ANCHOR. - G. B. De Rossi defined the anchor as the solemn and fundamental symbol of Christian symbolism
(Bull. arch. crist., 2nd series, 2 [1871], p. 65). As a symbol of the sea, of the sailor, of navigation in general and of Neptune, the anchor was also used in pagan monuments. In Christian ones it expresses hope, according to the teaching of St. Paul: « fortissimum solatium habeamus [of the kingdom of heaven] qui confugimus ad tenendam propositam spem quam sicut anchoram habemus animae tutam ac firmam » (Hebr. 6, 18-19). See also St. John Chrysostom (Expos. in psal. 9: PG 55, 129; in psal. 123: PG 55, 355) and St. Augustine: « tolle spem... in Deo vivo. Ibi fige spem, ibi anchoram cordis tui, ut tempestas saeculi non te inde abrumpat » (Serm. 177: PL 33, 958).
This symbol of the Christian faith and hope appears in the cemetery monuments of the second half of the 2nd century and becomes frequent in the 3rd, while it rapidly disappears afterwards, remaining on objects of domestic use, especially on rings and gems (Clem. Alex., Paedog., 3, 11, 59; O. Wulf, Kunst, pl. 56, 1135). The anchor is used in epitaphs either alone or together with other symbols; it is hope in Christ on a marble of Pretestato in which a P is grafted into the anchor, arranged horizontally, thus forming the monogrammatic cross (v.); it is also found together with the Good Shepherd, or with the fish, symbol of Christ. Sometimes it seems to display, in its form, a disguised cross, precisely according to St. Paul, who professes himself an apostle of Jesus Christ our hope (Tim. I, 1); in the cases in which the anchor is between two fish, then in these the faithful must be recognized, pisciculi according to Tertullian (de Bapt., 1: PL 1, 1306).
It is then often joined with the dove (v.) which sometimes appears together with the tree, with the dolphin, with the sheep, with the lamb; less frequently with the loaves, with the ship (v.), with the stars, with the so-called gammated cross (v.), with the palm; once both with Noah in the ark, and with the Good Shepherd, the lion and Jonah. It was used in above-ground monuments: cippi, sarcophagi; and in underground ones: inscriptions and sarcophagi. It is more frequent in the older regions of the Roman cemeteries of Priscilla, Pretestato, Callistus, Domitilla, then in Pamphilus and in the Jordani; rare in St. Agnes and in St. Lawrence; sporadic outside Rome, in Gaul; rare examples in Africa.
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Enrico Josi