Why do some Chi Rho symbols have this weird version of the Greek Alpha?
In case you're wondering, Chi Rho's are Christian symbols that represent Jesus, in specific reference to Revelation's description of the Lord as "the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last". So the symbols are supposed to have an Alpha on the left and an Omega on the right. I'm only familiar with the modern. I don't know if there are some archaic versions of the letter but even after doing some research I can't find any of these strange letters in association with Alpha.
1) alpha2.jpg 2) alpha.jpg
The former looks like Lambda, but since it's supposed to be Alpha, I really don't know. The latter I can't find anywhere, so any explanation of what it is would be greatly appreciated. That's why I suspect these are from the archaic Greek.