The Purpose Of Defacement

One of the most startling things that I've learned over the years was the defacement of pagan images, statues and even temples. What was the purpose of doing this? The reason was ideology. It was believed that if you put a more powerful symbol over another that the power of that symbol, or image, would be broken. Now, we all know that statues didn't hold any power if they were just decorative statuary, but it was the power that the image represented that the early church feared.

This is a example of that fear. Notice the cross that's defacing the scene of a celebration.

There are examples of this in busts of former Roman Emperors, Egyptian temples, Greek scenes from the classical period, and on, and on, and on. There is even the hacking away, just like King Tut's father did, at the Temple of Isis and other temples throughout Egypt. These gods must of struck fear in the hearts of Christians to warrant this. Of course, if they feared the gods then their faith must not of been as sound.

Isn't the Christian god supposed to vanquish all these pagan idols? Why are they scared? Why are they still fearing? The answer is simple: The gods still hold the cards, they still rule over the universe, and they still have the power to make you fear them. That's the only reason that I feel that the defacement was done. Of course others will say that they were showing the power of the new religion over the old.

I say that it's more than that. They also feared the roots of the very culture that they were raised in. They feared the power that the people had and they wanted their new god feared, not loved. That's my own opinion about the defacement of these sites and symbols.