Two West African swords/cutlasses for I.D.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

... The ankh and its variants are of course known more to the east, and the Christian examples (crux ansata) of Coptic character are an interesting suggestion, but it seems a bit distant for consideration.
The mention of the 'cross' in Pharaonic tombs is of course not relevant except as an interesting note or curiosity.

You are quite right, Jim.
I was more on the context that this is a small world and the deeper you research, the broader areas things have reached. After all, isn't it true that, the equilateral (Greek) cross is not a Christian invention, having popped up in the most varied spots of the Globe, from primitive Central America to wherever you name, with either religious or pagan significations ? Well, the ankh cross, if one follows its immediate path, was indeed a Pharaonic Egipt invention, adopted by Christian Coptas in Alexandria, having found its way to Abissinia and, so it seems, reached the distant Far East.
In a most interesting picture seen in one of Daehnhardts books, that dedicated to Vasco da Gama trip, we can appreciate an image of Prester John in a position which, with his aura and body, symbolizes the Key of Life (ANKH).
Also interesting is the Abyssinian silver adorned shield with the Templar crosses, something Portuguese navigators were not expecting to see when they sailed up the Indic Ocean and enteed the Red Sea.


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