Dimensions
165 x 240 x 26mm
The Cross is the most potent and recognisable symbol of civilised society. But what are its historical origins? What is the evidence for its actual, physical existence? In a small church in Rome a tiny, neglected artefact - hidden for hundreds of years - may be the answer to these questions and fundamental to the genesis of Christianity.
This book centres on the discovery of a fragment of the Titulus Crucis - the inscribed headboard from the True Cross on which Christ died. This claim flies in the face of the view held by many modern historians who dismiss the notion of any part of the cross' survival as superstition. However, Thiede and D'Ancona have amassed evidence that this fragment is not only genuine, but that it was brought to Rome by Queen Helena, mother of Constantine the Great who, according to legend, found the cross in Jerusalem in AD 326 on the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcre now stands.
Following the echoes of Helena's steps and linking threads of history, archaeology, myth, scholarship and science, this is a record of a remarkable journey through Italy and the Holy Land. Established theories about the nature of early Christian faith and the world's most powerful image are overturned in this inspirational work.
