# Maltese Cross **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231 "2008-12-08T12:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/1 "2008-12-08T12:31:39Z")
I was wondering about the Maltese Cross and it’s counterparts like the Swiss and Red Cross. For example why is it present in so many different Countrys Flags and Uniforms, Heraldics, in Georgien, Vatican, Russia. Malta, and many more. and also the German Army has a Symbol representing a black Maltese Cross, what’s the origin or the connection of it? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/2 "2008-12-08T15:13:42Z")
It was the symbol of Amalfi, one of the city-states which made up modern Italy, and decorated the shields of the Knights Hospitaller, a group which ran a Christian hospital in Jerusalem for (Christian) pilgrims. After the Crusades, the Spanish Crown entrusted to them the government and administration of Malta, which was then a Spanish territory- which is why the symbol became associated with Malta. I don’t know how it became so common, although I’d guess Napoleon started plastering Maltese Crosses on things after he conquered Malta. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/3 "2008-12-08T15:35:21Z")
It’s a pretty basic simple symbol. Seems to me it’s like asking why circles are so common. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/4 "2008-12-08T15:46:27Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > It’s a pretty basic simple symbol. Seems to me it’s like asking why circles are so common. A cross is a pretty basic symbol; a Maltese Cross isn’t, really. It’s no more basic or obvious than, say, the Star of David, which is not particularly common (outside Judaism). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/5 "2008-12-08T20:32:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A cross is a pretty basic symbol; a Maltese Cross isn’t, really. It’s no more basic or obvious than, say, the Star of David, which is not particularly common (outside Judaism). Okay, a Maltese Cross is rather stylized. The OP reference to the Red Cross and the Swiss flag led my thinking in a different direction. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/6 "2008-12-09T12:45:36Z")
[quote=“Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright, post:2, topic:476231”] It was the symbol of Amalfi, one of the city-states which made up modern Italy, and decorated the shields of the Knights Hospitaller, a group which ran a Christian hospital in Jerusalem for (Christian) pilgrims. After the Crusades, the Spanish Crown entrusted to them the government and administration of Malta, which was then a Spanish territory- which is why the symbol became associated with Malta. I don’t know, what you wrote is about as much as i found out so far, i am still suspicious why the symbol of a small group of Samaritians should be the cause for the widespread use of the symbol today. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/7 "2008-12-09T14:10:49Z")
Suspicious? I don’t think it’s evidence of a Maltese conspiracy to rule America’s fire departments or something. I assume you use Samaritans in the “good Samaritan” sense - they weren’t Samaritans at all in a literal sense. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/8 "2008-12-09T15:06:51Z")
Of all the heraldic crosses, it’s one of the better-looking and has become widespread largely for aesthetic reasons, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![JimNightshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jimnightshade/32/3354_2.png) [@JimNightshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimNightshade)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/9 "2008-12-09T19:05:39Z")
It goes back a bit more than that - the Knights Hospitaller are still active in many countries. > **[Knights Hospitaller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller)** > > The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Latin: Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (/ˈhɒspɪtələr/),\[b\] was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was founded in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there until 1291, thereafter being based in Kolossi Castle in Cyprus (1302–1310), the island of Rhodes (1310–1522), Malta (1530–1798), and Saint Petersburg (1799–1801)... ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/10 "2008-12-09T20:00:04Z")
[Coco Chanel](http://www.ecognoscente.com/months/september08/29.html) liked the Maltese Cross–but she aroused more controversy by making fake jewelry stylish. Here’s a [good starting place](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_potent#cross_potent) for beginning a study of cross variants. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/11 "2008-12-09T20:00:04Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > the German Army has a Symbol representing a black Maltese Cross The symbol of the German Army isn’t/wasn’t a Maltese cross. The German cross was the cross of the Teutonic Knights, and as you can see, the arms of the cross are three sided and the inner arms curved: > **[File:Cross-Pattee-Heraldry.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cross-Pattee-Heraldry.svg)** > > Converted from the following vector PostScript source code: > Cross-Pattee-Heraldry.png > \[\[File:Cross-Pattee-Heraldry.svg|border|96x176px\]\] > German Fokker Dr.I Fokker M5K [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1914IronCross.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1914IronCross.jpg) While the Maltese Cross has arms that are four sided and straight (each arm looks like an arrow sign): > **[File:Maltese-Cross-Heraldry.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maltese-Cross-Heraldry.svg)** > > Derivative works of this file:  Cross of the Knights Hospitaller.svg > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. The following 24 pages use this file: ---
**Author:** ![Eklektik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Eklektik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eklektik)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maltese-cross/476231/12 "2008-12-09T21:39:41Z")
I remember that my friend’s grandfather gave me a whole speech on how important crosses were throughout history. He was a Mason, so he was big on symbolism. As for the Maltese cross, I’d agree with Elendil’s Heir, and say that it’s been popular for aesthetic reasons. Though, a lot of my goth friends are trying to bring back the “OG” cross, the Egyptian ankh.