with the Tree of Life appears frequently in the hymns of Venantius Fortunatus. Sharp (2016) has shown the interlace on the front of the Staffordshire Hoard cross corresponds with the river or tree of life described in Revelation 22. 1–2. The use of large jewelled crosses as processional and military crosses stems from the victory of Constantine over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge outside Rome in 312 AD. The vision of Constantine led to his having a large golden gem-studded processional cross made and the adoption of the cross as a standard by Christian armies. For much of the period, a large jewelled cross is recorded as decorating the presumed site of the Crucifixion, around which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been built. It was presented by the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II (reigned 408–450). The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine in the early 4th century allegedly discovered part of the True Cross, at a time when interest in the cross was increasing, in part due to its use as a standard by the Roman Army under Constantine her son. The paradox whereby the instrument of execution is rendered the vehicle of Christ's triumph in the Resurrection remains to the present day a central theme in Christian devotion, and the jewelled cross was one of its first visual manifestations. Although it is clear that the cross was associated with Christians from a very early period, and the sign of the cross was made by Christians, it is rarely seen in the earliest Christian art, such as that in the Catacombs of Rome, where there are only about 20 crosses, though the anchor, which appears more commonly, was a disguised cross symbol. There was resistance to representations of the cross with the body of Christ on it, a practice that did not begin until the 5th century, becoming more common in the 6th. One of the earliest representations of a Crucifixion scene rather oddly shows the three crosses of the gospel accounts, with the two thieves hanging in place on theirs, but with Christ standing at the foot of his. The fierce Christological disputes of the period saw the Monophysites, who rejected the human nature of Christ, objecting to the depiction of his body on the cross, and this influenced the use of the empty cross, especially in Byzantine-controlled areas such as Ravenna, where several