II.—Dispersion of the Swastika. (continued 2)

Fig. 162. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE WITH FIGURE OF GOOSE, HONEYSUCKLE (ANTHEMION), AND SPIRAL SWASTIKA. Thera. “Monumenti Inedite,” LXV, p. 2, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 46, fig. 7.

Fig. 163. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE. Sphinx with spiral scrolls, and two meander Swastikas (right). Melos. Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1887, XII, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 34, fig. 8. Fig. 164. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE. Ibex, scroll, and meander Swastika (right). Melos. Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1887, XII, p. 121, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 39, fig. 2.

Fig. 165. DETAIL OF A GREEK VASE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Ram, meander Swastika (left), circles, dots, and crosses. Salzmann, “Necropole de Camire,” LI, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 28, fig. 7.

Swastikas with four arms, crossing at right angles, with ends bent to the right.—The author has called this the normal Swastika. He has been at some trouble to gather such Swastikas from Greek vases as was possible, and has divided them according to forms and peculiarities. The first group (figs. 140, 143, 146, 147, 148, and 150) shows the normal Swastika with four arms, all bent at right angles and to the right. In the aforesaid division no distinction has been made between specimens from different parts of Greece and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and these, with such specimens as have been found in Smyrna, have for this purpose all been treated as Greek.

Fig. 166. CYPRIAN VASE WITH SWASTIKAS AND FIGURES OF BIRDS. Perrot and Chipiez, “History of Art in Phenicia and Cyprus,” II, p. 300, fig. 237; Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 48, figs. 6, 12; Cesnola, “Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples,” Appendix by Murray, p. 412, pl. 44, fig. 34.

Fig. 167. CYPRIAN VASE WITH LOTUS, BOSSES, BUDS, SEPALS, AND DIFFERENT SWASTIKAS. Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 48, fig. 3.

Swastikas with four arms crossing at right angles, ends bent to the left.—Figs. 141, 142, 144, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 156, and 157 represent the normal Swastika with four arms, all bending at right angles, but to the left. The vases on which they have been found are not described as to color or form. It would be difficult to do so correctly; besides, these descriptions are not important in our study of the Swastika. Fig. 155 represents a vase or pitcher (oinochoë, Greek—οῖνος, wine, and χέω, to pour) with painted Swastika, ends turned to the left. It is in the Museum of St. Germain, and is figured by M. De Mortillet in “Musée Préhistorique.” Fig. 156 represents a Cyprian vase from Ormidia, in the New York Museum. It is described by Cesnola[177] and by Perrot and Chipiez.[178] Fig. 157 is taken from a fragment of archaic Greek pottery found in Santorin (Ancient Thera), an island in the Greek Archipelago. This island was first inhabited by the Phenicians, afterwards by the Greeks, a colony of whom founded Cyrene in Africa. This specimen is cited by Rochette and figured by Waring.[179]

Fig. 168. CYPRIAN VASE WITH LOTUS, BOSSES, LOTUS BUDS, AND DIFFERENT SWASTIKAS. Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 48, fig. 15.

Swastikas with four arms crossing at other than right angles, the ends ogee and to the left.—Figs. 158, 159, and 160 show Swastikas with four arms crossing at other than right angles, many of them ogee, but turned to the left. Fig. 161 is a representation of a wooden button or clasp, much resembling the later gold brooch of Sweden, classified by Montelius (p. 867), covered with plates of gold, from Sepulcher IV, Mycenæ (Schliemann, Mycenæ, fig. 385, p. 259). The ornament in its center is one of the ogee Swastikas with four arms (tetraskelion) curved to the left. It shows a dot in each of the four angles of the cross similar to the Suavastika of Max Müller and the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki, which Burnouf attributed to the four nails which fastened the cross Arani (the female principle), while the Pramantha (the male), produced, by rotation, the holy fire from the sacred cross. An almost exact reproduction of this Swastika will be found on the shield of the Pima Indians of New Mexico (fig. 258).

Fig. 169. DETAIL OF EARLY BŒOTIAN VASE. Figure of horse, solar diagram, Artemis with geese, and Swastikas (normal and meander, right and left). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 61, fig. 12.

Dr. Schliemann reports that the Swastika in its spiral form is represented innumerable times in the sculptured ceiling of the Thalamos in the treasury at Orchomenos. (See figs. 21 and 25.)

He also reports[180] that Swastikas (turned both ways) may be seen in the Royal Museum at Berlin incised on a balustrade relief of the hall which surrounded the temple of Athene at Pergamos. Fig. 162 represents a spiral Swastika with four arms crossing at right angles, the ends all turned to the left and each one forming a spiral.

Waring[181] figures and describes a Grecian oinochoë from Camirus, Rhodes, dating, as he says, from 700 to 500 B. C., on which is a band of decoration similar to fig. 130. It is about 10 inches high, of cream color, with ornamentation of dark brown. Two ibexes follow each other with an ogee spiral Swastika between the forelegs of one.

Meander pattern, with ends bent to right and left.—Figs. 163, 164, and 165 show the Swastika in meander pattern. Fig. 163 shows two Swastikas, the arms of both bent to the right, one six, the other nine times. The Swastika shown in fig. 164 is bent to the right eight times. That shown in fig. 165 bends to the left eight times.

Swastikas of different kinds on the same object.—The next group (figs. 167 to 176) is of importance in that it represents objects which, bearing the normal Swastika, also show on the same object other styles of Swastika, those turned to the left at right angles, those at other than right angles, and those which are spiral or meander. The presence on a single object of different forms of Swastika is considered as evidence of their chronologic identity and their consequent relation to each other, showing them to be all the same sign—that is, they were all Swastikas, whether the arms were bent to the right or to the left, ogee or in curves, at right angles or at other than right angles, in spirals or meanders.

Fig. 170. DETAIL OF RHODIAN VASE. Figures of geese, circles and dots, and Swastikas (right and left). British Museum. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 27, fig. 9.

Fig. 171. DETAIL OF RHODIAN VASE. Geese, lotus circles, and two Swastikas (right and left). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” p. 271, fig. 145.

Many examples of vases similar to fig. 172 are shown in the London, Paris, and New York museums, and in other collections. (See figs. 149, 159.) Fig. 174 shows an Attic painted vase (Lebes) of the Archaic period, from Athens. It is a pale yellowish ground, probably the natural color, with figures in maroon. It belongs to the British Museum. It bears on the front side five Swastikas, all of different styles; three turn to the right, two to the left. The main arms cross at right angles, but the ends of four are bent at right angles, while one is curved (ogee). Three have the ends bent (at right angles) four times, making a meander form, while two make only one bend. They seem not to be placed with any reference to each other, or to any other object, and are scattered over the field as chance or luck might determine. A specimen of Swastika interesting to prehistoric archæologists is that on a vase from Cyprus (Musée St. Germain, No. 21537), on which is represented an arrowhead, stemmed, barbed, and suspended by its points between the Swastika.[182]

Fig. 172. GREEK VASE OF TYPICAL RHODIAN STYLE. Ibex, lotus, geese, and six Swastikas (normal, meander, and ogee, all left). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” p. 251, pl. 39.[183]

Fig. 173. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE. Deer, solar diagrams, and three Swastikas (single, double, and meander, right). Melos. Conze, “Meliosche Thongefässe,” and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 60, fig. 8.

Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter presented a paper before the Société d’Anthropologie in Paris, December 6, 1888, reported in the Bulletin of that year (pp. 668-681). It was entitled “La Croix gammée et la Croix cantonnée en Chypre.” (The Croix gammée is the Swastika, while the Croix cantonnée is the cross with dots, the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki.) In this paper the author describes his finding the Swastika during his excavations into prehistoric Cyprus. On the first page of his paper the following statement appears:

The Swastika comes from India as an ornament in form of a cone (conique) of metal, gold, silver, or bronze gilt, worn on the ears (see G. Perrot: “Histoire de l’Art,” III, p. 562 et fig. 384), and nose-rings (see S. Reinach: “Chronique d’Orient,” 3^e série, t. IV, 1886). I was the first to make known the nose-ring worn by the goddess Aphrodite-Astarte, even at Cyprus. In the Indies the women still wear these ornaments in their nostrils and ears. The fellahin of Egypt also wear similar jewelry; but as Egyptian art gives us no example of the usage of these ornaments in antiquity, it is only from the Indies that the Phenicians could have borrowed them. The nose-ring is unknown in the antiquity of all countries which surrounded the island of Cyprus.

Fig. 174. ARCHAIC GREEK VASE WITH FIVE SWASTIKAS OF FOUR DIFFERENT FORMS. Athens. Birch, “History of Ancient Pottery,” quoted by Waring in “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 41, fig. 15; Dennis, “The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,” I, p. 91.

Fig. 175. DETAIL OF ARCHAIC BŒOTIAN VASE. Serpents, crosses, and Swastikas (normal, right, left, and meander). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 60, fig. 9.

The first pages of his memoir are employed in demonstrating that the specimens of the Swastika found in Cyprus, the most of which are set forth in this paper (figs. 177-182), show a Phenician influence; and according to his theory demonstrate their migration or importation. He does not specify the evidence on which he bases his assertion of Phenician influence in Cyprus, except in one or two particulars. Speaking of the specimen shown in fig. 177 of the present paper, he says:

It represents the sacred palm under which Apollo, the god of light, was born. * * * At Cyprus the palm did not appear only with the Phenicians; it was not known prior to that time (p. 674).

Fig. 176. ATTIC VASE FOR PERFUME, WITH CROIX SWASTICALE AND TWO FORMS OF SWASTIKAS. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 673, fig. 4.

The design shown in fig. 178 he describes as representing two birds in the attitude of adoration before a Swastika, all being figured on a Greek cup of the style Dipylon.[184]

Fig. 177. DETAIL OF CYPRIAN VASE. Swastikas with palm tree, sacred to Apollo. Citium, Cyprus. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 673, fig. 3.

Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter adds:

On the vases of Dipylon the Swastikas are generally transformed into other ornaments, mostly meanders. But this is not the rule in Cyprus. The Swastika disappeared from there as it came, in its sacred form, with the Phenician influence, with the Phenician inscriptions on the vases, with the concentric circles without central points or tangents.

He says[185] that the Swastika as well as the “Croix cantonnée” (with points or dots), while possibly not always the equivalent of the solar disk, zigzag lightning, or the double hatchet, yet are employed together and are given the same signification, and frequently replace each other. It is his opinion[186] that the Swastika in Cyprus had nearly always a signification more or less religious, although it may have been used as an ornament to fill empty spaces. His interpretation of the Swastika in Cyprus is that it will signify tour à tour the storm, the lightning, the sun, the light, the seasons—sometimes one, sometimes another of these significations—and that its form lends itself easily (facilement) to the solar disk, to the fire wheel, and to the sun chariot. In support of this, he cites a figure (fig. 179) taken from Cesnola,[187] in which the wheels of the chariot are decorated with four Swastikas displayed in each of the four quarters. The chief personage on the car he identifies as the god of Apollo-Resef, and the decoration on his shield represents the solar disk. He is at once the god of war and also the god of light, which identifies him with Helios. The other personage is Herakles-Mecquars, the right hand of Apollo, both of them heroes of the sun.

Fig. 178. CYPRIAN VASE WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS AND SWASTIKA IN PANEL. Musée St. Germain. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 674, fig. 6.

Fig. 179. CHARIOT OF APOLLO-RESEF. Sun symbol(?) on shield and four Swastikas (two right and two left) on quadrants of chariot wheels. Cesnola, “Salaminia,” p. 240, fig. 226, and Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 675, fig. 7.

The supreme goddess of the Isle of Cyprus was Aphrodite-Astarte,[188] whose presence with a preponderating Phenician influence can be traced back to the period of the age of iron, her images bearing signs of the Swastika, being, according to Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter, found in Cyprus. In fig. 180 the statue of this goddess is shown, which he says was found by himself in 1884 at Curium. It bears four Swastikas, two on the shoulders and two on the forearms. Fig. 181 represents a centaur found by him at the same time, on the right arm of which is a Swastika painted in black, as in the foregoing statue.

Fig. 180. TERRA-COTTA STATUE OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE-ASTARTE WITH FOUR SWASTIKAS.[189] Curium, Cyprus. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 676, fig. 8.

Fig. 181. CYPRIAN CENTAUR WITH ONE SWASTIKA. Cesnola, “Salaminia,” p. 243, fig. 230; Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 676, fig. 9.

We have found, in the course of this paper, many statues of human figures bearing the mark of the Swastika on some portion of their garments. M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, on page 677, gives the following explanation thereof:

It appears to me that the priests and priestesses, also the boys who performed the services in the sacred places, were in the habit of burning or tattooing Swastikas upon their arms. * * * In 1885, among the votive offerings found in one of the sacred places dedicated to Aphrodite-Astoret, near Idalium, was a stone statuette, representing the young Adonis Kinyras in a squatting posture, with the Swastika tattooed or painted in red color upon his naked arm.

And, says Richter, when, later on, the custom of tattooing had disappeared, they placed the Swastika on the sacerdotal garments. He has found in a Greek tomb in 1885, near Polistis Chrysokon, two statuettes representing female dancers in the service of Aphrodite-Ariadne, one of which (fig. 182) bore six or more Swastikas. In other cases, says he (p. 678), the Croix cantonnée (the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki) replaced the Swastika on the garments, and he cites the statue of Hercules strangling the lion in the presence of Athena, whose robe is ornamented with the Croix cantonnée. He repeats that the two signs of the cross represent the idea of light, sun, sacrifice, rain, storm, and the seasons.

Fig. 182. GREEK STATUE OF APHRODITE-ARIADNE. Six Swastikas (four right and two left). Polistis Chrysokon. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 677, fig. 10.

EUROPE.

BRONZE AGE.

Prehistoric archæologists claim that bronze was introduced into Europe in prehistoric times from the extreme Orient. The tin mines of the peninsula of Burma and Siam, with their extension into China on the north, Malacca and the islands of the archipelago on the south, are known to have been worked in extremely ancient times and are believed to have furnished the tin for the first making of bronze. The latter may not be susceptible of proof, but everything is consistent therewith. After it became known that copper and tin would make bronze, the discovery of tin would be greatly extended, and in the course of time the tin mines of Spain, Britain, and Germany might be opened. A hundred and more prehistoric bronze foundries have been discovered in western Europe and tens of thousands of prehistoric bronze implements. If bronze came originally from the extreme Orient, and the Swastika belonged there also, and as objects of bronze belonging to prehistoric times and showing connection with the Orient, like the tintinnabulum (fig. 29) have been found in the Swiss lake dwellings of prehistoric times, it is a fair inference that the Swastika mark found on the same objects came also from the Orient. This inference is strengthened by the manufacture and continuous use of the Swastika on both bronze and pottery, until it practically covered, and is to be found over, all Europe wherever the culture of bronze prevailed. Nearly all varieties of the Swastika came into use during the Bronze Age. The objects on which it was placed may have been different in different localities, and so also another variety of form may have prevailed in a given locality; but, subject to these exceptions, the Swastika came into general use throughout the countries wherein the Bronze Age prevailed. As we have seen, on the hill of Hissarlik the Swastika is found principally on the spindle-whorl; in Greece and Cyprus, on the pottery vases; in Germany, on the ceintures of bronze; in Scandinavia, on weapons and on toilet and dress ornaments. In Scotland and Ireland it was mostly on sculptured stones, which are many times themselves ancient Celtic crosses. In England, France, and Etruria, the Swastika appears on small bronze ornaments, principally fibulæ. Different forms of the Swastika, i. e., those to the right, left, square, ogee, curved, spiral and meander, triskelion and tetraskelion, have been found on the same object, thereby showing their inter-relationship. No distinction is apparent between the arms bent to the right or to the left. This difference, noted by Prof. Max Müller, seems to fail altogether.

Greg says:[190]

About 500 to 600 B. C., the fylfot, (Swastika) curiously enough begins to disappear as a favorite device of early Greek art, and is rarely, if ever, seen on the regular Etruscan vase.

This indicates that the period of the use of the Swastika during the Bronze Age in Europe lay back of the period of its disappearance in the time of early Greek art, and that it was of higher antiquity than would otherwise be suspected.

Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter says:[191]

The Swastika makes absolute default in Cyprus during all the age of bronze and in all its separate divisions according as the vases were decorated with intaglio or relief, or were painted.

Etruria and Italy.—The Etruscans were a prehistoric people. The country was occupied during the two ages of stone, Paleolithic and Neolithic, and during the Bronze Age. The Etruscans were probably the descendants of the Bronze Age people. The longest continued geographical discussion the world has heard was as to who were the Etruscans, and whence or by what route did they come to their country? It was opened by Herodotus and Dionysius Halicarnassus in the fourth century B. C.; while Dr. Brinton and the late President Welling have made the latest contributions thereto. The culture of the Etruscans was somewhat similar to that of the Bronze Age peoples, and many of the implements had great resemblance, but with sufficient divergence to mark the difference between them. There were different stages of culture among the Etruscans, as can be easily and certainly determined from their tombs, modes of burial, pottery, etc.

The Swastika appears to have been employed in all these epochs or stages. It was undoubtedly used during the Bronze Age, and in Italy it continued throughout the Etruscan and into the Roman and Christian periods.

Fig. 183. HUT URN IN THE VATICAN MUSEUM. “Burning altar” mark associated with Swastikas. Etruria (Bronze Age).

While it may be doubtful if any specimen of Swastika can be identified as having belonged to the Neolithic Age in Europe, there can be no doubt that it was in common use during the Bronze Age. Professor Goodyear gives it as his opinion, and in this he may be correct, that the earliest specimens of Swastika of which identification can be made are on the hut urns of central Italy. These have been considered as belonging definitely to the Bronze Age in that country. Fig. 183 is a representation of one of these hut urns. It shows upon its roof several specimens of Swastika, as will be apparent from examination. There are other figures, incised and in relief. One of them is the celebrated “burning altar” mark of Dr. Schliemann. This specimen was found in the Via Appia near Rome, and is exhibited in the Vatican Museum. Similar specimens have been found in other parts of Etruria. The author saw in the Municipal Museum at Corneto many of them, which had been excavated from the neighboring cemetery of the prehistoric city of Corneto-Tarquinii. They were of pottery, but made as if to represent rude huts of skin, stretched on cross poles, in general appearance not unlike the cane and rush conical cabins used to this day by the peasants around Rome. They belonged to the Bronze Age, and antedated the Etruscan civilization. This was demonstrated by the finds at Corneto-Tarquinii. Tombs to the number of about 300, containing them, were found, mostly in 1880-81, at a lower level than, and were superseded by, the Etruscan tombs. They contained the weapons, tools, and ornaments peculiar to the Bronze Age—swords, hatchets, pins, fibulæ, bronze and pottery vases, etc., the characteristics of which were different from Etruscan objects of similar purpose, so they could be satisfactorily identified and segregated. The hut urns were receptacles for the ashes of the cremated dead, which, undisturbed, are to be seen in the museum. The vases forming part of this grave furniture bore the Swastika mark; three have two Swastikas, one three, one four, and another no less than eight.

Dennis figures a hut urn from Alba Longa,[192] and another from the Alban Mount.[193] He says (note 1):

These remarkable urns were first found in 1817 at Montecucco, near Marino, and at Monte Crescenzio, near the Lago de Castello, beneath a stratum of peperino (tufa) 18 inches thick. They were embedded in a yellowish volcanic ash and rested on a lower and earlier stratum of peperino.[194]

Curiously enough, the three or four pronged mark, called “burning altar” by Dr. Schliemann, is on both hut urns in Dennis’s “Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.” Dr. Schliemann argues strongly in favor of the relationship between Swastika and the “burning altar” sign, but assigns no other reason than the similarity of the marks on the two objects. He appears unable, in “Ilios,” to cite any instance of the Swastika being found on the hut urns in connection with the “burning altar” sign, but he mentions the Swastika five times repeated on one of the hut urns in the Etruscan collection in the museum of the Vatican at Rome.[195] The photograph of the hut urn from the Vatican (fig. 183) supplies the missing link in Schliemann’s evidence. The roof of the hut urn bears the “burning altar” mark (if it be a burning altar, as claimed), which is in high relief (as it is in the Dennis specimens), and was wrought in the clay by the molder when the hut was made. Such of the other portions of the roof as are in sight show sundry incised lines which, being deciphered, are found to be Swastikas or parts of them. The parallelogram in the front contains a cross and has the appearance of a labyrinth, but it is not. The other signs or marks, however, represent Swastikas, either in whole or in part. This specimen completes the proof cited by Schliemann, and associates the Swastika with the “burning altar” sign in the Etruscan country, as well as on the hill of Hissarlik and in other localities.

Dennis supposes the earliest Etruscan vases, called by many different names, to date from the twelfth century B. C. to 540 B. C.,[196] the latter being the epoch of Theodoros of Samos, whose improvements marked an epoch in the culture of the country. He says:

These vases were adorned with annular bands, zigzag, waves, meanders, concentric circles, hatched lines, Swastikas, and other geometric patterns.

Fig. 184. FRAGMENT OF ARCHAIC GREEK POTTERY WITH THREE SWASTIKAS. Cumæ, Italy. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 1.

A fragment of Archaic Greek pottery is reported by Rochette from the necropolis of Cumæ, in the campagna of Italy, and is shown in fig. 184. Rochette reports it as an example of a very early period, believed by him to have been Phenician. When we consider the rarity of Phenician pottery in Italy compared with the great amount of Greek pottery found there, and that the Phenicians are not known to have employed the Swastika, this, combined with the difficulty of determining the place of origin of such a fragment, renders it more likely to have been Greek than Phenician. A reason apparently moving Rochette to this decision was the zigzag ornamentation, which he translated to be a Phenician sign for water; but this pattern was used many times and in many places without having any such meaning, and is no proof of his proposition.

Fig. 185. CINERARY URN WITH SWASTIKAS IN PANELS. San Marino, near Albano, Italy. Vatican Museum.

Fig. 186. CINERARY URN WITH SWASTIKAS INCLOSED BY INCISED LINES IN INTAGLIO. Cervetri, Italy. “Conestabile due Dischi in Bronzo,” pl. 5, fig. 2. ⅙ natural size.

Figs. 185 and 186 represent the one-handled cinerary urns peculiar to the Bronze Age in Italy. They are believed to have been contemporaneous with or immediately succeeding the hut urns just shown. The cinerary urn shown in fig. 185 was found at Marino, near Albano, in the same locality and under the same condition as the hut urns. The original is in the Vatican Museum and was figured by Pigorini in “Archæologia,” 1869. Fig. 186 shows a one-handled urn of pottery with Swastika (left) in intaglio, placed in a band of incised squares around the body of the vessel below the shoulder. A small though good example of Etruscan work is shown in the gold fibula (fig. 187). It is ornamented on the outside with the fine gold filigree work peculiar to the best Etruscan art. On the inside are two Swastikas. It is in the Vatican Museum of Etruscan antiquities. Fig. 188 represents another specimen of Etruscan gold filigree work with a circle and Swastika. It is a “bulla,” an ornament said to indicate the rank of the wearer among the Etruscan people. It is decorated with a circle and Swastika inside. The figure is taken from “L’Art pour Tous,” and is reproduced by Waring.

Fig. 187. GOLD FIBULA WITH SWASTIKAS (LEFT). Etruscan Museum, Vatican. Catalogue of the Etruscan Museum, part 1, pl. 26, fig. 6. ½ natural size.

Fig. 188. ETRUSCAN GOLD BULLA WITH SWASTIKA ON BOTTOM. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 4a.

Fig. 189. ORNAMENTAL SWASTIKA ON ETRUSCAN SILVER BOWL. Cervetri (Cære), Etruria. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 41, fig. 13.

An ornamental Swastika (fig. 189) is found on a silver bowl from Cervetri (Cære), Etruria. It is furnished by Grifi, and reproduced by Waring. This specimen is to be remarked as having a small outward flourish from the extreme end of each arm, somewhat similar to that made by the Jains (fig. 33), or on the “Tablet of honor” of Chinese porcelain (fig. 31). Fig. 190 shows an Etruscan bronze fibula with two Swastikas and two Maltese crosses in the pin shield. It is in the Museum of Copenhagen, and is taken from the report of the Congrés Internationale d’Anthropologie et d’Archæologie Préhistorique, Copenhagen, 1875, page 486. This specimen, by its rays or crotchets around the junction of the pin with the shield, furnishes the basis of the argument by Goblet d’Alviella[197] that the Swastika was evolved from the circle and was a symbol of the sun or sun-god. (See p. 785.)

Fig. 190. BRONZE FIBULA WITH TWO SWASTIKAS AND SUPPOSED RAYS Of SUN.[198] Etruria. Copenhagen Museum. Goblet d’Alviella, fig. 19a, De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1263. ¼ natural size.

Bologna was the site of the Roman city Bononia, and is supposed to have been that of Etruscan Felsina. Its Etruscan cemetery is extensive. Different names have been given to the excavations, sometimes from the owner of the land and at other times from the names of excavators. The first cemetery opened was called Villanova. The culture was different from that of the other parts of Etruria. By some it is believed to be older, by others younger, than the rest of Etruria. The Swastika is found throughout the entire Villanova epoch. Fig. 191 shows a pottery vase from the excavation Arnoaldi. It is peculiar in shape and decoration, but is typical of that epoch. The decoration was by stamps in the clay (intaglio) of a given subject repeated in the narrow bands around the body of the vase. Two of these bands were of small Swastikas with the ends all turned to the right. Fig. 192 shows a fragment of pottery from the Felsina necropolis, Bologna, ornamented with a row of Swastikas stamped into the clay in a manner peculiar to the locality.

Fig. 191. POTTERY URN ORNAMENTED WITH SUCCESSIVE BANDS IN INTAGLIO, TWO OF WHICH ARE COMPOSED OF SWASTIKAS. Necropolis Arnoaldi, Bologna. Museum of Bologna. Gozzadini, “Scavi Archæologici,” etc., pl. 4, fig. 8.

Fig. 192. FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITH ROW OF SWASTIKAS IN INTAGLIO. Necropole Felsinea, Italy. Museo Bologna. Gozzadini, “Due Sepolcri,” etc., p. 7. ½ natural size.

Fig. 193. SWASTIKA SIGN ON CLAY BOBBIN. Type Villanova, Bologna. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1239.

Fig. 193 shows the end view of one of the bobbins from Bologna, Italy, in the possession of Count Gozzadini by whom it was collected. The decoration on the end, as shown by the figure, is the Swastika. The main arms are made up of three parallel lines, which intersect each other at right angles, and which all turn to the right at right angles. The lines are not incised, as is usual, but, like much of the decoration belonging to this culture, are made by little points consecutively placed, so as to give the appearance of a continuous line.

Swastikas turning both ways are on one or both extremities of many terra-cotta cylinders found in the terramare at Coazze, province of Verona, deposited in the National (Kircheriano) Museum at Rome. (See figs. 380 and 381 for similar bobbins.)

The museum at Este, Italy, contains an elegant pottery vase of large dimensions, represented in fig. 194, the decoration of which is the Greek fret around the neck and the Swastika around the body, done with small nail heads or similar disks inserted in the clay in the forms indicated. This association of the Swastika and the Greek fret on the same object is satisfactory evidence of their contemporaneous existence, and is thus far evidence that the one was not derived from the other, especially as the authorities who claim this derivation are at variance as to which was parent and which, child. (See fig. 133.)

A Swastika of the curious half-spiral form turned to the left, such as has been found in Scandinavia and also among the Pueblo Indians of the United States, is in the museum at Este.

When in the early centuries of the Christian era the Huns made their irruption into Europe, they apparently possessed a knowledge of the Swastika. They settled in certain towns of northern Italy, drove off the inhabitants, and occupied the territory for themselves. On the death of Attila and the repulse of the Huns and their general return to their native country, many small tribes remained and gradually became assimilated with the population. They have remained in northern Italy under the title of Longobards. In this Longobardian civilization or barbarism, whichever we may call it, and in their style of architecture and ornament, the Swastika found a prominent place, and is spoken of as Longobardian.

It is needless to multiply citations of the Swastika in Roman and Christian times. It would appear as though the sign had descended from the Etruscans and Samnites along the coast and had continued in use during Roman times. Schliemann says[199] that it is found frequently in the wall paintings at Pompeii; even more than a hundred times in a house in the recently excavated street of Vesuvius. It may have contested with the Latin cross for the honor of being the Christian cross, for we know that the St. Andrew’s cross in connection with the Greek letter P (fig. 6) did so, and for a long time stood as the monogram of Christ and was the Labarum of Constantine. All three of these are on the base of the Archiepiscopal chair in the cathedral at Milan.[200]

Fig. 194. POTTERY VASE ORNAMENTED WITH BRONZED NAIL HEADS IN FORM OF SWASTIKA. Este, Italy. Matériaux pour l’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l’Homme, 1884, p. 14. Fig. 195. FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITH SWASTIKA STAMPED IN RELIEF.

Fig. 196. STAMP FOR MAKING SWASTIKA SIGN ON POTTERY. Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget, Savoy. Musée de Chambéry. Chantre, “Age du Bronze,” figs. 53, 55, and Keller, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” pl. 161, fig. 3.

Swiss lake dwellings.—Figs. 195 and 196 are interesting as giving an insight into the method of making the sign of the Swastika. Fig. 195 shows a fragment of pottery bearing a stamped intaglio Swastika (right), while fig. 196 represents the stamp, also in pottery, with which the imprint was made. They are figured by Keller,[201] and are described on page 339, and by Chantre.[202] They were found in the Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget (Savoy) by the Duc de Chaulnes, and are credited to his Museum of Chambéry.

Fig. 197. FRAGMENT OF CEINTURE FROM A TUMULUS IN ALSACE. Thin bronze repoussé with Swastikas of various kinds. Bronze Age, Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1255.

Fig. 198. FRAGMENT OF A CEINTURE FROM THE TUMULUS OF METZSTETTEN, WÜRTEMBERG. Thin bronze open-work with intricate Swastikas. Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1257, and Chantre, “Le Caucase,” II, p. 50, fig. 25.

Fig. 199. BRONZE FIBULA, THE BODY OF WHICH FORMS A SWASTIKA. Museum of Mayence. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1266.

Fig. 200. SEPULCHRAL URN WITH SWASTIKA. North Germany. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 7, fig. 94.

Germany and Austria.—Fig. 197 represents a fragment of a ceinture of thin bronze of the Halstattien epoch of the Bronze Age from a tumulus in Alsace. It is made after the style common to that period; the work is repoussé and the design is laid off by diagonal lines which divide the field into lozenges, wherein the Swastika is represented in various forms, some turned square to the right, others to the left, while one is in spiral and is turned to the left. Other forms of the cross also appear with dots in or about the corners, which Burnouf associates with the myth of Agni and fire making, and which Zmigrodzki calls the Croix swasticale. This specimen is in the collection Nessel at Haguenau. Another ceinture was found at the same place and is displayed with it. It bears representations of the cross of different forms, one of which might be a Swastika with dotted cross lines, with the arms turned spirally to the left. Fig. 198 represents another fragment of a bronze ceinture from the same country and belonging to the same epoch. It is from the tumulus of Metzstetten, Würtemberg, and is in the Museum of Stuttgart. It is not repoussé, but is cut in openwork of intricate pattern in which the Swastika is the principal motif. A bronze fibula (fig. 199) is in the museum at Mayence, the body of which has the form of the normal Swastika. The arms are turned to the right and the lower one is broken off. The hinge for the pin was attached at one side or arm of the Swastika and the retaining clasp for the point at the other. Fig. 200 represents a prehistoric sepulchral urn with a large Swastika, the arms being indicated by three parallel lines, after the same manner as the Swastika on the clay bobbin from Bologna (fig. 193). It is reported by Lisch and Schröter, though the locality is not given. It is figured by Waring. The form, appearance, and decoration are of the type Villanova, thus identifying it with northern Italy.

Fig. 201. SPEARHEAD WITH SWASTIKA (CROIX SWASTICALE) AND TRISKELION. Brandenburg, Germany. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 44, fig. 21, and “Viking Age,” I, fig. 336.

The Swastika sign is on one of the three pottery vases found on Bishops Island, near Königswalde, on the right bank of the Oder, and on a vase from Reichersdorf, near Guben;[203] on a vase in the county of Lipto, Hungary,[204] and on pottery from the Cavern of Barathegy, Hungary.[205] Fig. 201 represents a spearhead of iron from Brandenburg, North Germany. It bears the mark of the Swastika with the ends turned to the left, all being at right angles, the ends ornamented with three dots recalling Zmigrodzki’s Croix swasticale (figs. 12 and 13). By the side of this Swastika is a triskelion, or three-armed ogee sign, with its ends also decorated with the same three dots.

What relation there is between all these marks or signs and others similar to them, but separated by great distances of both time and space, it would be mere speculation to divine.

M. E. Chantre reports his investigations in certain Halstattien cemeteries in Italy and Austria.[206] At San Margarethen, on the road between Rudolfswerth and Kronau, Bavaria, he encountered a group of tumuli. Many objects of the “bel age du bronze” were found; among others, a bronze pin (fig. 202) with a short stem, but large, square, flat head, was found, with a normal Swastika engraved with small dots, pointillé, such as has been seen in Italy, Austria, and Armenia.

Fig. 202. BRONZE PIN WITH SWASTIKA, POINTILLÉ, FROM MOUND IN BAVARIA. Chantre, Matériaux pour l’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l’Homme, 1854, pp. 14, 120.

Belgium.—The Museum of Namur, Belgium, possesses a small object of bone, both points of which have been broken; its use is somewhat indeterminable, but it is believed by the curator of that museum and others to have been an arrowhead or spearhead. In form it belongs to Class A of stemmed implements, is lozenge-shaped, without shoulder or barb. It is a little more than two inches long, five-eighths of an inch wide, is flat and thin. On one side it bears two oblique or St. Andrew’s crosses scratched in the bone; on the other, a figure resembling the Swastika. It is not the normal Swastika, but a variation therefrom. It is a cross about three-eighths of an inch square. The main stem lines cross each other at right angles; the ends of each of these arms are joined by two incised lines, which gives it the appearance of two turns to the right, but the junction is not well made, for the lines of the cross extend in every case slightly farther than the bent end. The variation from the normal Swastika consists of the variation produced by this second line. This object was lately found by M. Dupont, of Brussels, in the prehistoric cavern of Sinsin, near Namur. Most, or many, of these caverns belong to Paleolithic times, and one, the Grotte de Spy, has furnished the most celebrated specimens of the skeletons of Paleolithic man. But the cavern of Sinsin was determined, from the objects found therein, to belong to the Bronze Age.

Scandinavia.—The evidences of prehistoric culture have great resemblance throughout Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; so it is believed that during the prehistoric ages their peoples had the same culture, and the countries have been classed together as Scandinavia.

Fig. 203. RUNIC INSCRIPTION CONTAINING A SWASTIKA. Inlaid with silver on a bronze sword. Saebo, Norway.

Fig. 204a. SWASTIKA WITH DOTS. Torcello, Italy. Fig. 204b. RUNIC INSCRIPTION ON SPEARHEAD. Torcello, Italy.

Du Chaillu, “Viking Age,” I, fig. 335.

Fig. 205. REDDING COMB WITH SWASTIKA. Scandinavia.

A bronze sword is reported by Mr. George Stephens[207] as having been found at Sæbo, Norway, with runes and a Swastika inlaid with silver. This specimen (fig. 203) was the subject of discussion before the International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archæology,[208] at Budapest, 1876. Its runes were translated by Stephens, and being read from right to left, “OH THURMUTH,” or “owns me Thurmuth.” But on the same page he gives another sign for Thu and renders as Odin or (W)oden. In the discussion before the congress it seems to have been agreed that the sign stood for “blessing,” “good luck,” or some beneficent charm or benediction. A spearhead has been for years displayed in the museum at Torcello, near Venice, Italy, with a Swastika sign (fig. 204a) prominent as an engraved sign.[209] Associated with it, but not a part of it, was an inscription (fig. 204b), which has always been attributed to the Etruscans. Mr. I. Undset, an archæologist in the museum of Christiania, made an extended visit through Italy in 1883, and on seeing this spearhead recognized the inscription as runic and belonging to Scandinavia. The arms of the Swastika turned to the left, and the ends were finished with three dots of the same style as those described employed in the Croix swasticale (fig. 12). Figs. 205 and 206 represent articles of dress or toilet, and bear the Swastika. The first shows a redding comb, the Swastika on which turns to the right. It was probably of bone or horn, as are those of modern times. Fig. 206 shows a brooch, the interior decoration of which is a combination of Swastikas more or less interlaced. It is of bronze and was used as a dress ornament. Fig. 207 shows a large brooch, the bodies and bar of which are almost covered with the tetraskelion style of Swastika. There are six of the four-armed Swastikas, four of which turn to the left and two to the right. Another is a triskelion, the arms of which turn to the right.

Fig. 206. BRONZE BROOCH OR FIBULA WITH COMBINATION OF SWASTIKAS. Scandinavia.

Fig. 207. BRONZE BROOCH WITH SWASTIKAS. Tetraskelions (right and left), triskelion (left). Scandinavia.

Fig. 208. PLACQUE FOR CEINTURE, WITH BUCKLE. Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions).

In Scandinavia more than in other countries the Swastika took the form of a rectangular body with arms projecting from each corner and bending in a spiral form, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. These are found more frequently on fibulæ or brooches and on swords and scabbards. In fig. 208 is shown a placque for a ceinture or belt, with a buckle to receive the thong. It contains two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions). In this and fig. 207 the border and accessory decoration consist largely of ogee curves, which, here represented separate, would, if placed together as a cross, form the same style of Swastika as those mentioned. Figs. 209 and 210 show sword scabbards, with Swastikas turned both ways. Fig. 211 shows two triskelions. Fig. 212 represents a gold brooch from a grave at Fyen, reported by Worsaae and figured by Waring.[210] The brooch with ogee Swastika bears internal evidence of Scandinavian workmanship. There are other Swastikas of the same general form and style in distant localities, and this specimen serves to emphasize the extent of possible communication between distant peoples in prehistoric times. Fig. 213 represents a piece of horse-gear of bronze, silver plated and ornamented with Swastikas. Two of these are normal, the ends bent at right angles to the left, while the other is fancifully made, the only specimen yet found of that pattern.[211] It is not seen that these fanciful additions serve any purpose other than decoration. They do not appear to have changed the symbolic meaning of the Swastika. Fig. 214 represents a sword scabbard belonging to the Vimose find, with a normal Swastika. Ludwig Müller reproduces a Swastika cross from a runic stone in Sweden. In an ancient church in Denmark, the baptismal font is decorated with Swastikas, showing its use in early Christian times. (See p. 878 for continuation of Swastika on Scandinavian or Danish gold bracteates.)

Fig. 209. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions), right and left. Fig. 210. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Ogee Swastika. Fig. 211. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Two triskelions, right and left.

Fig. 212. GOLD BROOCH WITH OGEE SWASTIKA. Island of Fyen. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 43, fig. 11.

Fig. 213. SCANDINAVIAN HORSE-GEAR. Silver plated on bronze. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 44, fig. 16; Du Chaillu, “Viking Age,” I, fig. 379.

Mr. Paul du Chaillu, in his “Viking Age,” mentions many specimens of Scandinavian and Norse antiquities bearing Swastika marks of divers styles: Bronze vessels (vol. 1, p. 100, note 1); iron spear point with runes and Swastika inlaid with silver, discovered in a tumulus with burnt bones, Muncheburg, fig. 336; another of the same, Volhynia, Russia, fig. 337; pottery vessel containing burnt bones, pointed iron knife, bronze needle, and melted glass beads, Bornholm, fig. 210; iron spearhead, Vimose bog find, (p. 207); border of finely woven silk cloth with gold and silver threads, from a mound (vol. 2, p. 289, fig. 1150).

Scotland and Ireland.—Specimens of the Swastika have been found on the Ogam stones in Scotland and Ireland (p. 797). In the churchyard of Aglish, county Kerry, Ireland, stand two stones bearing Ogam inscriptions. At the top of one is an ancient Celtic cross inclosed in a circle similar to fig. 7; immediately under it are two Swastika marks of four arms crossing at right angles, each arm bent to the right also at right angles. On two corners of the stone are inscriptions of the usual Ogam characters. The translation may be given, but seems to be unimportant and without apparent bearing upon this question. They are somewhat obliterated and their reading difficult. So far as made out, they are as follows: Maqimaqa and Apiloggo.

Fig. 214. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD WITH NORMAL SWASTIKA. Vimose bog find.

Fig. 215. SCULPTURED STONE. Greek cross in circle, normal Swastika in square, and ogee Swastika in quatrefoil. Ireland.

Fig. 216. FRAGMENT OF THIN BRONZE REPOUSSÉ. Ogee Swastika. Ireland. Munro, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” pl. 124, figs. 20-22.

Fig. 217. FRAGMENT OF THIN BRONZE. Triskelion. Ireland. Munro, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” p. 384, pl. 124, figs. 20-22.

In Scotland, the Newton stone, in the grounds of the Newton House, bears an Ogam inscription, the meaning of which has no bearing upon the subject. But on the upper part of one of its faces appears an inscription, boldly and deeply incised, of forty-four characters arranged horizontally in six lines. These are of so remarkable a type as to have puzzled every philologist and paleographer who has attempted their decipherment. The late Alexander Thomson, esq., of Banchory, Scotland, circulated a photograph and description of this monument among antiquarians with a request for their decipherment of it. Various readings have been given by the learned gentlemen, who have reported it to be Hebrew, Phenician, Greek, Latin, Aryan, Irish, and Anglo-Saxon respectively. Brash[212] gives his opinion that the inscription is in debased Roman letters of a type frequently found in ancient inscriptions, its peculiarities being much influenced by the hardness of the stone at the time of cutting and of the subsequent weather wear of ages. The interest of this monument to us is that the third character in the fourth line is a Swastika. It is indifferently made, the lines do not cross at right angles, two of the ends are curved, and the two others bent at a wider than right angle. There are four characters in the line closely following each other, (see p. 797.)

The Logie stone, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, bearing Ogam characters, contains a figure or mark reported by George M. Atkinson as a Swastika.[213]

On the Celtic crosses of Scotland certain marks appear which are elsewhere found associated with Swastika, and consequently have some relation therewith. The “Annam Stone” bears the mark of a Swastika (left) within three concentric circles, around the outside of which is a circle of dots.[214]

Fig. 218. BRONZE PIN WITH SMALL NORMAL SWASTIKA ON HEAD. Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland. Munro, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” p. 417.

Fig. 219. CARVED TRISKELION FOUND ON FRAGMENT OF ASH WOOD. Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland. Munro, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” p. 415.

Ludwig Müller reports the Swastika in Scotland and Ireland on Christian tombs, associated with Latin crosses.[215]

A sculptured stone in Ireland (fig. 215) shows on the face three varieties of the cross, a Greek cross in a circle, a Swastika with square ends turned to the right, within a rectangle, and an ogee (tetraskelion) turned to the right, inclosed in a quatrefoil.[216]

An Irish bowl showed a Swastika thus . Dr. R. Munro[217] reports from the Crannog of Lesnacroghera country, Antrim, Ireland, two pieces or disks of thin bronze, repoussés (fig. 216), bearing the sign of the Swastika and having the four arms of the spirals turned to the left. The similarity of this figure with those shown on the shields of the Pima Indians of New Mexico and Arizona (figs. 257 and 258) is to be remarked. Fig. 217 shows a triskelion of symmetric spirals turned to the right. In the Crannog of Lochlee, near Tarbolton, a bronze pin was found (fig. 218), the head of which was inclosed in a ring. On one side of the head was engraved a Greek cross, on the other was a normal Swastika turned to the right. The same crannog furnished a piece of ash wood five inches square, which had been preserved, as were all the other objects, by the peat, on which was carved a triskelion (fig. 219) after the form and style of those on the Missouri mound pottery.

GALLO ROMAN PERIOD.

France.—The employment of the Swastika in France did not cease with the Bronze or Iron ages, but continued into the occupation of Gaul by the Romans.

Fig. 220. STONE ALTAR WITH SWASTIKA ON PEDESTAL. France. Museum of Toulouse. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1267.

Fig. 221. POTTERY BOTTLE OF DARK GRAY WITH SWASTIKA AND DECORATION IN WHITE BARBOTINE. Gallo-Roman Epoch. Museum of Rouen. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1246.

Fig. 220 represents a stone altar erected in the south of France among the Pyrenees about the time of the advent of the Romans. It has a Swastika engraved on its pedestal. The upper arm has been carried beyond the body of the sign, whether by intention is not apparent. Fig. 221 represents a pottery bottle with another specimen of Swastika belonging to the same (Gallo-Roman) epoch, but coming from the extreme north of Gaul, the neighborhood of Rouen. It is to be remarked that the ends of this Swastika give the outward curve or flourish similar to that noticed by Dr. Schliemann on the spindle-whorl of Troy, and is yet employed in making the Jain Swastika (fig. 33).

M. Alexander Bertrand[218] speaks of the discovery at Velaux, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, of the headless statue of a crouching or squatting guard which has a row of Swastikas across his breast, while beneath is a range of crosses, Greek or Latin. The newest examples of the Swastika, belonging to this epoch have been found at Estinnes, Hainaut, and at Anthée, Namur, Belgium, on pieces of Roman tile; also on a tombstone in the Roman or Belgo-Roman cemetery of Juslenville near Pepinster.[219] This is a Pagan tomb, as evidenced by the inscriptions commenced “D. M.” (Diis Manibus).[220]

ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD.

Fig. 222. ANGLO-SAXON BRONZE GILT FIBULA.[221] Simulation of Swastika. Long Wittenham, Berkshire, England.

Fig. 223. POTTERY URN. Band of twenty hand-made Swastikas, white, on blackish ground. Shropham, Norfolk, England. British Museum. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 3, fig. 50.

Britain.—Greg reports[222] a silver disk 1½ inches in diameter, with a triskelion made by punched dots, in the same style as the pin heads from Armenia (figs. 35 and 36). This was from grave 95 in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sleafors, England, excavated by George W. Thomas and sold at Boston; bought by A. W. Franks and given to the British Museum. Grave 143 had a large cruciform fibula of bronze, partly gilt, similar to those from Scandinavia, with a Swastika on the central ornament thus . The slight curve or flourish on the outer end of the bent arm of this specimen resembles the Jain Swastika (fig. 33), though this bends to the left, while the Jain Swastikas bend to the right. Fig. 222 shows an Anglo-Saxon bronze gilt fibula with a peculiar form of Swastika leaving a square with dot and circle in its center. It was found in Long Wittenham, Berkshire, was reported in Archæologia,[223] and is figured by Waring.[224] A figure having great similarity to this, even in its peculiarities and called a Swastika, was found on a shell in Toco Mound, Tennessee (fig. 238). Fig. 223 represents an Anglo-Saxon urn from Shropham, Norfolk. Its decorations consist of isolated figures like crosses, etc., arranged in horizontal bands around the vessel, and separated by moldings. The lower row consists of Swastikas of small size stamped into the clay and arranged in isolated squares. There are twenty Swastikas in the band; though they all turn to the right, they are not repetitions. They were made by hand and not with the stamp. They are white on a blackish ground. The original, which is in the British Museum, is cited by Kemble and figured by Waring.[225]

THE SWASTIKA ON ANCIENT COINS.

There has been much ink and imagination used, most of which has been wasted, in the discussion of this branch of this subject. The opinion has been expressed by many persons that the triskelion which formed the armorial emblem of the island of Sicily, and also of the Isle of Man, is but an evolution from or modification of the Swastika. In the judgment of the author this is based rather upon the similarity of the designs than upon any likeness in their origin and history. The acceptance by modern writers of this theory as a fact is only justified from its long-continued repetition.

Fig. 224.[226] LYCIAN COIN. Triskelion with three arms representing cocks’ heads and necks.

Figs. 225 and 226.[226] LYCIAN COINS. Triskelions with central dots and circles. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, figs. 12, 13.

Triskelion, Lycia.—The triskelion on ancient coins first appears on the coins of Lycia, in Asia Minor, about B. C. 480. It was adopted for Sicily by Agathocles, B. C. 317 to 307. The coins of Lycia were first three cocks’ heads and necks joined together equidistant in the center of the field, as shown in fig. 224, while figs. 225 and 226 bear a center dot and circle. This forms a hub and axle. Out of this hub spring three arms or rays, practically equidistant, the outer ends being bent to the left. They increase in size as they progress outward and are largest at the outer ends. In fig. 226 there is a mint mark or counter mark of the same design as the triskelion, except that it has but two arms or rays (diskelion).

Perrot and Chipiez,[227] speaking of Lycia, say:

The device of many of her coins is the “triskelis” or so-called “triquetra” (literally, three-cornered, triangular), a name derived from three serpents’ heads, which usually figure in the field, much after the fashion of those supporting the famous tripod at Delphi,[228] consecrated by the Greeks to Apollo after the battle of Platæa. The number of heads is not constant, some coins having as many as four, “tetraskelis,” while others have but two, “diskelis.”[229]

The Greeks connected the symbol with the cult of Apollo, which they represented as very popular and of hoary antiquity in Lycia. The three-rayed design appears to have gained the victory over the others, and came into commoner use. It is found on Assyrian coins, and also as a countermark on coins of Alexander, B. C. 333 to 323. A comparison of these designs with the Swastika will, it is believed, show their dissimilarity, and the non-existence of relationship. In the Lycian designs, whether with two, three, or four rays, there is a central hub out of which the spokes spring. In the center of the hub is the small circle and dot which might represent the axle on which the machine revolved. In fact, the Lycian design is a fair representation of the modern screw propeller, and gives the idea of a whirling motion.

Compare these peculiarities with the Swastika. The Swastika is almost always square, is always a cross at right angles or near it, and whatever may become of the ends or arms of the cross, whether they be left straight, bent at right angles, or in a curve, it still gives the idea of a cross. There is no center except such as is made by the crossing of the two arms. There is not, as in these triskelions, a central hub. There is no dot or point around which the design or machine could be made to revolve, as in these Lycian triskelions; nothing of the central boss, cup, or nave, which forms what the Germans call the “Rad-Kreuz,” wheel cross, as distinguished from the square cross.

In this regard Greg says:

If R. Brown’s lunar and Semitic or Asiatic origin of the triquetra, however, should be established, then the entire argument of the triquetra being derived from the fylfot, or vice versa, falls to the ground. * * * That the device arose out of the triskele and triquetra I do not think can be proved. It is clear the was a far older and more widely spread symbol than the triskele, as well as a more purely Aryan one.

Waring, explaining the tetraskelion (four-armed), declares it to have preceded the triskelion (three-armed), and he explains its meaning,[230] citing Sir Charles Fellows, as being a harpago, a grappling iron, a canting sign for Harpagus, who conquered Lycia for Cyrus, circa, 564 B. C.

This, with the statement of Perrot and Chipiez (p. 872 of this paper), is a step in explanation of the adoption of the triskelion, and together they suggest strongly that it had no relation to the Swastika. At the date of the appearance of the triskelion on the Lycian coins the Swastika was well known throughout the Trojan peninsula and the Ægean Sea, and the difference between them was so well recognized that one could not possibly have been mistaken for the other.

Fig. 227. SICILIAN COIN WITH QUADRIGA AND TRISKELION. British Museum. Barclay Head, “Coins of the Ancients,” etc., pl. 35, fig. 28.

Fig. 228. WARRIOR’S SHIELD. From a Greek vase, representing Achilles and Hector. Agrigentum, Sicily. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 24.

Triskelion, Sicily.—Now we pass to the consideration of the triskelion of Sicily. Fig. 227 represents a coin of Sicily. On the obverse the head of Persephone, on the reverse the quadriga, and above, the triskelion. Other specimens of the same kind, bearing the same triskelion, are seen in Barclay Head’s work on the “Coinage of Syracuse” and his “Guide to the Ancient Coins in the British Museum.” They belong to the early part of the reign of Agathocles, B. C. 317 to 310. In these specimens the triskelion is quite small; but as the coins belong to the period of the finest engraving and die-sinking of Greece, the representation, however minute, is capable of decipherment. Fig. 228 is taken from the shield of a warrior on a Greek vase representing Achilles and Hector, in which the armorial emblem of Sicily, the triskelion, occupies the entire field,[231] and represents plainly that it is three human legs, conjoined at the thigh, bent sharply at the knee, with the foot and toes turned out. Some of these have been represented covered with mail armor and the foot and leg booted and spurred. It is evident that these are human legs, and so were not taken from the screw propeller of Lycia, while they have no possible relation to the crossed arms of the Swastika, and all this despite their similarity of appearance. This is rendered clearer by Waring,[232] where the armorial emblem on a warrior’s shield is a single human leg, bent in the same manner, instead of three. Apropos of Swastikas on warriors’ shields, reference is made to figs. 257 and 258, which represent two shields of Pima Indians, New Mexico, both of which have been in battle and both have the four-armed Swastika or tetraskelion. There is not in the Swastika, nor was there ever, any central part, any hub, any axis, any revolution. It is asserted that originally the triskelion of Sicily, possibly of Lycia, was a symbol of the sun, morning, midday, and afternoon, respectively. But this was purely theoretical and without other foundation than the imagination of man, and it accordingly gave way in due course. Pliny denies this theory and attributes the origin of the triskelion of Sicily to the triangular form of the island, ancient Trinacria, which consisted of three large capes equidistant from each other, pointing in their respective directions, the names of which were Pelorus, Pachynus, and Lilybæum. This statement, dating to so early a period, accounting for the triskelion emblem of Sicily, is much more reasonable and ought to receive greater credit than that of its devolution from the Swastika, which theory is of later date and has none of these corroborations in its favor. We should not forget in this argument that the Swastika in its normal form had been for a long time known in Greece and in the islands and countries about Sicily.

Among hundreds of patterns of the Swastika belonging to both hemispheres and to all ages, none of them have sought to represent anything else than just what they appear to be, plain marks or lines. There is no likeness between the plain lines of the Swastika and the bent form of the human leg, with the foot turned outward, incased in chain armor and armed with spurs.

Whenever or however the triskelion occurred, by whom it was invented, what it represented, how it comes to have been perpetuated, is all lost in antiquity and may never be known; but there does not seem to be any reason for believing it to have been an evolution from the Swastika.

Triskelion, Isle of Man.—The triskelion of Sicily is also the armorial emblem of the Isle of Man, and the same contention has been made for it, i. e., that it was a modification of the Swastika. But its migration direct from Sicily to the Isle of Man can be traced through the pages of history, and Mr. John Newton,[233] citing the Manx Note Book for January, 1886, has given this history at length, of which the following is a résumé:

Prior to the thirteenth century the Isle of Man was under dominion of the Norse Vikings, and its armorial emblems were theirs; usually a ship under full sail. Two charters of Harold, King of Man (1245, 1246 in the Cotton MSS.), bear seals with this device. Twenty years later, after the conquest of the island by, and its cession to, Alexander III of Scotland, A. D. 1266, the Norse emblems disappeared entirely, and are replaced by the symbol of the three legs covered with chain armor and without spurs. “It appears then,” says Newton, “almost certain, though we possess no literary document recording the fact, that to Alexander III of Scotland is due the introduction of the ‘Tre Cassyn’ as the distinguishing arms of the Isle of Man.” He then explains how this probably came about: Frederick II (A. D. 1197-1250), the Norman King of Sicily, married Isabella, the daughter of Henry III of England. A quarrel between the King of Sicily and the Pope led the latter to offer the crown to Henry III of England, who accepted it for his son Edmund (the Hunchback), who thereupon took the title of King of Sicily and quartered the Sicilian arms with the Royal arms of England. The negotiations between Henry and the Pope progressed for several years (1255 to 1259), when Henry, finding that he could no longer make it an excuse for raising money, allowed it to pass into the limbo of forgotten objects.

Alexander III of Scotland had married Margaret, the youngest daughter of Henry III, and thus was brother-in-law to Edmund as well as to Frederick. In 1256, and while these negotiations between Henry and the Pope concerning Sicily were in progress, Alexander visited, at London, his royal father-in-law, the King of England, and his royal brother-in-law, the King of Sicily, and was received with great honors. About that time Haco, the Norse king of the Isle of Man, was defeated by Alexander III of Scotland, and killed, soon after which event (1266) the Isle of Man was ceded to the latter. The Norse coat of arms disappeared from the escutcheon of the Isle of Man, and, being replaced by the three legs of Sicily, Mr. Newton inquires:

What more likely than that the King (Alexander III), when he struck the Norwegian flag, should replace it by one bearing the picturesque and striking device of Sicily, an island having so many points of resemblance with that of Man, and over which his sister ruled as Queen and her brother had been appointed as King?

However little we may know concerning the method of transfer of the coat of arms from Sicily to the Isle of Man, we are not left at all in doubt as to the fact of its accomplishment; and the triskelion of Sicily became then and has been ever since, and is now, the armorial emblem of the Isle of Man.

The Duke of Athol, the last proprietary of the Isle of Man, and who, in 1765, sold his rights to the Crown of England, still bears the arms of Man as the fifth quartering, “The three human legs in armor, conjoined at the upper part of the thigh and flexed in triangle, proper garnished,” being a perpetuation of the triskelion or triquetrum of Sicily.[234]

The arms of the Isle of Man afford an excellent illustration of the migration of symbols as maintained in the work of Count Goblet d’Alviella; but the attempt made by others to show it to be an evolution from and migration of the Swastika is a failure.

Punch marks on Corinthian coins mistaken for Swastikas.—But is the Swastika really found on ancient coins? The use of precious metals as money dates to an unknown time in antiquity. Gold was used in early Bible times (1500 B. C.) among nearly every people as money, but it was by weight as a talent, and not as minted coin. The coinage of money began about 700 B. C. in Lydia. Lydia was a province on the western side of the peninsula of Asia Minor looking out toward Greece, while Lycia, its neighbor, was a province on the southern side looking toward the island of Rhodes. The Lydians began coinage by stamping with a punch each ingot or nugget of gold or silver, or a mixture of them called “Electrum.” In the beginning these ingots were marked upon but one side, the reverse showing plainly the fiber of the anvil on which the ingot was laid when struck with the punch. But in a short time, it may have been two hundred years, this system was changed so as to use a die which would be reproduced on the coin when it was struck with a punch. The lion, bull, boar, dolphin, and many other figures were employed as designs for these dies. Athens used an owl; Corinth, Pegasus; Metapontine, a sheaf of wheat; Naples, a human-headed bull. The head and, occasionally, the entire form of the gods were employed. During almost the entire first period of nigh three hundred years the punch was used, and the punch marks show on the reverse side of the coins. These punch marks were as various as the dies for the obverse of the coins, but most of them took a variety of the square, as it would present the greatest surface of resistance to the punch. Even the triskelion of the Lycian coins is within an indented square (figs. 225 and 226). A series of these punch marks is given for demonstration on pl. 9. A favorite design was a square punch with a cross of two arms passing through the center, dividing the field into four quarters. Most of the punch marks on the coins of that period were of this kind. These punch marks and the method and machinery with which they were made are described in standard numismatic works.[235]

Fig. 229. CORINTHIAN COINS. Obverse and reverse. Punch mark resembling Swastika.

It is believed by the author that the assertions as to the presence of the Swastika on these ancient coins is based upon an erroneous interpretation of these punch marks. Fig. 229 shows the obverse and reverse of a coin from Corinth. It belonged to the first half of the sixth century B. C. The obverse represents a Pegasus standing, while the reverse is a punch mark, said to have been a Swastika; but, examining closely, we will find there is no Swastika in this punch mark. The arms of the normal Swastika consist of straight lines crossing each other. In this case they do not cross. The design consists of four gammas, and each gamma is separated from its fellows, all forming together very nearly the same design as hundreds of other punch marks of the same period. If each outer arm of this mark is made slightly longer, the Swastika form disappears and the entire design resolves itself into the square habitually employed for that purpose. If the punch mark on this Corinthian coin be a Swastika, it depends upon the failure to make the extreme end of the bent arm an eighth of an inch longer. This is too fine a point to be relied upon. If this punch mark had these arms lengthened an eighth of an inch, it would confessedly become a square.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 9.

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12

Punch Marks on Reverse of Ancient Coins.

Fig. 1. Coin of Lydia. Electrum. Oblong sinking between two squares. Babylonian stater. The earliest known coinage. Circa 700 B. C.

2. Phenician Half Stater. Electrum. Incuse square with cruciform ornament.

3. Silver Coin of Teos. Incuse square. Circa 544 B. C.

4. Silver Coin of Acanthus. Incuse square.

5. Silver Coin of Mende. Incuse triangles.

6. Silver Coin of Terone. Incuse square.

7. Coin of Bisaltæ.[236] Incuse square. Octadrachm.

8. Silver Coin of Orrescii.[236] Incuse square. Octadrachm.

9. Corinthian Silver Coin. Incuse square divided into eight triangular compartments. The earliest coin of Corinth, dating B. C. 625 to 585.

10. Silver Coin of Abdera. Incuse square.

11. Silver Coin of Byzantium. Incuse square, granulated.

12. Silver Coin of Thrasos (Thrace). Incuse square.

Plate 9.

Punch Marks on Reverse of Ancient Coins.

Fig. 230. ANCIENT HINDU COIN IN THE FORM OF A CROSS WITH A SWASTIKA ON THE EXTREMITY OF EACH ARM.[237] Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 41, fig. 13.

Swastika on ancient Hindu coins.—It is not to be inferred from this opposition that the Swastika never appeared on ancient coins. It did appear, but seems to have been of a later date and to have belonged farther east among the Hindus. Fig. 230 shows an ancient (Hindu?) coin reported by Waring, who cites Cunningham as authority for its having been found at Ujain. The design consists of a cross with independent circles on the outer end of each of the four arms, the circles being large enough to intersect each other. The field of each of these circles bears a Swastika of normal form. Other coins are cited of the same style, with small center dots and concentric circles in the stead of the Swastika. What meaning the Swastika has here, beyond the possible one of being a lucky penny, is not suggested.

Other ancient Hindu coins bearing the Swastika (figs. 231-234) are attributed to Cunningham by Waring.[238] These are said by Waring to be Buddhist coins found at Behat near Scharaupur. Mr. E. Thomas, in his article on the “Earliest Indian Coinage,”[239] ascribes them to the reign of Krananda, a Buddhist Indian king contemporary with or prior to Alexander, about 330 B. C.

The coins of Krananda,[240] contemporary of Alexander the Great,[241] bear the Swastika mark, associated with the principal Buddhist marks, the trisula, the stupha, sacred tree, sacred cone, etc. Waring says[242] that according to Prinsep’s “Engravings of Hindu Coins,” the Swastika seems to disappear from them about 200 B. C., nor is it found on the Indo-Bactrian, the Indo-Sassanian, or the later Hindu or subsequent Mohammedan, and he gives in a note the approximate dates of these dynasties: Early native Buddhist monarchs from about 500 B. C. to the conquest of Alexander, about 330 B. C.; the Indo-Bactrian or Greek successors of Alexander from about 300 to 126 B. C.; the Indo-Parthian or Scythic from about 126 B. C.; the second Hindu dynasty from about 56 B. C.; the Indo-Sassanian from A. D. 200 to 636, and subsequent to that the Indo-Mohammedan from the eleventh to the close of the thirteenth century; the Afghan dynasty from A. D. 1290 to 1526, and the Mongol dynasty to the eighteenth century, when it was destroyed by Nadir Shah. (See p. 772.)

Figs. 231, 232, 233, and 234. ANCIENT HINDU COINS WITH SWASTIKAS, NORMAL AND OGEE. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 41, figs. 20-24.

Fig. 235. ANCIENT COIN WITH SWASTIKA. Gaza, Palestine. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 6.

Swastika on coins in Mesembria and Gaza.—Mr. Percy Gardner, in his article, “Ares as a Sun-god,”[243] finds the Swastika on a coin of Mesembria in Thrace. He explains that “Mesembria is simply the Greek word for noon, midday (μεσημβρία).” The coins of this city bear the inscription ΜΕΣ, which Greg[244] believes refers by a kind of pun to the name of the city, and so to noon, or the sun or solar light. The answer to this is the same given throughout this paper, that it may be true, but there is no evidence in support of it. Max Müller[245] argues that this specimen is decisive of the meaning of the sign Swastika. Both these gentlemen place great stress upon the position which the Swastika held in the field relative to other objects, and so determine it to have represented the sun or sunlight; but all this seems non sequitur. A coin from Gaza, Palestine, ancient, but date not given, is attributed to R. Rochette, and by him to Munter (fig. 235). The Swastika sign is not perfect, only two arms of the cross being turned, and not all four.

Fig. 236. GOLD BRACTEATE WITH JAIN SWASTIKA. Denmark. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 1, fig. 9.

Swastika on Danish gold bracteates.—Fig. 236 represents a Danish gold bracteate with a portrait head, two serpents, and a Swastika with the outer ends finished with a curve or flourish similar to that of the Jains (fig. 33).

There are other bracteates with the Swastika mark, which belong to the Scandinavian countries.[246] Some of them bear signs referring to Christian civilization, such as raising hands in prayer; and from a determination of the dates afforded by the coins and other objects the Swastika can be identified as having continued into the Christian era.

The coinage of the ancient world is not a prolific field for the discovery of the Swastika. Other specimens may possibly be found than those here given. This search is not intended to be exhaustive. Their negative information is, however, valuable. It shows, first, that some of the early stamps or designs on coins which have been claimed as Swastikas were naught but the usual punch marks; second, it shows a limited use of the Swastika on the coinage and that it came to an end in very early times. Numismatics afford great aid to archæology from the facility and certainty with which it fixes dates. Using the dates furnished by the coinage of antiquity, it is gravely to be questioned whether the prolific use of the Swastika in Asia Minor (of which we have such notable examples on specimens of pottery from the hill of Hissarlik, in Greece) did not terminate before coinage began, or before 480 B. C., when the period of finer engraving began, and it became the custom to employ on coins the figures of gods, of tutelary deities, and of sacred animals. Thus the use of the Swastika became relegated to objects of commoner use, or those having greater relation to superstition and folklore wherein the possible value of the Swastika as an amulet or sign with power to bring good luck could be better employed; or, as suggested by Mr. Greg, that the great gods which, according to him, had the Swastika for a symbol, fell into disrepute and it became changed to represent something else.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

PRE-COLUMBIAN TIMES.

Fains Island and Toco Mounds, Tennessee.—That the Swastika found its way to the Western Hemisphere in prehistoric times can not be doubted. A specimen (fig. 237) was taken by Dr. Edward Palmer in the year 1881 from an ancient mound opened by him on Fains Island, 3 miles from Bainbridge, Jefferson County, Tenn. It is figured and described in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology,[247] as follows:

A shell ornament, on the convex surface of which a very curious ornamental design has been engraved. The design, inclosed by a circle, represents a cross such as would be formed by two rectangular tablets or slips slit longitudinally and interlaced at right angles to each other. The lines are neatly and deeply incised. The edge of the ornament has been broken away nearly all around.

The incised lines of this design (fig. 237) represent the Swastika turned to the left (though the description does not recognize it as such). It has small circles with dots in the center, a style of work that may become of peculiar value on further investigation, but not to be confounded with the dots or points in what M. Zmigrodzki calls the Croix swasticale. The mound from which this specimen came, and the objects associated with it, show its antiquity and its manufacture by the aborigines untainted by contact with the whites. The mound is on the east end of Fains Island. It was 10 feet in height and about 100 feet in circumference at the base. In the bed of clay 4 feet beneath the surface were found the remains of 32 human skeletons; of these, only 17 skulls could be preserved. There had been no regularity in placing the bodies.

Fig. 237. SHELL GORGET WITH ENGRAVED SWASTIKA, CIRCLES, AND DOTS. Fains Island, Tennessee. Cat. No. 62928, U. S. N. M.

Fig. 238. ENGRAVED SHELL WITH SWASTIKA, CIRCLES, AND DOTS. Toco Mound, Monroe County, Tenn. Cat. No. 115624, U. S. N. M.

The peculiar form of this Swastika is duplicated by a Runic Swastika in Sweden, cited by Ludwig Müller and by Count d’Alviella.[248]

The following objects were found in the mound on Fains Island associated with the Swastika shell (fig. 237) and described, and many of them figured:[249] A gorget of the same Fulgur shell (fig. 239); a second gorget of Fulgur shell with an engraved spider (fig. 278); a pottery vase with a figure of a frog; three rude axes from four to seven inches in length, of diorite and quartzite; a pierced tablet of slate; a disk of translucent quartz 1¾ inches in diameter and three-quarters of an inch in thickness; a mass of pottery, much of it in fragments, and a number of bone implements, including needles and paddle-shaped objects. The shell objects (in addition to the disks and gorgets mentioned) were pins made from the columellæ of Fulgur (Busycon perversum?) of the usual form and about four inches in length. There were also found shell beads, cylindrical in form, an inch in length and upward of an inch in diameter, with other beads of various sizes and shapes made from marine shells, and natural specimens of Io spinosa, Unio probatus.

Plate 10. Engraved Fulgur(?) Shell, Resembling Statue of Buddha. Toco Mound, Tennessee. Cat. No. 115560, U. S. N. M.

The specimen represented in fig. 238 is a small shell from the Big Toco mound, Monroe County, Tenn., found by Mr. Emmert with skeleton No. 49 and is fig. 262, Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-91, page 383, although it is not described. This is a circular disk of Fulgur shell, much damaged around the edge, 1½ inches in diameter, on which has been engraved a Swastika. It has a small circle and a dot in the center, around which circle the arms of the Swastika are interlaced. There are also circles and central dots at each turn of the four arms. The hatch work in the arc identifies this work with that of other crosses and a triskelion from the same general locality—figs. 302, 305, and 306, the former being part of the same find by Mr. Emmert. Fig. 222, a bronze gilt fibula from Berkshire, England, bears a Swastika of the same style as fig. 238 from Tennessee. The circles and central dots of fig. 238 have a similarity to Peruvian ornamentation. The form and style, the broad arms, the circles and central dots, the lines of engravings, show such similarity of form and work as mark this specimen as a congener of the Swastika from Fains Island (fig. 237). The other objects found in the mound associated with this Swastika will be described farther on.

There can be no doubt of these figures being the genuine Swastika, and that they were of aboriginal workmanship. Their discovery immediately suggests investigation as to evidences of communication with the Eastern Hemisphere, and naturally the first question would be, Are there any evidences of Buddhism in the Western Hemisphere? When I found, a few days ago, the two before-described representations of Swastikas, it was my belief that no reliable trace of Buddha or the Buddhist religion had ever been found among the aboriginal or prehistoric Americans. This statement was made, as almost all other statements concerning prehistoric man should be, with reserve, and subject to future discoveries, but without idea that a discovery of evidence on the subject was so near. In searching the U. S. National Museum for the objects described in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology under the title of “Art in Shell among the Ancient Americans,” the writer discovered a neglected specimen of a mutilated and damaged shell (pl. 10), marked as shown on the back, found by Mr. Emmert, an employé of the Bureau of Ethnology, in the year 1882. Its original field number was 267, Professor Thomas’s 6542, the Museum number 115562, and it was found in the Big Toco mound, Monroe County, Tenn. It is not figured nor mentioned in any of the Bureau reports. It is greatly to be regretted that this shell is so mutilated. In its present condition no one can say positively what it is, whether a statue of Buddha or not; but to all appearances it represents one of the Buddhist divinities. Its material, similar to the hundred others found in the neighborhood, shows it to have been indigenous, yet parts of its style are different from other aboriginal North American images. Attention is called to the slim waist, the winged arms, the crossed legs, the long feet, breadth of toes, the many dots and circles shown over the body, with triple lines of garters or anklets. All these show a different dress from the ancient North American. The girdle about the waist, and the triangular dress which, with its decorations and arrangement of dots and circles, cover the lower part of the body, are to be remarked. While there are several specimens of aboriginal art from this part of the country which bear these peculiarities of costumes, positions, appearance, and manner of work, showing them to have been in use among a portion of the people, yet they are not part of the usual art products. There is a manifest difference between this and the ordinary statue of the Indian or of the mound builder of that neighborhood or epoch.

It is not claimed that this shell proves the migration of Buddhism from Asia, nor its presence among North American Indians. “One swallow does not make a summer.” But this figure, taken in connection with the Swastika, presents a set of circumstances corresponding with that possibility which goes a long distance in forming circumstantial evidence in its favor.

M. Gustave d’Eichthal wrote a series of essays in the Revue Archæologique, 1864-65, in which he collated the evidence and favored the theory of Buddhist influence in ancient America. Other writers have taken the same or similar views and have attributed all manner of foreign influence, like the Lost Tribes of Israel, etc., to the North American Indian,[250] but all these theories have properly had but slight influence in turning public opinion in their direction. Mr. V. R. Gandhi, in a recent letter to the author, says of this specimen (pl. 10):

While Swastika technically means the cross with the arms bent to the right, later on it came to signify anything which had the form of a cross; for instance, the posture in which a persons sits with his legs crossed is called the Swastika posture;[251] also when a person keeps his arms crosswise over his chest, or a woman covers her breast with her arms crossed, that particular attitude, is called the Swastika attitude, which has no connection, however, with the symbolic meaning of the Swastika with four arms. The figure [pl. 10], a photograph of which you gave me the other day, has the same Swastika posture. In matters of concentration and meditation, Swastika posture is oftentimes prescribed, which is also called Sukhasana, meaning a posture of ease and comfort. In higher forms of concentration, the posture is changed from Sukhasana to Padmasana, the posture which is generally found in Jain and Buddhist images. The band around the waist, which goes from the navel lower on till it reaches the back part, has a peculiar significance in the Jain philosophy. The Shvetamber division of the Jain community have always this kind of band in their images. The object is twofold: The first is that the generative parts ought not to be visible; the second is that this band is considered a symbol of perfect chastity.

There can be no doubt of the authenticity of these objects, nor any suspicion against their having been found as stated in the labels attached. They are in the Museum collection, as are other specimens. They come unheralded and with their peculiar character unknown. They were obtained by excavations made by a competent and reliable investigator who had been engaged in mound exploration, a regular employé of the Bureau of Ethnology, under the direction of Prof. Cyrus Thomas during several years, and always of good reputation and unblemished integrity. They come with other objects, labeled in the same way and forming one of a series of numbers among thousands. Its resemblance to Buddhist statues was apparently undiscovered or unrecognized, at least unmentioned, by all those having charge of it, and in its mutilated condition it was laid away among a score of other specimens of insufficient value to justify notice or publication, and is now brought to light through accident, no one having charge of it recognizing it as being different from any other of the half hundred engraved shells theretofore described. The excavation of Toco mound is described by Professor Thomas in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pages 379-384.

We can now be governed only by the record as to the objects associated with this shell (pl. 10), which shows it to have been found with skeleton No. 8, in Big Toco mound, Monroe County, Tenn., while the Swastika of figure 238 was found with skeleton No. 49. Toco mound contained fifty-two skeletons, or, rather, it contained buried objects reported as from that many skeletons. Those reported as with skeleton No. 8 were, in addition to this gorget: One polished stone hatchet, one stone pipe, and one bowl with scalloped rim. Toco mound seems to have been exceedingly rich, having furnished 198 objects of considerable importance. Association of discovered objects is one of the important means of furnishing evidence in prehistoric archæology. It is deemed of sufficient importance in the present case to note objects from Toco mound associated with the Buddha statue. They are given in list form, segregated by skeletons:

Skeleton No.

4. Two polished stone hatchets, one discoidal stone.

5. One polished stone hatchet.

7. Two large seashells.

8. One stone pipe, one polished stone hatchet, one ornamented shell gorget (the Buddha statue, pl. 10), one ornamented bowl, with scalloped rim.

9. Two polished stone hatchets.

12. A lot of small shell beads.

13. Four bone implements (one ornamented), one stone pipe, two shell gorgets (one ornamented), one bear tooth.

17. One polished stone hatchet.

18. Two polished stone hatchets, one stone pipe, one boat-shaped bowl (ornamented), one shell gorget (ornamented), one shell mask, one shell pin, one shell gorget, one bear tooth, lot of shell beads.

22. Two polished stone chisels, one stone disk.

24. One polished stone hatchet.

26. Two polished stone hatchets, one waterworn stone, two hammer stones.

27. One polished stone hatchet.

28. Two polished stone hatchets, one ornamented bowl.

31. One polished stone hatchet, one polished stone chisel.

33. Two polished stone hatchets, one two-eared pot, one small shell gorget, three shell pins, fragments of pottery.

34. Three polished stone hatchets.

36. One discoidal stone.

37. One polished stone chisel, one stone pipe, one shell mask (ornamented).

41. One polished stone hatchet, one stone pipe, pottery vase with ears (ornamented), one shell mask, one shell pin, four arrowheads (two with serrated edges), two stone perforators.

43. Lot of shell beads.

49. One polished stone hatchet, one spade-shaped stone ornament (perforated), one spear-head, one stone pipe, one pottery bowl with two handles, two shell masks (ornamented), twenty-seven bone needles, two beaver teeth, one bone implement (raccoon), piece of mica, lot of red paint, two shell gorgets (one ornamented with Swastika, fig. 238), thirty-six arrow-heads, lot of flint chips, fragment of animal jaw and bones, lot of large shells, one image pot.

51. One shell pin, one shell mask, one arrow-head, two small shell beads.

52. One shell mask, one shell gorget, one shell ornament.

These objects are now in the U. S. National Museum and in my department. The list is taken from the official catalogue, and they number from 115505 to 115684. I have had the opportunity of comparing the objects with this description and find their general agreement. Dr. Palmer, the finder, was an employé of the Bureau of Ethnology, is a man of the highest character, of great zeal as an archæologist and naturalist, and has been for many years, and is now, in the employ of the Bureau or Museum, always with satisfaction and confidence. Mr. Emmert was also an employé of the Bureau for many years, and equally reliable.

The specimens of shell in this and several other mounds, some of which are herein figured, were in an advanced stage of decay, pitted, discolored, and crumbling, requiring to be handled with the utmost care to prevent disintegration. They were dried by the collector, immersed in a weak solution of glue, and forwarded immediately (in 1885), with other relics from the neighborhood, to the Bureau of Ethnology and National Museum at Washington, where they have remained ever since. There is not the slightest suspicion concerning the genuineness or antiquity of this specimen or of those bearing the Swastika as belonging to the mound-building epoch in the valley of the Tennessee.

Fig. 239. SHELL GORGET. Two fighting figures with triangular breech-clout, garters and anklets, and dots and circles. Fains Island, Tennessee. Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 452, fig. 128. Cat. No. 62930, U. S. N. M.

Other figures of sufficient similarity to the Swastika have been found among the aborigines of North America to show that these do not stand alone; and there are also other human figures which show a style of work so similar and such resemblance in detail of design as to establish the practical identity of their art. One of these was a remarkable specimen of engraved shell found in the same mound, Fains Island, which contained the first Swastika (fig. 237). It is described in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, page 301, under the name of McMahon’s mound. It is a large polished Fulgur shell disk which, when entire, has been nearly 5 inches in diameter (fig. 239). A little more than one-third has crumbled away, and the remaining portion has been preserved only by careful handling and immediate immersion in a solution of glue. It had been engraved on the concave side. The design represents two human figures plumed and winged, armed with eagles’ talons and engaged in mortal combat. The design apparently covered the entire shell, leaving no space for encircling lines. The two figures are in profile and face each other in a fierce onset. Of the right-hand figure, only the body, one arm, and one leg remain. The left-hand figure is almost complete. The outline of the face, one arm, and one foot is all that is affected. The right hand is raised above the head in the act of brandishing a long knife pointed at both ends. The other combatant, clutching in his right hand a savage-looking blade with its point curved, seems delivering a blow in the face of his antagonist. Of the visible portions of the figures, the hands are vigorously drawn, the thumbs press down upon the outside of the forefingers in a natural effort to tighten the grasp. The body, arms, and legs are well defined and in proper proportion, the joints are correctly placed, the left knee is bent forward, and the foot planted firmly on the ground, while the right is thrown gracefully back against the rim at the left, and the legs terminate in well-drawn eagles’ feet armed with curved talons. The head is decorated with a single plume which springs from a circular ornament placed over the ear; an angular figure extends forward from the base of this plume, and probably represents what is left of the headdress proper. In front of this—on the very edge of the crumbling shell—is one-half of the lozenge-shaped eye, the dot representing the pupil being almost obliterated. The ankles and legs just below the knee and the wrists each have three lines representing bracelets or anklets. It is uncertain whether the leg is covered or naked; but between the waistband and the leggings, over the abdomen, is represented on both figures a highly decorated triangular garment, or, possibly coat of mail, to which particular attention is called.[252] In the center, at the top, just under the waistband, are four circles with dots in the center arranged in a square; outside of this, still at the top, are two triangular pieces, and outside of them are two more circles and dots; while the lower part of the triangle, with certain decorations of incised lines, completes the garment. This decoration is the same on both figures, and corresponds exactly with the Buddha figure. An ornament is suspended on the breast which shows three more of the circles and dots. The earring is still another. The right-hand figure, so far as it can be seen, is a duplicate of the left, and in the drawing it has, where destroyed, been indicated by dotted lines. It is remarkable that the peculiar clothing or decoration of these two figures should be almost an exact reproduction of the Buddha figure (pl. 10). Another interesting feature of the design is the highly conventionalized wing which fills the space beneath the uplifted arm. This wing is unlike the usual specimens of aboriginal art which have been found in such profusion in that neighborhood. But it is again remarkable that this conventionalized wing and the bracelets, anklets, and garters should correspond in all their peculiarities of construction and design with the wings on the copper and shell figures from the Etowah mound, Georgia (figs. 240, 241, and 242)[253]. Behind the left-hand figure is an ornament resembling the spreading tail of an eagle which, with its feather arrangement and the detail of their mechanism, correspond to a high degree with the eagle effigies in repoussé copper (fig. 243) from the mound in Union County, Ill., shown in the Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (p. 105) and in the Twelfth Annual Report (p. 309).