The History Behind the Fish Symbol for Jesus

Christianity and the Fish Symbol
In the early history of Christianity, Christians were often persecuted. To identify themselves to each other secretly, they used the image of a fish as a symbol. The Greek word for fish is ΙΧΘΥΣ (or ιχθυσ). That is, iota, chi, theta, upsilon, sigma. Anglicized, the word is written "ichthys" which may look more familiar: ichthyology is the study of fish. The word is said to be an acronym for "Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ" ("Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter"), which means, "Jesus Christ, God's Son (or Son of God), Savior." So the fish became a symbol of Christianity.
This symbol apparently has nothing to do with eating fish on "meatless" Fridays; that practice may derive from a Medieval belief that fish spontaneously generated rather than being the result of sexual reproduction, which apparently made them not count as meat.

Christian History Fish Symbol

The fish outline is a logical symbol for the early Christian church to adopt. Fish play a major roll in the gospels. For example:

Mark 1:17: "Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." [6 other references excised]

Some Christians believe that a second link between their religion and the fish symbol is seen in the Greek word for fish (ichthus, spelled: iota, chi, theta, upsilon, sigma). That is an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, of[sic] God[sic], the[sic] Son, the[sic] Savior" (Iesous - Jesus, CHristos - Christ, THeou - of God, Uiou[sic] - the Son, Soter - the Savior). An acrostic is an "arrangement of words in which the first letter of each line ordinarily combines with others to form a word or words or the alphabet." [1]

The Apostles were often referred to as "fishers of men". Followers of Christianity were called Pisciculi; the root of this Latin word is "fish". The symbols of "sacremental fish, with wine and a basket of bread represents the Eucharist and the Last Supper in Christian art." [2]  The symbol was simple to draw and was often used among Christians as a type of password during times of persecution by the Roman government. If two strangers met and were unsure whether each other was a Christian, one would draw an arc in the earth like: ). If the other were a Christian, they would complete the symbol with a reverse arc: (), forming the outline of a fish. In modern times, the fish outline symbol is experiencing a comeback. It is commonly seen in the form of a bumper sticker or of a casting mounted on the rear of vehicles. The body of the symbol may be empty, or may contain a the name "Jesus" or the Greek word "ΙΧΘΥΣ".

Pre-Christian History of the Fish Symbol

The fish symbol had been used for millennia worldwide as a religious symbol associated with the Pagan Great Mother Goddess. It is the outline of her vulva. The fish symbol was often drawn by overlapping two very thin crescent moons. One represented the crescent shortly before the new moon; the other shortly after, when the moon is just visible. The Moon is the heavenly body that has long been associated with the Goddess, just as the sun is a symbol of the God.
The link between the Goddess and fish was found in various areas of the ancient world:

  • In China, Great Mother Kwan-yin often portrayed in the shape of a fish.
  • In Egypt, Isis was called the Great Fish of the Abyss.
  • In Greece the Greek word "delphos" meant both fish and womb. The word is derived from the location of the ancient Oracle at Delphi who worshipped the original fish goddess, Themis. The later fish Goddess, Aphrodite Salacia, was worshipped by her followers on her sacred day, Friday. They ate fish and engaging in orgies. From her name comes the English word "salacious" which means lustful or obscene. Also from her name comes the name of our fourth month, April. In later centuries, the Christian church adsorbed this tradition by requiring the faithful to eat fish on Friday - a tradition that was only recently abandoned.
  • In ancient Rome Friday is called "dies veneris" or "Day of Venus", the Pagan Goddess of Love.
  • Throughout the Mediterranean, mystery religions used fish, wine and bread for their sacramental meal.
  • In Scandinavia, the Great Goddess was named "Freya"; fish were eaten in her honor. The 6th day of the week was named "Friday" after her.
  • In the Middle East, the Great Goddess of Ephesus was portrayed as a woman with a fish amulet over her genitals.

The fish symbol "was so revered throughout the Roman empire that Christian authorities insisted on taking it over, with extensive revision of myths to deny its earlier female-genital meanings.... Sometimes the Christ child was portrayed inside the vesica, which was superimposed on Mary's belly and obviously represented her womb, just as in the ancient symbolism of the Goddess." [3] Another author writes: "The fish headdress of the priests of Ea [a Sumero-Semitic God] later became the miter of the Christian bishops." [4]

The symbol itself, the eating of fish on Friday and the association of the symbol with deity were all taken over by the early Church from Pagan sources. Only the sexual component was deleted.


References
1. D.T. Kauffman, Ed., Baker's Concise Dictionary of Religion, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids MI, (1985), Page 13.
2. J.C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, Thames & Hudson, London, UK, (1979), Page 68-69.
3. B.G. Walker, The Woman's Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets, Harper & Row, San Francisco CA (1983), Page 313-314
4. J.C. Cooper, op cit, Page 15.

Found at http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_symb.htm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Song To Mithras

Image
by Rudyard Kipling (Hymn of the 30th Legion: circa A.D. 350) Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall! 'Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!' Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away, Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day! Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat. Our helmets scorch our foreheads, our sandals burn our feet. Now in the ungirt hour — now ere we blink and drowse, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows! Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main — Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn! Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn! Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies, Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice! Many roads thou hast fashioned — all of them lead to the Light: Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright! Mithras ...
Read more

The Twelve Olympian Gods

οί δώδεκα θεοί Dr. M. Nicholson, Queen's University The canonical 12 Olympian gods are: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Athena, Hephaistos, Hestia. Several later variations include the following: on the east frieze of the Parthenon (5th century B.C.) Hestia was displaced by Dionysos; in Plato's writings, Pluto (also known as Hades, the god of death) displaced Hestia as one of the canonical Twelve. However, Hades, although a brother of Zeus, did not live on Olympus, but in the underworld along with Persephone and Hecate, and so did not really belong with the inhabitants of Olympus. In the agora of Athens there was an altar to the Twelve; it was a sanctuary for suppliants and distances were measured from it. ZEUS: (Roman Juppiter [2 p's is the older spelling], Sanskrit Dyauspitar, Germanic Tiw or Ziu) The bright, shining one. He lives in the sky, he is the sky. Father of gods and men, he rules among all the immortals. He...
Read more

The Anchor Symbol

Image
The anchor as a symbol of Christianity has a previous history. The anchor was prominent in Rome as a symbol of Apollo, as James Valiant notes in his book, Creating Christ: How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity (co-authored with C.W. Fahy). The symbol is seen today often with a cross and Christ superimposed on it. And here we can see the symbol on the wall of a building in Pompeii, as a symbol of Apollo. The dolphins seen here were also symbols of Apollo. (This image appears on the cover of the Valiant/Lahy book.)
Read more