More evidence the Cross is ROMAN ... and not the execution pole either!

The other day, about a week ago, I had two short, back-and-forth conversations Carmine Vincent Michael Aquilino concerning شادي عبد الرحمن's photos (click here and here) on Facebook, The Roman World (now Roman Power and Glory). The coin in question has a date palm on the one side and a cross on the other.  Now what business did this non-Christian government have in minting coins with crosses on them?

Coin Facts:

The one side:

BPIT

Six-branched palm tree with clusters of dates, L | IΔ / K | AI across fields

The other side:

NEP_ω KΛAV KAI_CAP

A cross with two spears intersecting at the centre.

Other info:

17mm x 18mm, 3.36g
Hendin 1348; Meshorer 341

The coin is from the Judaean Province, with Antoninus Felix as Procurator (52-59), Reign of Claudius, Nero and Brittanicus, AE Prutah, Year 14 (55 AD), Jerusalem Mint.

So what does the cross represent? Simple. Two oblong crossed shields over two crossed spears. So I sez, So the cross represents Victory. To which he replied, It was more of a threat to the Jews of Judaea.

Which in a way proved me right: the cross image was a message to the Judaean Jews that if they tried any conclusions with Rome, the Romans would be victorious in the end. And we all know how well that turned out.

So to the Romans, the Cross (tropaeum) was a sign of victory and Empire.

Now the $64,000 question is, how did the Christians come up with the Jerusalem Cross having equilateral arms like this image? It could be that there was a tetrapylon, a monument at the intersection of Aelia Capitolina's (Jerusalem's) two major north-south and east-west arteries, the Cardo Maximus and the Decumanus.