Thousands of years before Christianity, the cross was a sacred emblem among ancient peoples: in Egypt, it decorated the hands of most divine statues, and in India it appeared carved above the most majestic shrines: even the temples of Ellora and Elephanta were carved into the rock in the shape of a cross, as were those of Bemares and Mathura. The cross, whatever form it took, always signified life, new life; Christians had it as a symbol of sacrifice and death; but there is no shortage of evidence that even for them it expressed the same idea that it did in the most ancient religions.
— ULISSE BACCI