The Ichthus Christogram and Other Early Christian Symbols

An intriguing and revealing look at the ancient images and symbols integral to understanding the identity and teaching methods of the early church.

Scattered around the Mediterranean world, attentive modern-day visitors will notice a symbol depicting an eight-spoked wheel carved into stone walls, floors, and funerary art. This symbol has long been considered the remnants of an ancient game or the work of vandals, but author J. Daniel Hays argues its proliferation was the work of the early church, and it should be included in the greater corpus of Christian art, iconography, and symbolism.

In The Ichthus Christogram and Other Early Christian Symbols, Dr. Hays examines the early church's visual symbolic world and its history following the acts of the apostles—from the Great Persecution to the Christianization of the pagan world. Along the way, he takes the reader to key cities of ancient Turkey, Greece, and Israel to explore the political, architectural, and religious backgrounds of local churches and how such contexts informed their use of the eight-spoked Ichthus Christogram to teach orthodoxy and combat heresies, to remind illiterate believers of the basic tenets of the faith, and to declare victory over demonic forces. This is a must-read for students of church history and ancient Christian art.