From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved "Volume III - The Seventh Month - Constellation Names for Crux"
In the Seventh Month of Libra

Crux, the Southern Cross
The constellation name for Crux:

• Crux has no Greek Myth.
  
  
• Probably short for Medieval Latin crux (interpretum), torment (of interpreters) from Latin crux, cross, which is seen on the Meridian on May 10.
  • It is the smallest constellation in the sky.
  • It lies so far south but it is considered a modern constellation.
  • In ancient times in the low northern latitudes where this constellation could be seen, these stars were considered part of Centaurus.    Today Centaurus surrounds Crux on three sides.    Several hundred years ago Crux helped guide early European explorers of the Southern Hemisphere, for the upright of the cross points to the south celestial pole.    To see it you must be south of latitude 25 degrees north, about the latitude of Key West, Florida.
  • It is situated beneath the feet of the Centaur and actually portrays a cross.    This constellation disappeared from the view of those in Jerusalem at about the same time as Christ, symbolic of the real Sacrifice, who died on the cross and rose from the dead.    It was not seen again until the 16th century, when men began to sail the South Seas and around the Cape of Africa.
  
  
• Egyptian/Coptic: On the Denderah Zodiac, Crux may be in Lupus, but it is very doubtful.
  • In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 50 "In the ancient Egyptian Zodiac of Denderah this first Decan of Libra (Crux) is represented as a lion (Lupus) with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, as if in thirst, and a female figure holding a cup out to him."
    • In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 50 "Under his (Lupus) forefeet is the hieroglyphic symbol for running water."
      • I believe the lion has his forefeet on an altar, which may represent Crux.
      • Maybe this is connected to the concept of Libra, previously being an Altar or Mound, which was grasped by the Scorpion.    As seen though now the Scorpion's claws were "cut off" and is now called "the scales, or balance."
    • In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 50 "The Egyptian name of this Lion, however, points to his ultimate triumph, for it is called Sera, that is, victory."
    • In the "Gospel of the Stars," by Joseph Seiss, page 38, he claimed that Crux, "In the Zodiac of Denderah this constellation is marked by the figure of a lion, with his head turned backward, and his tongue hanging out of his mouth as if in consuming thirst."
      • I do not agree with Seiss' assumption that this is Crux, this is probably a misprint and should be Lupus.    Lupus is a beast.
  
  
• In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 48 "Hebrew Tau, is in the form of a cross."    These crosses are seen on ancient Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic and Egyptian monuments.
  • Hebrew letter Tau, means a mark (boundary mark, a limit or finish.    It is the last letter.).
  • Rolleston calls it "The Mark of Boundary, or Limitation."
  
  
• Some claim that to the Hebrews this constellation Crux is known as Adom, which means "The Cutting Off."
  • Rolleston promotes it as the Hebrew Adom, "The Cutting Off."
    • The Hebrew word for Adom is not found, but it could be dom as follows:
      • Rolleston did promote Isaiah 38:10 which correlates to the Hebrew word demiy, dem-ee', or domiy, dom-ee', from Heb. damah ... cutting off.
  • A connection exist here of the Messiah with the cross and the cutting off of the Messiah as seen in Daniel 9:26.    It is not the same as the Adom above though.
    • Cutoff.
      • Hebrew karath, kaw-rath', a primary root to cut (off, down or asunder), to destroy or consume, especially to covenant (make an alliance or bargain).
    • Daniel 9:24-27:
      • Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
      • Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
      • Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
      • Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
  
  
• There were no other names specified for Crux:
  • Richard H. Allen commented on the follwing: Pliny may have known it as Thronos Caesaris in honor of the emperor Augustus; yet it was then invisible from Italy, though plainly visible from Alexandria, where it may have been thus named by some courtly astronomer.
  • Al Biruni wrote that a star could be seen from Multan in India in the north latitude, "which they call Sula," the Beam of Crucifixion.    This, if a reference to the Cross, is a striking anticipation of the modern figure.    Hewitt, repeating this title as Shula, claimed it for the south pole of Hindu astronomers.
  • Lockyer alludes to it as the Pole-star of the South, which it may be when on the meridian, as the most prominent constellation in the vicinity of the pole, although its base star is nearly 28 degree from that point, about four and one half times the length of the Cross.    But this idea is an old one; Minsheu's Guide having, at the word "Cruzero," Quatuor stella poli, Foure starres crossing; and Sarmiento, even earlier, had much the same, but asserted that, "with God's help," he was enabled to select another pole-star nearer the true point.
  • Seen as the German Kreuz, the Italian Croce, the French Croix and in the 1776 edition of Flamsteed's Atlas, Croisade.

See Star Names for Crux.

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    This file updated on July 15, 2008.

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