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Hi, thanks for your interest!
First, you’re right that it’s an abstraction of other Coptic/African crosses, but not an arbitrary one.
So, in Civ V the religion icons had to have less detail than icons used in Civ VI or Civ VII. At the time, I also didn’t know how to change the icons used by Firaxis. The problem was then that, at smaller sizes, the regular Coptic cross looked too much like the cross used by Firaxis for Catholicism. So, I had to use something different.
(As later Civilization games let me use icons with more detail, I suggest looking at the Civ VII version of this mod for more accurate religion icons and names: http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3507130398)
One of the earliest types of crosses prevalent in early African Christianity is the Crux ansata:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross_variants#/media/File:Coptic_ankh_(bold).svg
This cross is, of course, derived from the Egyptian ankh. Because of this, the circle remains a popular an important symbol in later African and Coptic forms of Christianity.
Now, if you look at the modern Coptic cross such as this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross_variants#/media/File:Coptic_cross.svg
You’ll notice that inside the outline, many versions still draw a circle in the middle where the bars intersect.
This circle is sometimes also emphasized in historical designs:
https://sdcason.com/content/images/size/w1200/2023/10/Handheld_crosses_Ethiopia_18th-20th_century_Brass_silver_wood_-3-_Dallas_Museum_of_Art.jpg
https://africadirect.com/cdn/shop/files/DSC_0363_39e46c2a-08d2-4b75-807e-7705ec0a0c56_720x.jpg?v=1703713972
(Wikipedia also includes a version of the Coptic cross
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross_variants#/media/File:Coptic-Cross.svg
that looks like a mix of the Coptic cross and the Jerusalem cross)
So, in the Civ V version of the mod, I also decided to focus on the circle as it was an easy, simple feature to distinguish it from the cross design used for Catholicism.
I'm curious about the source of the image for the Oriental Orthodox symbol. When I Googled it in English or with the image you created, I couldn't find any images of the Oriental Orthodox symbol.
I also looked into your Civilization 6 historical religion mod, and it used the Coptic Cross as the Oriental Orthodox symbol. So I wondered, "Is this an abstraction of the Coptic Cross in Civilization 5?" Anyway, I'm curious about the source. Thank you for reading.