Fish Symbol

The History of the Christian Fish Symbol

The fish outline is a logical symbol for the early Christian church to adopt. Fish play a major roll in the gospels. For example:

Mark 1:17: "Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."

Matthew 12:40: "...Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Matthew 14:17: "And they said to Him, 'We have here only five loaves and two fish.'"

Luke 5:6: "And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking."

Luke 24:42: "So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb."

John 21:6: "And He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish."

1 Corinthians 15:39: "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds."

Return to Avey Incubator

Some Christians believe that a second link between their religion and the fish symbol is seen in the Greek word for fish (ichthus, spelled: Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma). That is an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, of God, the Son, the Savior" [Iesous (Jesus) CHristos (Christ) THeou (of God) Uiou (the Son) Soter (the Savior)]. An acrostic is an "arrangement of words in which the first letter of each line ordinarily combines with others to form a word or words or the alphabet." (1)

The Apostles were often referred to as "fishers of men". Followers of Christianity were called Pisciculi; the root of this Latin word is "fish". The symbols of "sacremental fish, with wine and a basket of bread represents the Eucharist and the Last Supper in Christian art." (2). The symbol was simple to draw and was often used among Christians as a type of password during times of persecution by the Roman government. If two strangers met and were unsure whether each other was a Christian, one would draw an arc in the earth like:). If the other were a Christian, they would complete the symbol with a reverse arc: (), forming the outline of a fish.

In modern times, the fish outline symbol is experiencing a comeback. It is commonly seen in the form of a bumper sticker or casting mounted on the trunk lids of cars. The body of the symbol may be empty, or may contain a name ("Jesus" or "ICTUS"). This has inspired some Secularists, Atheists and promoters of the theory of evolution to mimic the Christian fish symbol with one of their own. It usually has "DARWIN" in the body of the fish, and little legs underneath. This has prompted "fish wars" between supporters of the secular and religious symbols. Reference (3) contains a humorous expose of the battle between the Darwin and Christian fish. It displays some new species such as the "Evolve Fish" (a fish with "EVOLVE" on its body and a wrench in one of its forepaws) and the "Shark Jesus Fish" (a shark that eats all types of Jesus Fish).

Return to Avey Incubator

The Pre-Christian History of the Fish Symbol

The fish symbol has been used for millennia worldwide as a religious symbol associated with the Pagan Great Mother Goddess. It is the outline of her vulva. The fish symbol was often drawn by overlapping two very thin crescent moons. One represented the crescent shortly before the new moon; the other shortly after, when the moon is just visible. The Moon is the heavenly body that has long been associated with the Goddess, just as the sun is a symbol of the God.

The link between the Goddess and fish was found in various areas of the ancient world:

In China, Great Mother Kwan-yin often portrayed in the shape of a fish

In India, the Goddess Kali was called the "fish-eyed one"

In Egypt, Isis was called the Great Fish of the Abyss

In Greece the Greek word "delphos" meant both fish and womb. The word is derived from the location of the ancient Oracle at Delphi who worshipped the original fish goddess, Themis. The later fish Goddess, Aphrodite Salacia, was worshipped by her followers on her sacred day, Friday. They ate fish and engaging in orgies. From her name comes the English word "salacious" which means lustful or obscene. Also from her name comes the name of our fourth month, April. In later centuries, the Christian church adsorbed this tradition by requiring the faithful to eat fish on Friday - a tradition that was only recently abandoned.

In ancient Rome Friday is called "dies veneris" or Day of Venus, the Pagan Goddess of Love.

Througout the Mediterranean, mystery religions used fish, wine and bread for their sacramental meal.

In Scandinavia, the Great Goddess was named Freya; fish were eaten in her honor. The 6th day of the week was named "Friday" after her.

In the Middle East, the Great Goddess of Ephesus was portrayed as a woman with a fish amulet over her genitals.

Return to Avey Incubator

The fish symbol "was so revered throughout the Roman empire that Christian authorities insisted on taking it over, with extensive revision of myths to deny its earlier female-genital meanings...Sometimes the Christ child was portrayed inside the vesica, which was superimposed on Mary's belly and obviously represented her womb, just as in the ancient symbolism of the Goddess." (4) Another author writes: "The fish headdress of the priests of Ea [a Sumero-Semitic God] later became the miter of the Christian bishops." (5)

The symbol itself, the eating of fish on Friday and the association of the symbol with deity were all taken over by the early Church from Pagan sources. Only the sexual component was deleted.

The fish is an ancient Christian symbol known from the 1st century catacombs in Rome. The first literary reference to a fish as a Christian symbol is from Clement of Alexandria (born c. 150) in Paedogogus, III, xi. During times of persecution, early Christians would scratch a fish symbol on the ground as a means to distinguish friend from foe. The symbol itself may have come from the miraculous story of the loaves and fishes (John 6:1-13) or from the meal of fish Jesus shared with His disciples at the Sea of Galilee after the Resurrection (John 21:1-13). I prefer, however, the interpretation that it came from the story of the coin found by Simon Peter in the mouth of the fish (Matthew 17:24-27). The story may be seen as a metaphor for the free gift given to us by Jesus through his atoning death - our salvation.

The Greek word within the fish is ICHTHUS which means "fish" in Greek. It's also an acronymn for the phrase Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

Return to Avey Incubator