‘Italy belongs to the Balance, her rightful sign. Beneath it Rome and her sovereignty of the world were founded’, said the Roman writer Manilius. He described Libra as ‘the sign in which the seasons are balanced, and the hours of night and day match each other’. Until 729 A.D., Libra was the sign of the Autumn Equinox.
Much has been made of the sign of the cross over the sun that the future emperor Constantine the Great supposedly saw in the noon sky before the famous battle of Milvian Bridge. Explanations of the phenomenon are not scarce. A couple of the more recent examples of such may be found here:
Unfortunately, in an attempt to come up with something either unnecessarily complex or naively simple, scholars have missed the most obvious solution to the mystery. But before I discuss my idea for the origin of the labarum, here is Eusebius' account of Constantine's vision, etc.:
Chapter XXVIII.—How, while he was praying, God sent him a Vision of a Cross of Light in the Heavens at Mid-day, with an Inscription admonishing him to conquer by that.
Accordingly he called on him with earnest prayer and supplications that he would reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his present difficulties. And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the testimony of after-time has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, Conquer by this. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle.
Chapter XXIX.—How the Christ of God appeared to him in his Sleep, and commanded him to use in his Wars a Standard made in the Form of the Cross.
He said, moreover, that he doubted within himself what the import of this apparition could be. And while he continued to ponder and reason on its meaning, night suddenly came on; then in his sleep the Christ of God appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign which he had seen in the heavens, and to use it as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies.
Chapter XXX.—The Making of the Standard of the Cross.
At dawn of day he arose, and communicated the marvel to his friends: and then, calling together the workers in gold and precious stones, he sat in the midst of them, and described to them the figure of the sign he had seen, bidding them represent it in gold and precious stones. And this representation I myself have had an opportunity of seeing.
Chapter XXXI.—A Description of the Standard of the Cross, which the Romans now call the Labarum.
Now it was made in the following manner. A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of the cross by means of a transverse bar laid over it. On the top of the whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious stones; and within this, the symbol of the Saviour’s name, two letters indicating the name of Christ by means of its initial characters, the letter P being intersected by X in its centre: and these letters the emperor was in the habit of wearing on his helmet at a later period. From the cross-bar of the spear was suspended a cloth, a royal piece, covered with a profuse embroidery of most brilliant precious stones; and which, being also richly interlaced with gold, presented an indescribable degree of beauty to the beholder. This banner was of a square form, and the upright staff, whose lower section was of great length, bore a golden half-length portrait of the pious emperor and his children on its upper part, beneath the trophy of the cross, and immediately above the embroidered banner.The emperor constantly made use of this sign of salvation as a safeguard against every adverse and hostile power, and commanded that others similar to it should be carried at the head of all his armies.
On 28 October, 312 A.D., the day of the battle, the Sun is very close to conjunction with Mercury in the constellation of Scorpius. But part of Scorpius was once composed of stars now in Libra. From https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/libra-constellation/:
Ancient Greeks knew the part of the sky occupied by the Libra constellation as Chelae, or “claws,” and considered it part of Scorpio constellation. Chelae represented the scorpion’s claws. As a reminder that Libra was once considered a part of Scorpio constellation, the brightest star in Libra, Beta Librae, has the name Zubeneschamali, which means “the northern claw” in Arabic, while Alpha Librae, Zubenelgenubi, is “the southern claw.”
What no one seems to have noticed is that the Scales form a cross pattern, being as they were anciently patterned after the oldest kind of balance mechanism. This earliest of designs was composed of an upright suspension fulcrum with a perpendicular beam. Such a shape would have easily suggested that of the cross to the Christians of the time. In the following images, the star Zubenelgenubi is the fulcrum. The ecliptic or path of the planets through the Zodiac passed almost directly through this star.
Sun and Mercury, October 28, 312 B.C. CyberSky Program
historically accurate)
Our earliest representations of Libra show the Scales in just this way. [1] Here are some depictions of actual Roman scales and Libra in ancient art:
It was, apparently, Roman astronomers who converted part of Scorpius into the constellation Libra. See
The tradition of portraying Libra with the upright suspension fulcrum and the beam continued throughout later history. Here are some good, representative examples:
The wreath above the cross containing the Chi-Rho accurately situates the Sun in the proper position in the sky. Although we are told the cross was above the Sun, as the cross in question was a Tau cross, it naturally would have been inverted when making the standard. Thus the sun was repositioned from below to above the cross.
The confusion engendered by Eusebius's account is due solely to the fact that during the day the cross formed by the Scales would not have been seen. One would have to know that the Sun lay "below" the cross in terms of its calendrical position with that particular Zodiac sign. Lactantius tells us that on the night before the battle Constantine had a dream in which he was directed to have a caeleste signum dei (“celestial divine sign”) inscribed on his soldiers’ shields. Later authors embellish the account of the heavenly vision in such a way as to include stars:
“...experienced a miracle about the middle hour of the day; for a shooting of rays shining out above the sun in the sky was changed into the form of a cross with an impression in stars, in Latin letters, declaring to the emperor Constantine, ‘in this conquer.’” Anonymous, Life of Constantine (BHG 364) 11 (Samuel N. C. Lieu and Dominic Montserrat, From Constantine to Julian: Pagan and Byzantine Views: A Source History [New York: Routledge, 1996] 117–18).
That Mercury was close to the Sun in the sign is significant, for Mercury, Greek Hermes, was the god of thieves, and I have shown (https://www.amazon.com/Christ-Revelation-Decoding-Testament-Symbolism/dp/1494962659) that the thieves flanking Christ during the Crucifixion were placed there because at the time Mercury and the Sun were near conjunction.
Before his "conversion" to Christianity, Constantine associated himself with Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun. Christ took on Sol's birthday of 25 December. We can be fairly certain, then, that the Sun below the "cross" of Libra represented Christ as a replacement for Sol.
Constantine and Sol Invictus
[1]
Note that there are many different depictions of the Scales throughout the centuries. The stars of the contellation are shifted from this feature to that. The orientation of Libra is thus variable. Our earliest extent portrayal of Libra with the Scorpion is that of the Farnese Atlas.
The statue is Roman and of the 2nd century. It contains the constellations as found in the star catalog of Hipparchus (129 B.C.) See https://phys.org/news/2005-01-long-lost-star-roman-statue.html#:~:text=Schaefer%20has%20discovered%20that%20the,well%20as%20the%20most%20influential. On the globe held up by Atlas we can see the Scorpion, gripping the Scales at the fulcrum point with one claw. Although the other claw is not visible, having two claws at either end of the balance beam would not make sense, and this is even more true given the fact that Virgo is quite plainly not holdng the Scales.
I asked Professor Bradley E. Schaefer about the Atlas's Libra and Scorpius. He responded thusly:
Yes, the Farnese Atlas is indeed the first surviving depiction of Scorpius and Libra. Be careful in the wording, as Scorpions have been depicted widely throughout the area for times stretching at least two millennia earlier. (I do not know of any earlier depictions of scales, not in a Libra context, but I do not doubt that there are many.) Ptolemy's star descriptions are about claws. And I do not find star-in-scale IDs in Hipparchus, Hyginus, or Eratosthenes. So, with only brief looking arouund, I have no authoritative answer as to what stars are what parts of the scales.
The Farnese Atlas is the earliest evidence as for the orientation and picture showing which star is which part of the scales. But with no stars being shown, it is problematic to make any exact star ID for the parts of the scales. Much better is the star catalog in the Almagest, where such IDs are made. Presumably, these ids carried over from much earlier times and are likely the ‘original’ IDs.
The depiction of only one claw is not useful, since the missing claw is covered by the hand of Atlas. What I am seeing is that the original sculptor (or, better, the original globe copied by the sculptor) is representing the ambiguity, or duality, where those stars are both depicted as “Claws” and “Scales”.
Here is the section on Libra from Ptolemy's ALMAGEST (Toomer translation):
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