hurtado |authorlink= Larry W. Hurtado |pages= 207–26 |hdl= 1842/1204 }}

=Monogram of Christ=

The Tau-Rho as a Christian symbol outside its function as nomen sacrum in biblical manuscripts appears from c. the 4th century, used as a monogramma Christi alongside the Chi-Rho and other variants, spreading to Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries.{{cite book |last= Redknap |first= Mark |title= The Christian Celts: treasures of late Celtic Wales |publisher= National Museum of Wales |location= Cardiff |year= 1991 |isbn=978-0-7200-0354-3 |page=61}}

=In combination with alpha and omega=

Ephrem the Syrian (4th century) discusses a Christian symbol, apparently combining the Tau-Rho with Alpha and Omega placed under the left and right horizontal arms of the Tau.

Ephrem says that the Tau represents the cross of Jesus (prefigured by the outstretched hands of Moses in {{bibleverse||Exodus|17:11|KJV}}), the Alpha and Omega signify that the crucified Christ is "the beginning and end", and the Rho, finally, signifies "Help" ({{lang|grc|βοήθια}} {{sic}}; classical spelling: {{lang|grc|βοήθεια}}), because of the

numerological value of the Greek word being 100, represented by Rho as a Greek numeral.Hurtado (2006), citing F. J. Dölger, Sol Salutis (1920), [https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:34206/bdef:Book/view# p. 61] (note 2).

Ephraem in sanctam Parasceven, Ephraem Syri opera omnia quae extant graece — syriace — latine Tom. III Romae 1746, p. 477.

=Tau and rho separately=

The two letters tau and rho can be found separately (not in ligature) as symbols already on early Christian ossuaries. Tertullian (Contra Marcionem 3.22) explains the Tau as a symbol of salvation by identification with the sign which in {{bibleverse||Ezekiel|9:4|KJV}} was marked on the forehead of the saved ones.

The rho by itself can refer to Christ as Messiah because Abraham, taken as symbol of the Messiah, generated Isaac according to a promise made by God when he was one hundred years old, and 100 is the value of rho.Bagatti, Bellarmino, "The Church from the Circumcision: History and Archaeology of the Judaeo-Christians", Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Collectio Minor n. 2, Jerusalem (1984). {{rp|158}}

==Coptic Unicode block==

The staurogram is encoded by Unicode in the Coptic block, at {{unichar|2CE8|Coptic Symbol Tau Ro}}, and as of Unicode 7.0 (2014) also in the Ancient Symbols block, at {{unichar| 101A0|greek symbol tau rho}}. The Coptic block has a ligature of the full word σταυρός, where the τρ is represented by the staurogram, and two lunate sigmas are attached to either side of the tau's horizontal bar, at {{unichar|2CE7|Coptic symbol Stauros}}.