Kourion Complex Palace (Mosaics) Fales, c. 1955 (1 of 2)De C. Fales (probably)

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to a large cruciform which extends diagonally from corner to corner,four smaller Greek crosses. These four crosses may represent the four main directions of the compass,east,west, north,and south. In the Syrian rite of baptism of Severus of Antioch,the [handwritten: ?] priest, three times, delineated in the baptismal water with his finger,four [handwritten: ?] crosses,one for each direction of the wind. These probably represent the four quarters of the world mentioned in the Nestorian Rite of the Epiphany and are a symbol of the universality of the Christian religion and of its spreading everywhere on earth. In our mosaic in the four small Greek crosses in the southernmost panel,there is at the end of each arm, a circle. A circle similarily placed is found in the crosses of some of the lamps of this period. For these circles,there are at least three possible explanations; they may represent light in as much as they are found on local lamps of this period and we know from the inscriptions on some lamps that their light was considered as 'the light of Christ which shines for us;they may represent the four seasons or lastly the busts or symbols of the authors of the four gospels. Of these three possibilities,the first seems to me the most probable in as much as light was intimately associated with the ceremony of the Epiphany and baptism, and for the same reason, I prefer the interpretation of the seasons of the year to that of the authors of the gospels.