investigation rather than upon the assumption that the popular
explanation is necessarily the correct one.

Though the round object in question was, as stated, in days of old
often used as a symbol by itself, it was sometimes, and, as time rolled
on, more and more frequently, surmounted by a small female figure with
wings; which figure was a representation of Victory. This figure was,
after the establishment of Christianity as the State Religion of the
Roman Empire, gradually, and only gradually, supplanted by the figure
of the cross.

Although several writers of note assume that the initiative in this
direction was taken by Constantine himself, the first step seems to
have been taken upon the death of Constantine, when a coin or medal was
issued on which the deceased monarch is called a God and is represented
as holding a round object surmounted by the so-called Monogram of
Christ; a symbol continually referred to by Eusebius and other writers
of the fourth century as a cross.

Later on an instance occurs of the Monogram surmounting a round object
held by a female figure representing Rome. This is upon a coin issued
by Nepotianus, a nephew of Constantine.

Passing on to the reign of Valentinianus II., we find that that Emperor
issued a coin upon which a round object surmounted by a cross is to be
seen in the hand of Victory herself. This would appear to have been the
first instance in which what we should call a cross, supplanted the
representation of Victory as a small female figure with wings, as a
symbol surmounting the round object which we are considering.