THE PAGAN-CHRISTIAN OVERLAP OF THE WISE BIRD. 131 



in the term irtptirrtpd was 801, and so possessed a value identical 

 with that of the letters Afl, Alpha and Omega, which Christ had 

 assumed as his own title. 



The Anglo-Saxon gospels were translated from a Latin text, in 

 which, literally following the Greek, the Johannine sentence runs : 

 " In principle erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum." One of 

 the earliest translations was made by Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, 

 who died in 709. He rendered the text with absolute exactness : 

 " In the beginning was the Word and that Word was with God." 

 But those converts who had recently believed that Wisdom, in the 

 form of a Raven, was Woden's constant companion, and who were 

 now taught to represent the Divine Intelligence in the shape of a 

 bird, naturally supposed that the Word which abode with the 

 Father from the beginning was to be symbolised by the dove, and 

 was therefore the Holy Ghost. 



To correct any error of this kind a subsequent version of the 

 gospel, made about 950, and called the Lindisfarne, does not 

 simply translate this passage, but gives it a highly explanatory 

 gloss, as follows : " In the beginning was the Word, and the 

 Word, which is God's Son, was with the Father." 



That the myth of the Wise Bird has affected the position of 

 the Dove in representations of the Christian Trinity many 

 examples prove, and some of them may be found in Dorset. 

 But in order that this remarkable influence may be recognised 

 the normal configuration of the Three Divine Persons must be 

 briefly reviewed. 



The crucifixion is absent from Roman art during the first four 

 centuries. The cross was, in fact, a heathen symbol, and does not 

 appear in the catacombs. Christ was originally depicted in the 

 Sacred Group as a Lamb the Agnus Dei which bore on Its 

 forehead the chi-rho monogram. Next, when the chi-rho had 

 been transformed into a cross, this, too, was borne at first on the 

 forehead, but afterwards was carried on the right shoulder. And, 

 lastly, the Lamb was enclosed in a circular nimbus which filled 

 the crucial axis. The substitution of the human figure of Christ 



