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Thank you, and I do see what you're saying. Honestly, I think if it had been any other method of execution there *would indeed* be alternate symbology. I chuckled a bit when you brought up the wheel, considering the eight-spoke wheel of Buddhism. Wouldn't that have been an interesting coincidence? If Jesus had been hung (wow... that came out wrong...), I don't doubt Christianity would've adopted a stylized noose, perhaps amalgamated to an infinity symbol? Or hell, take the fish and turn it on its side, and there's a noose. Anyway, I ramble.

I can talk about this from out the veil of dogma because I've been religiously curious since I was ten, much to my poor parents' discomfiture, so I don't understand people who get offended when someone thinks critically about faith, any faith. Um, hello, Jesus was the king of making people think critically about dogma vs. faith. As long as respect is involved, it never hurts to gain knowledge or understanding. Wow, rambling again! My point: I agree with you.

That, and you correctly said the cross was a later symbol of Christianity. I know Constantine was said to have that vision of the cross in the sky during battle, which inspired him to institute Christianity as Rome's religion. Maybe the cross as a symbol became popular because of him? Also, maybe it became popular as the ubiquity of crucifixion phased out. Because it was no longer commonplace, its most popular association transformed its meaning. The same could be said, in reverse, sadly, about the swastika. The swastika was a sacred and holy symbol for certain American Indian tribes long before its evil Nazi connotation. Now everyone only sees it as evil, just as now Christians see the cross as redemption instead of strict murder.

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