Labarum

The labarum was adopted by the followers of Mithras.

Background

The symbol was commonly used by Roman soldiers with whom the worship of Mithras was extremely popular. The symbol was eblazoned on many warrior's shields for he was primarily a soldier's god. The symbol was formerly carried upon banners into battle.

A labarum was in the Chapel of the Two Gods in Camelot for those knights who stil worshipped Mithras. When Arthur brought the Grail in the Chapel, the labarum miraculously disappeared, marking the dominance of Jesus Christ in the kingdom's religion.

Behind the scenes

The game depicts the labarum as the symbol of Mithras. In reality, it mainly remembered as being the representation of the Greek letters ΧΡ as the monogram for Christ (in Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ) and was adopted as a Christian symbol in traditional Christianity (Greek and Latin).

The labarum (Greek: λάβαρον) was a vexillum (military standard) that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, a christogram formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" (Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, or Χριστός) — Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Since the vexillum consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross, it was ideally suited to symbolize the crucifixion of Christ.

It was an introduction by Emperor Contantine I around October 27, 312, preparing for the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. The Emperors identified themselves with the Mithraic title Sol Invictus, but other than that, the labarum was never historically linked to Mithras; and certainly the Romans who brought the worship of Mithras to Britannia were not the same Romans of Contantine I.

That being said there is scholarly texts that associates Chi-Rho as potentially predating Christianity and was used as solar symbol associated with possibly Celtic or Mithras cults. British archaeologist Flinders Petrie believed that Cho Rho could be traced back to Egyptian cults to the god Horus from the symbol of the hair of Horus. Some hypothesize that that may have been brought into Christianity via syncretism. “Another reason for suggesting that the chi-rho symbol was derived from a symbol of Sol Invictus is the way the letters in INVIC (unconquered) could so easily be seen as VINC (conquer) if they had been painted on a shield.” or where the Chi Rho was adopted into British Mithras cults through syncretism, where it could be found in the Temple of Mithras, Carrawburgh .

In pre-Christian times, the Chi-Rho symbol was also used to mark a particularly valuable or relevant passage in the margin of a page, abbreviating chrēston (good). The Chi Rho also appears in Greek coinage depicting Ptolemy III meaning Chrestos (or the “Good”).

There is possibly Christian conspiracy theories that focus on the idea of Chi Rho’s associations with Chi Rho as well.