The cross started as a written Sumerian cuneiform symbol at the beginning of the history of writing and it depicted a ‘half’: One of two. A ‘whole’ (one of one, one and only) was depicted by the symbol of a star, the symbol of the topmost God (and a high aristocratic or angelic being). Over time the cross came to also mean mediation and priestly sacrifice and a sacrifice that takes away sins or debts. The word for this cross symbol is Mash or Mass, as in Mashiach (Messiah) and the Christian Mass. Three crosses meant exorcist. The cross took its meaning for medicine (like a pharmacist cross or the Red Cross) early in history, being associated with shamanism and priesthood. It already meant all this before the crucifixion of the Christ. So it is highly symbolic that Christ died on a cross.
