Topic: THE SWASTIKA, THE EARLIEST KNOWN SYMBOL, by Wilson, Thomas, 1832-1902/1896

[Prometheus]

Should we discredit it because of a 10 year German Nazi period in 12-20.000 year of its history?

see also http://www.ancient-origins.net/searchall/swastika


---------------------------------------------------------



THE SWASTIKA,  THE EARLIEST KNOWN SYMBOL, by Wilson, Thomas, 1832-1902;

AND ITS MIGRATIONS; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE
MIGRATION OP PERTAIN INDUSTRIES IN PREHISTORIC TIMES.



Curator, Department of Prehistoric Anthropology, IT. S. National Museum.

https://archive.org/details/theswastika00wilsuoft

see also

https://archive.org/details/onmeaningandori00londgoog
On the Meaning and Origin of the Fylfot and Swastika.
by Robert Philips Greg , Society of Antiquaries of London 1884


and

Amulets and superstitions : the original texts with translations and descriptions of a long series of Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Hebrew, Christian, Gnostic and Muslim amulets and talismans and magical figures, with chapters on the evil eye, the origin of the amulet, the pentagon, the swastika, the cross (pagan and Christian), the properties of stones, rings, divination, numbers, the Kabbâlâh, ancient astrology, etc., bySir E. A. Wallis Budge ... 1930
by Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir, 1857-1934.
https://archive.org/details/b29978154










PREFACE.

An English gentleman, versed in prehistoric arclueology, visited me
in the summer of 1894, and during our conversation asked if wc had
the Swastika in America. I answered, “ Yes,” and showed him two . >
or three specimens of it. He demanded if we had any literature on the
subject. I cited him De Mortillet, I)e Morgan, and Zmigrodzki, and
he said, “ Xo, I mean English or American.” I began a search which
proved almost futile, as even the word Swastika did not appear in such
works as Worcester’s or Webster’s dictionaries, the Encyclopedic Dic-
tionary, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Johnson’s Universal Cyclo-
pedia, the People’s Cyclopedia, nor Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Antiquities, his Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,
or his Classical Dictionary. I also -searched, with the same results,
Mollett’s Dictionary of Art and Archeology, Fairholt’s Dictionary of
Terms in Art, “L’Art Gothique,” by Gonza, Perrot and Chipiez’s exten-
sive histories of Art in Egypt, in Chaldea and Assyria, and in Phe-
nicia; also “The Cross, Ancient and Modern,” by W. W. Blake, “The
History of the Cross,” by John Ashton; and a reprint of a Dutch work
by Wildener. In the American Encyclopedia the description is errone-
ous, while all the Century Dictionary says is, “ Same as fylfot,” and
“ Compare Crux Ansata and Gammadion.” I thereupon concluded that
this would be a good subject for presentation to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution for “diffusion of knowledge among men.”

The principal object of this paper has been to gather and put in a
compact form such information as is obtainable concerning the Swas-
tika, leaving to others the task of adjustment of these facts and their

763
 764

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

arrangement into an harmonious theory. The only conclusion sought
[to be deduced from the facts stated is as to the possible migration in
v prehistoric times of the Swastika and similar objects.

No conclusion is attempted as to the time or place of origin, or the
primitive meaning of the Swastika, because these are considered to be
lost in antiquity. The straight line, the circle, the cross, the triangle,
are simple forms, easily made, and might have been invented and
re-invented in every age of primitive man and in every quarter of the
globe, each time being an independent invention, meaning much or
little, meaning different, things among different peoples or at different
times among the jsfifne people; or they may have had no settled or
definite meaning./ But the Swastika wasjprobably the first to be madel
with a definite inWrtion and a continuous or consecutive meaning, the\
^knowledge of which passed from person to person, from tribe to tribe, \
j from people to people, and from nation to nation, until, with possibly^.
^changed meanings, it has finally circled the globe.

There are many disputable questions broached intliis paper. The
uthor is aware of the differences of opinion thereon among learned
men, and he has not attempted to dispose of these questions in the
few sentences employed in their announcement. He has been con-
servative and has sought to.avoid dogmatic decisions of controverted
questions. The antiquity of man, the locality of his origin, the time
of his dispersion and the course of his migration, the origin of bronze
and the course of its migration, all of which may be more or less
^/involved in a discussion of the Swastika, are questions not to be
settled by the dogmatic assertions of any individual.

Much of the information in this paper is original, and relates to pre-
historic more than to modern times, and extends to nearly all the coun-
tries of the globe. It is evident that the author must depend on other
discoverers; therefore, all books, travels, writers, and students have
been laid under contribution without scruple. Due acknowledgment
is hereby made for all quotations of text or figures wherever they occur.

Quotations have been freely made, instead of sifting the evidence and
(giving the substance. The justification is that there has never been
any sufficient marshaling of the evidence on the subject, and that the
former deductions have been inconclusive; therefore, quotations of
authors are given in their own words, to the end that the philosophers
who propose to deal with the origin, meaning, and cause of migration of
_ilie Swastika will have all the evidence before them.

Assumptions may appear as to antiquity, origin, and migration of
the Swastika, but it is explained that many times these only reflect
the opinion of-the writers who are quoted, or are put forth as working
hypotheses.

The indulgence of the reader is asked, and it is hoped that he will
endeavor to harmonize conflicting statements upon these disputed [
questions rather than antagonize them.
 THE SWASTIKA.

765

I.—Definitions, Description, and Origin.

DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE CROSS.

The simple cross made with two sticks or marks belongs to prehistoric
times. Its first appearance among men is lost in antiquity. One may
theorize as to its origin, but there is no historical identification of it
either in epoch or by country or xieople, The sign is itself so simple that
it might have originated among any people, however primitive, and in
any age, however remote. The meaning given to the earliest cross is
equally unknown. Everything concerning its beginning is in the realm
of speculation/' But a-differentiation grew up in early times among
nations by which certain forms of the cross have been known under cer-
tain names and with specific significations. Some of these, such as the
Maltese cross, are historic and can be well identified.

The principal forms of the cross, known as symbols or ornaments, can
be reduced to a few classes, though when combined with heraldry its use
extends to 385 varieties.1

It is not the purpose of this paper to give a history of the cross, but
the x>rincipal forms are shown by way of introduction to a study of -the..
A Swastika.

Ij The Latin cross, Crux immissa, (fig. 1) is found on coins, medals, and
5 ornaments anterior to the Christian era. It was on this cross that^
•f Christ is said to have been crucified, and thus it became accepted as
J the Christian cross.

[ The Greek cross (fig. 2) with arms of equal length crossing at rigbtj
j angles, is found on Assyrian and Persian monuments and tablets,!

, Greek coins and statues.   ^

The St. Andrew’s cross, Crux decussata, (fig. 3) is the same as the
Greek cross, but turned to stand on two legs.

Fig. 1.

latin cross (Crux irnmixsa).

GREEK CROSS.

Fig. 3.

ST. ANDREW’S CROSS (CfUX deCUSSCbtOL.)

1 William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, 1828-1840.
 766

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

The Crux ansata (fig. 4) according to Egyptian mythology, was
Ankh, the emblem of Ka, the spiritual double of man. It was also said
to indicate a union of Osiris and Isis, and was regarded as a symbol of
the generative principle of nature.

The Tau cross (fig. 5), so called from its resemblance to the Greek
letter of that name, is of uncertain, though ancient, origin-
In Scandinavian mythology it passed under the name
of u Thor’s hammer,” being therein confounded with the
Swastika. It was also called St. Anthony’s cross for the
Egyptian hermit of that name, and was always colored
blue. Clarkson says this mark was received by the Mitli-
raeists on their foreheads at the time of their initiation.
0. W. King, in his work entitled uEarly Christian Nuinis-
Fig.4. matics” (p. 214), expresses the opinion that the Tau cross
Egyptian cross was placed on the foreheads of men who cry after aboini-
(Cmx ansata). natj011s> (Ezekiel ix, 4.) It is spoken of as a phallic
emblem.

Another variety of the cross appeared about the second century,
composed of a union of the St. Andrew’s cross and the letter P (fig. 6),
being the first two letters of the Greek word XPT2T02 (Christus).
This, with another variety containing all the foregoing letters, passed
as the monogram of Christ (fig. 6).

As an instrument of execution, the cross, besides being the inter-
section of two beams with four projecting arms, was frequently of
compound forms as Y> on which the convicted person was fastened by
the feet and hung head downward. Another form | |, whereon he was

Fig. 5.

TAU CROSS, THOR’S HAMMER,
OR ST. ANTHONY’S CROSS.

MONOGRAM OF CHRIST.

Labaruin of Coustautine.

fastened by one foot and one hand at each upper corner; still another
form rp, whereon his body was suspended on the central ux>right with
his arms outstretched upon the cross beams.

Fig. 7 represents the sign of the military order of the Knights of
Malta. It is of medieval origin.

Fig. 8 (a and b) represents two styles of Celtic crosses. These belong
chiefly to Ireland and Scotland, are usually of stone, and frequently
set up at marked places on the road side.
 I-

THE SWASTIKA.

767

CELTIC CROSSES.

Higgins, in bis “Anacalypsis,” a rare and costly work, almost an ency-
clopedia of knowledge,1 says, concerning the origin of the cross, that
the official name of the governor of Tibet, Lama, comes from the ancient
Tibetan word for the cross. The original spelling was L-a-m-li. This
is cited with approval in Davenport’s
“Aphrodisiacs” (p. 13).

Of the many forms of the crossjl
the Swastika, is the most ancientJ
Despite the theories and speculations
of students, its origin is unknown. It
began before history, and is properly
classed as prehistoric. Its descrip-
tion is as follows: The bars of tlicT
normal Swastika (frontispiece and
fig. 0) are straight, of equal thickness
throughout, and cross each other at
right angles, making four arms of equal size, length, and style. TlieirL
peculiarity is that all the ends are bent at right angles and in the samef?

direction, right or left. Prof. Max
Muller makes the symbol different
according as the arms are bent to the
right or to the left. That bent to the
right he denominates the true Swas-
tika, that bent to the left he calls
Suavastika (fig. 10), but he gives no
authority for the state-
ment, and the author has
been unnble to find, ex-
cept in Burnouf, any justification for a difference of names.

Professor Goodyear gives the title of uMeander” to that
form of Swastika which bends~two or more times (fig. 11).
r The Swastika is sometimes represented with dots or
points in the corners of the intersections (fig. 12a), and occasionally
the same when without bent ends (fig. 12fr), to which Zmigrodzki gives



Fig. 9.

NORMAL SWASTIKA.

Fig. 10.

SUAVASTIKA.

1

EJ

f* Fig. 11.

m

SWASTIKA.

Meander.

LE

n

L

1.

I v/

b

Fig.12.

CROIX SWASTICALE (ZMIORODZKI).

the name of Croix Sicasticale. Some Swastikas have three dots placed
equidistant around each of the four ends (fig. 12c).

1 Higgins, “Anacalypsis,” London, 1836, i,p. 230.
 768

RErORT OP N.



There are several varieties possibly related to the Swastika which havq
been found in almost every part of toe globe, and though the relation
may appear slight, and at first sight difficult to trace, yet it will
appear more or less intimate as the examination is pursued through
its ramifications/iYs this paper is an investigation into and report
upon facts rather than conclusions to be drawn from them, it is deemed
wise to give those forms bearing even possible relations to the Swas-
tika. Certain of them have been accepted by the author as related
to the Swastika, while others have been rejected 5 but this rejection

Fig. 13a.

OGEE AND rriRAL SWASTIKAS.

Tetraskolion (four-armed). *

Fig. 13b.

SPIRAL AND VOLUTE.
Triskelion (throe armed).

Fig.

SPIRAL AN

13c.

D VOLUTE.

(Five or many armed.)

Fig. 13d.

OGEE SWASTIKA, WITH
CIRCLE.

PECULIAR FORMS OF SWASTIKA.

has been confined to cases where the known facts seemed to justify
another origin for the symbol. Speculation has been avoided.

NAMES AND DEFINITIONS OF THE SWASTIKA.

The Swastika has been called by different names in different coun-
tries, though nearly all countries have in later years accepted the ancient
Sanskrit name of Swastika: and this name is recommended as the most
deHiiite"and certain, being now the most general and, indeed, almost
universal. It was formerly spelled s-v-a-s-t-i-c-a and s-n-a-s-t-i-k-a, but
pie later spelling, both English and French, is s-w-a-s-t-i-k-a. The
definition and etymology of the word is thus given in Littre’s French
Dictionary:

.. SvastiTca, or Swastika, a mystic figure used by several (East) Indian sects. It was
/ equally well known to the Brahmins as to tlie Buddhists. Most of the rock
\ inscriptions in the Buddhist caverns in the west of India aro preceded or followed by
J the holy (sacramcntelle) sign of the Swastika. (Eug. Burnouf, “Lo Lotus de la bonne
j loi.” Paris, 1852, p. 625.; It was seen on the vases and pottery of Rhodes (Cyprus)
/ and Etruria. (F. Delaunay, Jour. Off., Nov. 18,1873, p. 7024, 3d Col.)

Etymology: A Sanskrit word signifying happiness, pleasure, good luck. It is com-
posed of Su (equivalent of Greek ev), “good,” and asti, “being,” “good being,” with
\ the suffix lea (Greek ua, Latin co).
 THE SWASTIKA.   7f>9

In the “Revue d’Ethnographie” (iv, 18S5, p. 820), Mr. Dumoutier
gives the following analysis of the Sanskrit swastika:

Su, radical, signifying good, well, excellent, or snvidas, prosperity.

Asti, third person, singular, indicative present of the verb as, to bo, which is sum
in Latin.

Ka, suffix forming the substantive.

Professor Whitney in the Century Dictionary says, Swastika—[San-
skrit, lit., “of good fortune.” Svasti (Su. well, -f asti, being), welfare.]
Same as fylfot. Compare Crux ansata and gamma (lion.

In “Ilios” (p. 317), Max Muller says:

Ethnologically, srastika is derived from svasti, and svasti from su, “well,” and as,
“to be.” Svasti occurs frequently in the Veda, both as a noun in a sense of happiness,
and as an adverb in the sense of “well” or “hail!” It corresponds to the Grech
evedrai. The derivation Svasti-ka is of later date, and it always means an auspicious
sign, such as are found most frequently among lluddliists and Jainas.

M. Eugene B.urnouf1 defines the mark Swastika as follows:

A monogrammatic sign of four branches, of which the ends are curved at right
angles, the name signifying, literally, the sign of benediction or good augury.

The foregoing explanations relate only to the present accepted name
“Swastika.” The sign Swastika must have existed long before the
name was given to it. It must have been in existence long before the
Buddhist religion or the Sanskrit language.

In Great Britain the common name given to the Swastika from Anglo-
Saxon times by those who apparently had no knowledge Avhcneeit came,
or that it came from any other than their own country, was Fylfot, said
to have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon fower fot, meaning four- ,
footed, or many-footed.1 2

George Waring, in his work entitled “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages”
(p.'tO), says:

The word [Fylfot] is Scandinavian and is eompounue_ of Old Norsefuil, equivalent
to the Anglo-Saxon fela, German riel, many, and foir, foot, the many-footed figure.
*   *   * It is desirable to have some settled name by which to describe it • we will

take the simplest and most descriptive, the “Fylfot.”

He thus transgresses one of the oldest and soundest rules of scien-
tific nomenclature, and ignores the fact that the name Swastika has been
employed for this sign in the Sanskrit language (the etymology of the
word naturally gave it the name Svastika, sv—good or well, asti—to
be or being, or it is) and that two tlfonsand and more years of use in
Asia and Europe had sanctioned and sanctified that as its name. The
use of Fylfot is confined to comparatively few persons in Great Britain

1   “Des Sciences et Religion,” p. 256.

2R. P. Greg, “The Fylfot and Swastika,” Archieologia, xlviii, part 2,1885, p. 298;
Goblet d’Alviella, “Migration des Symboles,” p.50.

II. Mis. 90, pt. 2----49
 770

RErORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

[Prometheus]

and, possibly, Scandinavia. Outside of these countries it is scarcely
known, used, or understood.

The Swastika was occasionally called in the French language, in
earlier times, Croix gammce or Gammadion, from its resemblance to a
combination of four of the Greek letters of that name, and it is so
named by Count Goblet d’Alviella in his late work, “La Migration des
Symboles.” It was also called Croix 'cramponnec, Croix pattce, Croix d
crochet. But the consensus even of French etymologists favors the
name Swastika.

Some foreign authors have called it Thor’s hammer, or Thor’s hammer-
mark, but the correctness of this has been disputed.1 Waring, in his
elaborate work’, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,”2 says:

The * used to he vulgarly called in Scandinavia the hammer of Thor, and Thor’s
hammer-marlc, ortho hammer-mark, hut this name properly belongs to the mark y.

Ludwig Miillcr gives it as his opinion that the Swastika has no connec-
tion with the Thor hammer. The best Scandinavian authors report the
“Thor hammer” to be the same as the Greek tan (fig. 5), the same form
as the Roman and English capital T. The Scandinavian name is Midi
ner or Mjolner, the crusher or mallet.

P The Greek, Latin, and Tan crosses are represented in Egyptian liiero-
\ glyphies by a hammer or mallet, giving the idea of crushing, pounding,
\ or striking, and so an instrument of justice, an avenger of wrong,"
Lhencc standing for Horns and other gods.* 2 3 4 Similar symbolic meanings
have been given to these crosses in ancient classic countries of the

Orient.5

SYMBOLISM AND INTERPRETATION.

Many theories have been presented concerning the symbolism of the
' Swastika, its relation to ancient deities and its representation of certain
qualities. In the estimation of certain wiiters it has been respectively!
the emblem of Zeus, of Baal, of the sun, of the sun-god, of the_suiug
chariot of Agni the fire-god, of Indra the rain-god, of the sky, the sky-
god, and finally the deity of all deities, the great God, the Maker and
*7*^Jiuler of the Universe. It has also been held to symbolize light or the
L-^ god of light, of the forked lightning, and of wa£gr. It is believed by
/ some to have been the oldest Aryan symbohj In the estimation of
^ others it represents Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, Creator, Preserver,
Destroyer. It appears in the footprints of Buddha, engraved upon the

’Stephens, “Old Northern Runic Monuments,” part ii, p. 509; Ludwig Muller,
quoted on p. 778 of this paper; Goblet d’Alviella, “La Migration des Symboles,”
p. 45; Haddon, “Evolution in Art,” p. 288.

2Page 12.

3“La Migration des Symboles,” pp. 21, 22.

4“Le Culto do la Croix avant J^sus-Christ,” in the Correspondant, October 25,1889,
and in Science Catholique, February 15, 1890, p. 163.

5 Same authorities.
 THE SWASTIKA.

771

solid rock on the mountains of India (fig. 32). It stood for the Jupiter]
Tonans and Pluvius of the Latinspaud the Thor of the Scandinavians.^
In the latter case it has been considered—erroneously, however—a vari-
ety of the Thor hammer, (in the opinion of at least one author it had
an intimate relation to the Lotus sign of Egynfc. and Persia^ Some
authors have attributed a phallic meaning to it. Others have recog-
nized it as representing the generative principle of mankind, making
it the symbol of the female. Its appearance on the person of certain
goddesses, Artemis, Hera, Demeter, Astarte, and the Chaldean Nana,
the leaden goddess from Hissarlik (fig. 125), has caused it to be claimed
as a sign of fecundity.   i

In forming the foregoing theories/their authors have been largely
controlled by the alleged fact of the substitution and permutation
of the Swastik^slgn on various objects with recognized symbols of
these different (deities. The claims of these theorists are somewhat
clouded in obschrity and lost in the antiquity of the subject. What
seems to have' been at all times nn attribute of the Swastika is its ^
character as a chariTfoFamuIet, as a sign of benediction, blessing, long
life, good fortune, good luck. This character lias continued into mod-
ern times, and while the Swastika is recognized as a holy and sacred
.symbol by at least one Buddhistic religious sect, it is still used by the
common people of India, China, and Japan as a sign of long life, good
wishes, and good fortune.   ^

Whatever else the sign Swastika may have stood for, and however
many meanings it may have had, it was always ornamental. It may
have been used with any or all the above significations, but it was

/



(njways ornamental as well.
/\ Tli

LTlie Swastika sign had great extension and spread itself practically
over the world, largely, if not entirely, in prehistoric times, though its^
jj*<e in some countries has continued into modern times.

. The elaboration of the meanings of the Swastika indicated abyvt
and its dispersion or migrations form the subject of this paper. * ^
Dr. Scliliemann found many specimens of Swastika in his excava-
tions at the site of ancient Troy on the hill of Hissarlik. They were
mostly on spindle whorls, and will be described in due course. He
appealed to Prof. Max Mfiller for an explanation, who, in reply, wrote
an elaborate description, which Dr. Scliliemann published in uIlios.lw

He commences with a protest against the word Swastika being
applied generally to the sign Swastika, because it may prejudice the
reader or the public in favor of its Indian origin. He says:

I   do not like tlie use of the word svastika outside of India. It is a word of
Indian origin and has its history and definite meaning in India. * * * The occur-
rence of such crosses in different parts of the world may or may not point to a com-
mon origin, hut if they are once called Svastika the vulgus profanum will at once

Page 31G, et se<j.
 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

jump to tlio conclusion tliat they all come from India, and it will take some time to
weed out such prejudice.

Very little is known of Indian art before the third century B. C., the period when
the Buddhist sovereigns began their public buildings.1

The name Svastika, however, can ho traced (in India) a little farther hack. It
occurs as the name of a particular sign in the old grammar of Panani, about a cen-
tury earlier. Certain compounds are mentioned there in which tlib last word is
Jcarna, “ear.” *   *   * Ono of the signs for marking cattle was the Svastika [fig.

41], and what Panani teaches in his grammar is that when the compound is formed,
svastika-karna, i.e., “having the ear marked with the sign of a Svastika/’ tlio final
a of Svastika is not to he lengthened, while it is lengthened in other compounds,
such as datra-karna, i. e., “having the ear marked with the sign of a sickle.”

D’Alviella1 2 reinforces Max Muller’s statement that Panini lived during
the middle of the fourth century, B. C. Thus it is shown that the word
Swastika had been in use at that early period long enough to form an
integral part of the Sanskrit language and that it was employed to
illustrate the particular sounds of the letter a in its grammar.

Max Midler continues his explanation:3

It [the Swastika] occurs often at the beginning of the Buddhist inscriptions, on
fBuddhist coin's^ and in Buddhist manuscripts. Historically, the Svastika is first
{""attested on a coin of Krananda, supposing Kranaiula to he the same king as Xan-
| dyarnes, the predecessor of Sandrokyptos, whose reign came to an end in 315 B. C.
(See Thomas on the Identity of Xamlrames and Krananda.) The paleographic evi-
dence, however, seems rather against so early a date. In the footprints of Buddha
the Buddhists recognize no less that sixty-five auspicious signs, tho first Of them being
the Swastika [see fig. 32], (Eugene Burnouf, “Lotus de la bonne loi,” p. 625); the
fourth is the Suavastika, or that with the arms turned to the left [see fig. 10]; the
third, tho Xanclydvarta [see fig. 14], is a mere development of tho Svastika. Among
the Jainas the Svastika was the sign of their seventh Jina, SnpArsva (Colehrooke
“Miscellaneous Essays,” ii, p. 188; Indian Antiqnary, vol. 2, p. 135).

In tho later Sanskrit literature, Svastika retains the meaning of an auspicious
mark; thus we see in the Ramayana (ed. Gorresio, ii, p. 348) that Bliarata selects
a ship marked with tho sign of the Svastika. Varahamiliira in the Brihat-samhita
(Med. S:ec., vi,p. Cli.) mentions certain buildings called Svastika and Naudyavarta
(53.34, seq.), but their outline does not correspond very exactly with the form of
the signs. Some Sthupas, however, are said to have been built on the plan of the
Svastika. *   *   * Originally, svastika may have been intended for no more than

two lines crossing each other, or a cross. Thus we find it used in later times refer-
ring to a woman covering her breast with crossed arms (BAlarAm, 75.16), svahastas-
vastika-stani, and likewise with reference to persons sitting crosslegged.

Dr. Max Ohnefalscli-Kichter4 speaking of the Swastika position,
either of crossed legs or arms, among the Hindus,5 suggests as a pos-
sible explanation that these women bore the Swastikas upon their

1 The native Buddhist monarchs ruled from about B. C. 500 to the conquest of
Alexander, B. C. 330. See “ The Swastika on ancient coins,” Chapter ii of this paper,
and Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” p. 83.

2“La Migration des symboles,” p. 104.

3 “Ilios,” pp. 347, 348.

4Bulletins de la Society d’Anthropologic, 1888, p. 678.

5Mr. Gandhi makes the same remark in his letter on the Buddha shell statue shown
in pi. 10 of this paper.
 THE SWASTIKA.

773

arms as did the goddess Aphrodite, in fig. 8 of Ids writings, (see fig. 180
in the present paper), and when they assumed the position of arms
crossed over their breast, the Swastikas being brought into prominent
view, possibly gave the name to the position as being a representative
of the sign.

Max Muller continues1:

Quito another question is, why the sign should have had an auspicious mean-
ing, and why in Sanskrit it should have been called Svastika. The similarity be-
tween the group of letters sv in the ancient Indian alphabet and the sign of Svastika
is not very striking, and seems purely accidental.

A remark of yours [Schliemann] (Troy, p. 38) that the Svastika resembles a wheel
in motion, the direction of the motion being indicated by the crampons, contains a
useful hint, which has been confirmed by some important observations of Mr. Thomas,
the distinguished Oriental nnmismatist, who has called attention to the fact that in
the long list of the recognized devices of the twenty-four Jaina Tirthankaras the
smTis absent, but that while the eighth Tirtliankara has the sign of the half-moon,
the seventh Tirtliankara is marked with" the Svastika, 1. C., the tUitT Jiere, then,
we have clear indications that the Svastika, with the hands pointing in the right
direction, whs originally a symbol of the sun, perhaps of the vernal sun as opposed
to the autumnal sun, the Suavastika, and, therefore, a natural symbol of light, life,
Imalth, and wealth.

Hut, while from these indications we are justified in supposing that among the
Aryan nations the Svastika may have been an old emblem of the sun, there are other
indications to show that in other parts of the world the same or a similar emblem
was used to indicate the earth. Mr. Beal *   *   * has shown *   *   * that the

simple cross (+ i occurs as a sign for earth in certain ideographic groups. It was
probahlyTntended to indicate the four quarters—north, south, east, west—or, it may
be, more generally, extension in length and breadth.

That the cross is used as a sign for “four” in the Bactro-Fali inscriptions (Max
Muller, “ Chips from a German Workshop,” Vol. ii, p. 298) is well known ; but the fact
that the same sign has the same power elsewhere, as, for instance, in the Hieratie
numerals, does not prove by any means that the one figure was derived from the
other. We forget too easily that -wliat was possible in one place was possible also
in other places; and the more we extend onr researches, tins more we shall learn that
the chapter of accidents is larger than we imagine.

The u Suavastika” which Max Miiller names and believes was applied
to the Swastika sign, with the ends bent to the left (fig. 10), seems not
to be reported with that meaning by any other author except Burnouf.1 2
Therefore the normal Swastika would seem to be that with the ends
bent to the right. Burnouf says the word Suavastika may be a deriva^
tive or development of the Svastikaya, and ought; to signify “he who, 1
or, that which, bears or carries the Swastika or a species of Swastika.”]
Greg,3 under the title Sovastikaya, gives it as his opinion that there is
no difference between it and the Swastika. Colonel Low4 mentions the
word Sawattheko, which, according to Burnouf5 is only a variation of

1   “Ilios,” p.348.

2   “Lotus do la Bonne Loi,” App. vm, p. 626, note 4.

3   Arclueologia, p. 36.

4   Transaction* of tlie Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, m, p. 120.

6 “Lotus de la Bonn© Loi,” App. vm, p. 625, note 2.
 774

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

the Pali word Sottliika or Suvattliika, the Pali translation of the San-
skrit Swastika. Burnouf translates it as Svastikaya.

M. Eugene Burnouf1 speaks of a third sign of the footprint of Qakya,
called Kandavartava, a good augury, the meaning being the “circle of
fortune,” which is the Swastika inclosed within a square with avenues
radiating from the corners (fig. 14). Burnouf says the above sign has
many significations. It is a sacred temple or edifice, a species of laby-
rinth, a garden of diamonds, a chain, a golden waist or shoulder belt,
and a conique with spires turning to the right.

Colonel Sykes1 2 3 4 5 6 7 concludes that, according to the Chinese authorities
Ea-hian, Soung Young, Hiuan thsang, the “Doctors of reason, ’Tao-sse,

or followers of the mystic cross ^ were diffused in China and India
before the advent of Sakya in the sixth century B. C. (according to
Chinese, Japanese, and Buddhist authorities, the eleventh century B.C.),
continuing until Ea-hian’s time; and that they
were professors of a qualified Buddhism, which,
it is stated, was the universal religion of Tibet
before Sakya’s advent,3 and continued until the
introduction of orthodox Buddhism in the ninth
century A. D.4

Klaproth5 calls attention to the frequent men-
tion by Ea-hian, of the Tao-sse, sectaries of the
mystic cross Lfi (Sanskrit Swastika), and to their
existence in Central Asia and India; while lie
says they were diffused over the countries to the
west and southwest of China, and came annually
from all kingdoms and countries to adore Kassapo,
Buddha’s predecessor.15 Mr. James Burgess7 mentions the Tirtlianka-
ras or Jainas as being sectarians of the Mystic Cross, theJswastika.
"-The Cyclopedia of India (title Swastika), coinciding with Prof. Max
Muller, says:

NANDAVARTAYA, a third
SIGN OF T11E FOOTPRINT OF
BUDDIIA.

Burnouf, “Lotus de la Bonne I.oi,”
Paris, 1R52, p. fififi.

The Swastika symbol is not to be confounded with the Swastika sect in Tibet
which took the symbol for its name as typical of the belief of its members. They
render the Sanskrit Swastika as composed of su “well” and asti “it is,” meaning,
as Professor Wilson expresses it, “ so be it,” and implying complete resignation under
all circumstances. They claimed the Swastika of Sanskrit as the suti of Pali, and
that the Swastika cross was a combination of the two symbols sutli-sutL They are
rationalists, holding that contentment and peace of mind should be the only objects
of life. The sect has preserved its existence in different localities and under different
names, Thirthankara, Ter, Mnsteg, Pon, the last name meaning purity, under which
a remnant are still in the farthest parts of the most eastern province of Tibet.

1   “Lotus de la Bonne Loi,” p. 626.

2   “Notes on the Religious, Moral, and Political state of India,” Journ. Asiatic Soc.
Great Britain, vi, pp. 310-334.

3   Low, Trans. Roy. Asiatic Soc. of Great Britain in, pp. 334, 310.

4   Ibid., p. 299.

5   Ibid., p. 299.

6   Low, Trans. Royal Asiatic Soc. of Great Britain, in, p. 310.

7   Indian Antiquary, ii, May, 1873, p. 135.
 THE SWASTIKA.

[Prometheus]

775

General Cunningham1 acids his assertion of the Swastika being the
symbol used by the Buddhist sect of that name. He says in a note:

The founder of this sect flourished about the year 604 to 523 B. C., and that the mystic
cross is a symbol formed by the combination of the two Sanskrit syllables su and ti-suti.

Waring2 proceeds to demolish these statements of a sect named
Swastika as pure inventions, and “ consulting Professor Wilson’s inval-
uable work on the Hindoo religious sects in the ‘Asiatic Researches,’
we find no^account of any sect named Swastika.”

Mr. Y. R. Gandhi, a learned legal gentleman of Bombay, a repre-
sentative of the Jain sect of Buddhists to the World’s Parliament of
Religions at Chicago, 1893, denies that there is in either India or Tibet
a sect of Buddhists named “Swastika.” He suggests that these gen-
tlemen probably mean the sects of Jains (of which Mr. Gandhi is a
member), because this sect uses the Swastika as a sign of benediction
and blessing. This will be treated further on. (See p. 804.)

Zmigrodzki, commenting on the frequencyjof the Swastika on tlie7
objects found by Dr. Schliemann(a^Hissarlik,\gives it as his opinion3]'
that these representations of the Swastika have relation to a human
cult indicating a supreme being filled with goodness toward man. ~~Th
siin^ stars, etc., indicate him as a god of light." This, in connection
with the idol of Venus, with its triangular shield engraved with a
Swastika (fig. 125), and the growing trees and palms, with their increas-
ing and multiplying branches and leaves, represent to him the idea of
fecundity, multiplication, increase, and hence the god of life as well as
of light. The Swastika sign on funeral vases indicates to him a belief
in a divine spirit in man which lives after death, and lienee lie con-
cludes that the people of Ilissarlik, in the “Burnt City” (theThird of*
Schliemann), adored a supreme being, the god of light and of life, and
believed in the immortality of the soul.

R. P. Greg says :4

Originally it [the Swastika] would appear to have been au early Aryan atmos-
pkeric device or symbol indicative of both rain and lightning, phenomena appertain-
ing to "the god Indra, subsequently or collaterally developing, possibly, into the
Suastika, or sacred lire churn in India, and at a still later period in Greece, adopted
rather as a solar symbol, or converted about B. C. 650 into the meander or key
pattern.

Waring, while he testifies to the extension of the Swastika both in
time and area, says:5

But neither in the hideous jumble of Pantheism—the wild speculative thought,
mystic fables, and perverted philosophy of life among the Buddhists—nor in the
equally wild and false theosophy of the Brahmins, to whom this symbol, as distinc-

^‘Bilsa Topps,” p. 17.

2“ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages/’ p. 12.

3Tenth Congress International d’Antliropologie et d’Arclneologie Prehistoriques,
Paris, 1889, p. 474.

4 Arclneologia, xlvii, pt. 1, p. 159.

6 “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” p. 11.
 776

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

tive of the Vishnavas, sectarian devotees of Vishnu, is ascribed by Moor in his
“Indian Pantheon,” nor yet in the tenets of the Jains,1 do we find any decisive
explanation of the meaning attached to this symbol, although its allegorical inten-
tion is indnbitable.

lie mentions the Swastika of the Buddhists, the cross, the circle,
their combination, the three-foot Y and adds: ‘‘They exhibit forms of
those olden and widely spread pagan symbols of Deity and sanctity,
eternal life and blessing.”

Professor Sayee says:58   tf •

The Cyprian vase figured in Di Cesnola’s “Cyprus,” pi. xlv, fig. 36 [see fig. 156],
which associates the Swastika with the figure of an animal, is a striking analogue
of the Trojan whorls on which it is associated with the figures of stags. The fact that
it is drawn within the vulva of the leaden image of the Asiatic goddess [see fig. 125]
seems to show that it was a symbol of generation. I believe that it is identical
with the Cyprian character Jjf or l|l (ne), which has the form )jn in the inscription
of Golgi, .and also with the 1 littite |^j or ||| which Dr. Hyde Clarke once suggested
to me was intended to represent the organs of generation.

Mr. Waller, in Ills work entitled “Monumental Crosses,” describes
the Swastika as having been known in India as a sacred symbol many
centuries before our Lord, and used as the distinguishing badge of a
religious sect calling themselves “Followers of the Mystic Cross.”
Subsequently, he says, it was adopted by (he followers of Buddha
valid was still later used by Christians at a very early period, being
y? first introduced on Christian monuments in the sixth century. But
Mr. Waring says that in this he is not correct, as it was found in some
of the early paintings in the Roman catacombs, particularly on the
habit of a Fossor, or gravedigger, given by D’Agineourt.

Pugin, in his “Glossary of Ornament,” under the title “Fylfot,” says
that in Tibet the Swastika was used as a representation of God cruci-
fied for the human race, citing as his authority F. Augustini Antonii
Georgii.3 lie remarks:

From these accounts it would appear that tins fylfot is a mystical ornament, not
only adopted among Christians from primitive times, but used, as if prophetically,
for centuries before tlio coming of our Lord. To descend to later times, we find it
constantly introduced in ecclesiastical vestments, *   *   * till the end of the fif-

teenth century, a period marked by great departure from traditional symbolism.

Its use was continued in Tibet into modern times, though its meaning
is not given.4 (See p. 8013.)

The Lev. G. Cox, in his “Aryan Mythology,” says:

We recognize the male and the female symbol in the trident of Poseidon, and in
J   the fylfot or hammer of Thor, which assumes the form of a eross-pattoe in the vari-

• ous legends which turn on the rings of Frey a, llolda, Venus, or Aphrodite.

'See explanation of the Swastika by Mr. Gandhi according to tl^e Jain tenets,
p. 804.

2“Ilios,” p. 353.

3“Alphabetum Tibetarium,” Rome, 1762, pp. 211, 460, 725.

4Rockhill, “ Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet,” Smithsonian Insti-
tution, Washington, 1894, p. 67.
 THE SWASTIKA.

777

Here again we find the fylfot and cross-pattee spoken of as the same
symbol, and as being emblematic of the reproductive principles, in
which view of its meaning Dr. Inman, in his “ Ancient Faiths
Embodied in Ancient Barnes,” concurs.

Burnouf1 recounts the myth of Agni (from which comes, through
tlie Latin ignis, the English word igneous), the god of Sacred Fire, as
told in the Yeda:1 2

Tlie young queen, the mother of Fire, carried the royal infant mysteriously con-
cealed inTier bosom. She was a woman of the people, whose common name was
“Arani”—that is, the instrument of wood (the Swastika) from which lire was made
orTSfougiit by rubbing. *   *   * The origin of the sign [Swastika] is now easy to

recognize. It represents tlie two pieces of wood which compose I'arani, of which
the extremities were bent to be retained by the four nails. At the junction of the
two pieces of wood was a fossette or cup-like hole, and there they placed a piece of
wood upright, in form of a lance (the Pramantha), violent rotation of which, bv
whipping (after the fashion of top-whipping), producecflire, as did Prometheus, the
jforteur dvTfeu, in Greece.

And this myth was made, as have been others, probably by the
priests and poets of succeeding times, to do duty for different philoso-
phies. The Swastika was made to represent Arani (the female prinO
ciple); the Pramantha or upright fire stake representing Agni, the fire C
god (the male); and so the myth served its part to account for the birtlpd
of fire. Burnouf hints that the myth grew out of the production of£
holy fire for the sacred altars by the use of the Pramantha and Swas-T
tika, after the manner of savages in all times. Zinigrodzki accepts
this myth, and claims all specimens with dots or points—supposed nail
holes—as Swastikas.

The Count Goblet d’Alviella3 argues in opposition to the theory
announced by Burnouf and by Zinigrodzki, that the Swastika or croix
swasticale, when presenting dots or points, had relation to fire making.
He denies that the points represent nails,'or that nails were made or
necessary either for the Swastika or the Arani, and concludes that
there is no evidence to support tlie theory, and nothing to show the
Swastika to have been used as a fire-making apparatus, whether with
or without the dots or points.

Mr. Greg4 opposes this entire theory, saying:

The difficulty about tlie Swastika and its supposed connection with fire appears j
to me to lie in not knowing precisely wliat the old fire drill and cliark were like. (
*   *   * I much doubt whether the Swastika had originally any connection either f

with the fire-chark or with the sun. *   *   * The best authorities consider Mur- )

uouf is in error as to the earlier use of the two lower cross pieces of wood aud the four
nails said to have been used to fix or steady the framework.

He quotes from Tylor’s description5 of the old fire drill used in India

1   “Des Sciences et Religion/’ pp. 252, 257.

2   Vol. xi.

3“ La Migration des Symboles,” pp. 61-63.

4 Arclueologia, xlviii, pt. 2, pp. 322, 323.

"“Early History of Mankind,” p. 257, note C,
 778

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

for kindling tlie sacrificial fire by tlie process called 44 churning,” as it
resembles that in India by which butter is separated from milk. It
consists in drilling one piece of Arani wood by pulling a cord with
one hand while the other is slackened, and so, alternately (the strap
drill), till the wood takes fire. Mr. Greg states that the Eskimos use
similar means, and the ancient Greeks used the drill and cord, and he
adds his conclusions: 44 There is nothing of the Swastika and four nails
in connection with the fire-churn.”

Burton1 also criticises Burnouf’s theory:

If used on sacrificial altars to reproduce tlio lioly lire, tlie practice is peculiar and
not derived from everyday life; for as early as Pliny they knew that the savages
used two, and never three, fire sticks.

Burnouf continues his discussion of myths concerning tlie origin of
fire:

According to Ilymnes, the discoverer of fire was Atliaran, whose name signifies
lire, hut Bhrigon it was who made the sacred fire, producing resplendent llaines on
the earthen altar. In theory of physics, Agni, who Avas the lire residing Avithin the
11 onction,” (?) came from the milk of the coav, Avliick, in its turn, came iroin the
plants that had nourished her; and these plants in their turn grew by receiving and
appropriating the heat or lire of the sun. Therefore, the Arirtue of the “onction”
came from the god.

Olio of tlio Vedas says of Agni, the god of fire:1 2 3

Agni, thou art a sage, a priest, a king,

Protector, father of the sacrifice;

Commissioned by our men thou dost ascend
A messenger, eonveying to the sky
Our hymns and offerings, though thy origin
Re three fold, now from air and now from Avater,
Noav from the mystic double Arani*

Count Goblet d’Alviella combats tlie hypothesis of Burnouf that the
Swastika when turned to right or left, passed, the one for the male and
the other for the female principle, and declares, on the authority of Sir
Georire Bird wood, that it is, in modern India, a popular custom to name

which appear in couples as having different sexes, so that to say

“the male Swastika” and the 44female Swastika.” indicating them by
the pronouns “he” or 44she,” would be expressed in the same manner
when speaking of the hammer and the anvil or of any other objects
used in pairs.4

Ludwig Muller, in his elaborate treatise, gives it as his opinion that the
( Swastika had no connection with the Tau cross or with the Crux ansata,
or with the fire wheel, or with arani, or agni, or with the mystic or alpha-
betic letters, nor with the so-called spokes of the solar wheel, nor the
forked lightning, nor the hammer of Thor, lie considers that the tris-

v

1   “ The Book of the Sword/’ p. 202, note 2.

2   Burnouf, “Des Sciences et Religion,” p. 18.

3The tAvo pieces of wood of Ficus religiosa, used for kindling fire.

4“La Migration des Symboles, ” p. 63.
 THE SWASTIKA.

779

kelion might throw light on its origin, as indicating perpetual whirling
or circular movement, which, in certain parts of southern Asia as the
emblem of Zeus, was assimilated to that of Baal, an inference which he
draws from certain Asiatic coins of 400 B. 0.

Mr. R. P. Greg1 opposes this theory and expresses the opinion that
the Swastika is far older and wider spread as a symbol than the tris-
kelion, as well as being a more purely Aryan symbol. Greg says that
Ludwig M filler attaches quite too muchTmportancc to the sun in con-
nection with the early Aryans, and lays too great stress upon the sup-
posed relation of the Swastika as a solar symbol. The Aryans, he says,
were a race not given to sun worship; and, while he may agree with |
Miiller that the Swastika is an emblem of Zeus and Jupiter merely as|
the Supreme God, yet he believes that the origin of the Swastika had''
no reference to a movement of the sun through the heavens; and he
prefers his own theory that it was a device suggested by the forked
lightning as the chief weapon of the air god.

Mr. Greg’s paper is of great elaboration, and highly complicated.(susd
lie devotes an entire page or plate (21) to a chart showing the older
Aryan fire, water, and sun gods, according to the Brahmin or Buddhist
system. The earliest was Dyaus, tlie bright sky or the air god; Adyti,
the infinite expanse, mother of bright gods; Varuna, the covering of
the shining firmament. Out of this trinity came another, Zeus, being
the descendant of Dyaus, the sky god; Agni, the fire; Sulya, the sun,
and Indra, the rain god. These in their turn formed the great Hindu
trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva—creator, preserver, and destroyer;
and, in his opinion, the. Swastika was the symbol or ordinary device of
Indra as well as of Zeus. He continues his table of descent from these
gods, with their accompanying devices, to the sun, lightning, fire, and
water, and makes almost a complete scheme of the mythology of that
period, into which it is not possible to follow him. However, he declines
to accept the theory of Max Miiller of any difference of form or mean-
ing between the Suavastika and the Swastika because the ends or
arms turned to the right or to the left, and he thinks the two symbols to
be substantially the same. He considers it to have been, in the first

instance, exclusively of early Aryan origin and use, and that down to

about COO B. 0. it was the emblem or symbol of the supreme Aryan
gQil; that it so continued down through the various steps of descent
(according to the chart mentioned) imtil-it-hecame-the device nod sym-
bol of Brahipa, and finally of Buddha. He thinks that it may have
been the origin of the Greek fret or meander pattern. Later still it;>
was adopted even by the~eariy Uiinstians as a suitable variety of theiiy
cross, and became variously modified in form and was used as a charm.\
D’Alviella1 2 expresses his doubts concerning the theory advanced by

Greg3 to the effect that the Swastika is to be interpreted as a symbol

1   Archifiologia, xliii, pt. 2, pp. 324, 325.

2   “La Migration ties Symboles,” p. 64.

3   “Fylfot and Swastika,” Arclnoologia, 1885, p. 293.
 780

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

[Prometheus]

of the air or of the god who dwells in the air, operating sometimes to
produce light, other times rain, then water, and so on, as is represented
1 by the god Indra among the Hindus, Thor among the Germans and
\ Scandinavians, Berkun among the Slavs, Zeus among the Pelasgi and
Greeks, Jupiter Tonans, and Pluvius among the Latins. lie disputes
the theory that the association of the Swastika sign with various
others on the same object proves its relationship with that object or
\ sign. That it appears on vases or similar objects associated with what
is evidently a solar disk is no evidence to him that the Swastika
belongs to the sun, or when associated with the zigzags of lightning
that it represents the god of lightning, nor the same with the god of
?"heaven. The fact of its appearing either above or below any one of
these is, in his opinion, of no importance and has no signification, either
general or special.

D’Alviella says1 that the only example known to him of a Swastika
npoTi^n. mompnent consecrated to Zeus or Jupiter is on a Celto-Poman
altar, erected, according to all appearances, by the Daci during the time
they were garrisoned at Ambloganna, in Britain. The altar bears the
letters 1. O. M., which have been thought to stand for Jupiter Optimus
Maximus. The Swastika thereon is flanked by two disks or rouelles,
with four rays, a sign which M. Gaidoz believes to have been a
representative of the sun among the Gaulois.1 2

Dr. Brinton 3 considers the Swastika as being related to the cross and
not to the circle, and asserts that the Ta Ki or Triskeles, the Swastika
and the Cross, were originally of the same signification, or at least
closely allied in meaning.

Waring,4 after citing his authorities, sums up his opinion thus:





We have given remarks of the various writers on this symbol, and it will be seen
tliat, though they are more or less vague, uncertain, and confused in their descrip-
tion of it, still, with one exception, they all agree that it is a mystic symbol, pecul-
iar to somo deity or other, bearing a special signification, and generally believed to
have some connection with one of the elements—water.

Burton says:5

" The Svastika is apparently the simplest form of the Guilloche [scroll pattern or
spiral]. According to Wilkinson (11, Chap. IX), the most complicated form of the
Guilloche covered an Egyptian ceiling upward of a thousand years older than the
objects found at Nineveh. The Svastika spread far and wide, everywhere assuming
some fresh mythological and mysterious significance. In the north of Europe it
became the Fylfot or Crutched eross.

Count Goblet d’Alviella is of the opinion (p. 57) that the Swastika
was “ above all an amulet, talisman, or pliylactere,” while (p. 5G) “it is
incontestable that a great number of the Swastikas were simply motifs

1 “ La Migration des Symboles,” p. 65.

2“Lc Dieu gaulois du Soleil et le symbolisme de la, roue,” Paris, 1886.

3Proc. Amer. Pliilosoph. Soc., 1889, pp. 177-187.

4   “Ceramic Art in Kemote Ages.”

5   “The Book of the Sword,” p. 202.
 THE SWASTIKA.

781

opQJLPameiitation, of coin-marks, and marks of fabrics.” but lie agrees
(p. 57) thaTtHere is no symbol that has given rise to so many interpre- ft
tations, not even the tricula of the Buddhists, and “this is a great deal
to say.” Ludwig Muller believes the Swastika to have been used as an
ornament and as a charm and amulet, as well as a sacred symbol.

Dr. H. Colley March, in his learned paper on the “ Fylfot and the
Futhorc Tir,” 1 thinks the Swastika had no relation to fire or fire making
or the fire god. His theory is that it symbolized axial motion and not
merely gyration; that it represented the_ celestial pole, the axis of the
heavens around which revolvetho stars of the firmament. This appear-
ance^TTotation is most impressive in the constellation of the Great
Bear. About four thousand years ago the apparent pivot of rotation
was at a Draconls, much nearer the Great Bear than now, and at that
time the rapid circular sweep must have been far more striking than at l
present. In addition to the name Ursa Major the Latins called this /
constellation Septentriones, “the seven plowing oxen,” that draggedV
the stars arquiubtlie pole, and the Greeks called it IXnuj^ from its vast ]
spiral movement.2 In the opinion of Dr. March all these are repre- '
sented or symbolized by the Swastika.

Prof. W. H. Goodyear, of Few York, lias lately (1891) published an
elaborate quarto work entitled “The Grammar of the Lotus: A Few
History of Classic Ornament as a Development of Sun AYorship.”3 It
comprises 408 pages, with 7G plates, and nearly a thousand figures. His
theory develops tlm_sun symbol from the lotus by a series of ingenious
and coni))lica ted-evoLutions passing through the Ionic style of archi-
tecture, the volutes and spirals forming meanders or Greek frets, and
from this to the Swastika. The result is attained by the following line
of argument and illustrations:

The lotus was a “fetish of immemorial antiquity and has been wor-
shiped in many countries from Japan to the Straits of Gibraltar;” it
was a symbol of “fecundity,” “life,” “immortality,” and of “resurrec-
tion,” and has a mortuary significance and use. But its elementary
and most important signification was as a solar symbol.4

He describes the Egyptian lotus and traces it through an innumer-
able number of specimens and with great variety of form. He men-
tions many of the sacred animals of Egypt and seeks to maintain their
relationship by or through the lotus, not only with each other but with
solar circles and the sun worship.5 Direct assochBiqn of the solar disk
and lotus.are, according to him, common on the monuments and on
Pheniciau and Assyrian seals; while the lotus and tl i e saciet fan i i \ in Is,
as in cases...cited of the goose representing Seb (solar god, and father
of Osiris), also Osiris himself and Horus, the hawk and lotus, bull and

1   Trans. Lancaster and Cheshire Antiq. Soc., 1886.

2   Iladdon, “ Evolution in Art,” London, 1895, p 288.

3   Sampson, Low, Mars ton & Co., London.

4   Goodyear, “The Grammar of the Lotus,” pp. 4, 5.

Ibid., p. 6.
 782

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

lotus, the asp and lotus, the lion and lotus, the sphinx and lotus, the
gryphon and lotus, the serpent and lotus, the ram and lotus—all of
which animals, and with them the lotus, have, in his opinion, some
related signification to the sunj>r_some j^^-hhj-deiti&s,1 He is of the
opinion that the lotus motif was the foundation of the Egyptian style
of architecture, and that it appeared at an early date, say, the four-
teenth century-B.XL By intercommunication with the Greeks it formed
the foundation of the Greek Tonic capital, which, he says,* * 3 “offers no

Fig. 15.

Fir. 16.

TYl'ICAL LOTUS ON CYPltlAN
VASES.

TYPICAL LOTUS ON KllODIAN
VASES.'

From figures in Coixlyt-ur’s “ Grammar of the Lotus

Fig.17.

TYPICAL LOTUS ON MELIAN
VASES.



dated example of the earlier time than the sixth century B. 0.” lie
supports this contention by authority, argument, and illustration.

lie shows3 the transfer of the lotus motif to Greece, and its use as
an ornament on the painted vases and on those from Cyprus, Rhodes,
and Melos (figs. 15,10, 17).

Chantre4 notes the presence of spirals similar to those of fig. 17, in

the terramares of northern Italy and up
and down the Danube, and his fig. 180 •
(fig. 17) he says represents the decorat-
ing motif, the most frequent in all that
part of i >rehistoric Bnroi>e. He cites
“Notes sur les torques'" on ornaments
spirals.”5

That the lotus had a foundation deep
and wide in Egyptian mythology is not
to be denied; that it was allied to and
associated on the monuments and other

Fig. 18.

DETAIL OF CYPltlAN VASE SHOWING
LOTUSES AVITII CUKLLNU SEPALS.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 47, fig. 1.

objects with many sacred and mytliologic characters in Egypt and after
wards in Greece is accepted. How far it extends in the direction con-
tended for by Professor Goodyear, is no part of this investigation. It
appears well established that in both countries it became highly con
Iventionalized, and it is quite sufficient for the purpose of this argument
ftliat it became thus associated with the Swastika. Figs. 18 and 11)

Goodyear, “ The Grammar of the Lotus,” pp. 7, 8.

‘-Ibid., p. 71.

:Ibid., pp. 74, 77.

* “Age du Bronze,” Denxieme partie, p. 301.

5   Matdriaux pour PHistoire Primitive et Natnrelle de l’llomme, 3d ser., vm, p. <>.
 THE SWASTIKA.

783

represent details of Cyprian vases and amphora belonging to the Ces-
nola collection in the Yew York Metropolitan Museum of Art, showing

Fig. 19.

DETAIL OF CYPRIAN AMPHORA IN METROPOLITAN1 MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY.
Lotus with curling sepals arid different Swastikas.

Goodyear, “ Crainmar of the Lotus, ’ pi. 47, figs. 2, 3.

Fig. 20.

THEORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE SPIRAL
SCROLL FROM LOTUS.

Ono volute.

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” fig. 61.

the lotus with curling sepals among which are interspersed Swastikas
of different forms.   '

According to Professor Goodyear,1 these bent sepals of tlmiotnaAvere
exaggerated and finally became spfr.

_als.1 2 which, being projected at a
tangent, made volutes, and, continu-
ing one after the other, as shown in
fig. 20, formed bands of ornament;
or,3 being connected to right ami left,
spread the ornament overall extended
surface as in fig. 21. One of his paths of evolution closed these volutes
and dropped the connecting tangent, when they formed the concentric

rings of which we see so much. Several
forms of Egyptian scarabad, showing the evo-
lution of concentric rings, arc shown in figs.
22, 23, and 24.

By another path of the evolution of his tlie-^
ory, one has only to square the spiral volutes,
and the result is the Greek fret shown in tig.
25.4 The Greek fret 1ms only to be doubled,
when it produces the Swastika shown in tig. V
2G.5 Thus we have, according to him, the origin
of the Swastika, as shown in tigs. 27 and 28.6

Professor Goodyear is authority for the state-
ment that the earliest dated instances of the
isolated scroll is in the fifth dynasty of Egypt,
and of the lotus and spiral isiiutiiaIMeyehfh~dynasty^ The spiraTof
fig. 19 (above) belongs to the twelfth dynasty.7

Fig. 21.

THEORY OF LOTUS RUDIMENTS IN
SPIRAL.

Tomb 33, Alxl-el Kourneh, Thebes

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” p. !)6.

1   “ Grammar of tlie Lotus,” pi. 8, p. 81.

2   Ibid., pp. 82-94.

3Ibid., p. 96.

4 Ibid., pi. x, figs. 7-9, p. 97.

r> Ibid., p. 354.

* Ibid., p. 353.

7 Ibid, p. 354, fig. 174.
 784

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

Professor Goodyear devotes an entire chapter to the Swastika. On
pages 352,353 he says:

j’*'" There is no proposition in archaeology which can ho so easily demonstrated as the
I assertion that the Swastika was originally a fragment of the Egyptian meander,
I provided Greek geometric vases arc called in evidence. The connection between

Kl! Yl’TIAN* SOAKAli.KI SIIOXVIN'O KVOU’TKlV OF OOXCKNTKIC IMNOS.

Fig.22.

C< )NCKNTRIC RINGS CON-
NECTED RY TANGENTS.

From n fi^un; in I Vine's “History
of Searulis.”

Fig. 23.

CONCENTRIC RINGS WITH PIS-
CONNK(VI'EI) TANGENTS.
I'arrinper colleclion, Metropolitan Mu-
SiMim of Art, New York City.

(iooilvenr, “ Grammar of the l.otus,” ]>t
s.fitr.os.

Fig. 24.

CONCENTRIC RINGS WITIIOCT
CONNECTION.

Farnian eolleelion, M et rojxdi tan Mu-
seum of Art, New York City.
Goodyear, “Grammar of tile l.nhis,”]d.
8, fig. 25.

the meander and the Swastika has been long since suggested by Prof. A. S. Murray.1
^ Hindu specialists have suggested that the Swastika produced the meander.
\ Ilirdwynd.- says: “ I believe Hie Swastika to be the origin of the key pattern orna-
ment of Greek and Chinese decorative art.” Zmigrodzki, in a recent publication,1
has not only reproposed this derivation of the meander, but has even connected the

My come spirals with this supposed development,
and has proposed to change the name of the spiral
ornament accordingly. *   *   * The equivalence

of the Swastika with the meander pattern is sug-
gested, in the first instance, by its appearance in
the shape of the meander on the Rhodian (pi. 28,
fig. 7), Median (]>1. 60, fig. 81T archadc-Greek (pi.
60, fig. 9, and pi. 61, fig. 12), and Greek geometric
vases (pi. 56). The appearance^ n shape of the
meander may be verified in the British Museum on
one geometric vase of the oldest type, and it also
occurs in the Louvre.

ris-25*   On page 354, Goodyear says:

SPECIAL EGYPTIAN MEANDER.

An illustration „f tl.o theory of <lo- ThS solar .8iSniflcnnre of. th^fiwnstifca-k^von
rivation from tho spiral.   hy the Hindu coins of the .Tams. Its generative

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,”pi. io, fig.9. significance is proven by a leaden statuette from

Troy. It is an equivalent of the lotus (pi. 47, figs.
1,2,3), of the solar diagram (pi. 57, fig. 12, and pi. 60, fig. , of the rosette (pi. 20,
fig. , of concentric rings (pi. 47, fig. 11), of the spiral scroll (pi. 34, fig. 8, and pi. 1 * 3

1   Cesnola, “ Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples, ” p. 410.

3   “Industrial Arts of India,” p. 107.

3 “ Zur Geschichte der Swastika.”
 THE SWASTIKA.

785

39, fig. 2), of the geometric boss (pi. 48, fig. 12), of the triangle (pi. 46, fig. 5), and of
the anthemion (pi. 28, fig. 7, and pi. 30, fig. 4). It appears with the solar deer (pi. 60,
figs. 1 and 2), with the solar antelope (pi. 37, fig. 9), with the symbolic fish (pi. 42,
fig* 1)? with the ibex (pi. 37, fig. 4), with the solar sphinx (pi. 34, fig. , with the
solar lion (pi. 30, fig. 4), the solar ram (pi. 28, fig. 7), and the solar horse (pi. 61, figs.

/I, 4, 5, and 12). Its most emphatic and _____________________________________

constant association is with the solar bird   -.   " ~   .... ........ — —

(pi. 60, fig. 15; fig. 173).

Count Goblet dA.lviella, following
Ludwig Midler, Percy Gardner, S.

Beal, Edward Thomas, Max Mid-
ler, II. Gaidoz, and other authors,
accepts their theory that the Swas-
tika was a symbolic representation
of the sun or of a sun god, Jind argues
it fully.1 He starts with the propo-
sition that most of the nations of the earth have represented the sun

Fig. 26.

DETAIL OE GREEK VASE.
Meandor and Swastika.

Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” fig. 1*1

DETAIL OP GREEK GEOMETRIC VASE IN THE BRITISH
MUSEUM.

Swastika, right, with solar geese. V

Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” j>. 353, fig. 173.

Each of

or apparent relationship between
the six symbols given, either with
themselves or with the sun. Only
one of them, that of Assyria, pre-
tends to be a circle $ and it may or may not stand for the sun. It has
no exterior rays. All the rest are crosses of different kinds,
the six symbols is represented as
being from a single nation of peo-
ple. They are prehistoric or of
high antiquity, and most of them
appear to have no other evidence
of their representation of the suiiy
than is contained in the sign

Sigl

itself, so that the_first   ^

is to the premises, to wit, that"
while his symbols may have some-
times represented tne sun, itTis
faf from certain that they are
used

Fig. 28.

GREEK GEOMETRIC VASE.

Swastika witli solar geose.

Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” j). 353, fig. 172.

An objection is made to the
theory or hypothesis presented by Count d’Alviella1 2 that it is not

1   “La Migration ties Symboles,” chap. 2, pt. 3, p. 66.

2Ibid., p. 67.

IT. Mis. 00, pt. 2----50
 786

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

[Prometheus]

tlie cross part of the Swastika which represents the sun, but its bent
armsA which show the revolving motion, by which he says is evolved
the tetraskelion or what in this paper is named the “Ogee Swastika.”
The author is more in accord with Dr. Briutou and others that the
Swastika is derived from the cross and not from the wheel, that the bent
arms do not represent rotary or gyratory motion, and that it had no
association with, or relation to, the circle. This, if true, relieves the
V^wastika from all relation with the circle as a symbol of the sun.
Besides, it is not believed that the symbol of the sun is one which
required rotary or gyratory motion or was represented by it, but, as
willbe explained, in speaking of the Assyrian sun-god Shamash (p. 789),
it is rather by a circle with pointed rays extending outward.

lPAlviella1 presents several figures in support of his contention.
The first (a) is on a fibula from Etruria (fig. 190 of this paper). His
explanation is that the small circle of rays, bent at right angles, on the
broad shield of the pin, represents graphically the rotary movement of
the sun, and that the bent arms in the Swastikas on the same object
are taken from them. /Tt seems curious that so momentous a subject as
the existence of a symbol of a great god, the god of light, heat, and thus
of life, should be made to depend upon an object of so small importance.
This specimen (fig. 190) is a fibula or pin, one of the commonest objects
of Etruscan, Greek, or Roman dressTjThe decorations invoked are on
the broad end, which has been fiattened to protect the point of the
pin, where appears a semicircle of so-called rays, the two Swastikas
and two possible crosses. There is nothing about this pin, nor indeed
any of the other objects, to indicate any holyor “sacred character, nor
that any of them were used in any ceremony having relation to the sun,
to any god, or to anything holy or sacred. His fig. b is fig. 88 in this
paper. It shows a quadrant of the sphere found by Schliemann at His-
sarlik. There is a slightly indefinite circle with rays from the outside,
which are bent and crooked in many directions. The sphere is of terra
cotta; the marks that have been made on it are rough and ill formed.
They were made by incision while the clay was soft and were done in
the rudest manner. There are dozens more marks upon the same
sphere, none of which seem to have received any consideration in this
regard. There is a Swastika upon the sphere, and it is the only mark
or sign upon the entire object that seems to have been made with care
or precision. His third figure (c) is taken from areliquaire of the thir-
teenth century A. D. It has a greater resemblance to the acanthus
plant than it has to any solar disk imaginable. The other two figures
(d and c) are tetraskelions or ogee Swastikas from ancient coins.

D’Alviella’s next argument1 2 is that the triskelion, formed by the same
process as the tetraskelion,is an “incontestable” representation of solar

1   u La Migration des Symboles,” p. 69.

2   Ibid., p. 71.
 THE SWASTIKA.

787

movement. No evidence is submitted in support of this assertion, and
the investigator of the present day is required, as in prehistoric objects,
to depend entirely upon the object itself. The bent arms contain-no
innate evidence (even though they should be held to represent rotary
or gyratory motion) representing the sun or sun gods. It is respect-
fully suggested that in times of antiquity, as in modern times, the sqn
is not represented as having a rotary motion, but is rather represented
by a circle with diminishing rays projecting from the center or exterior.

It seems unjustifiable, almost ridiculous, to transform the three Hexed
human legs, first appearing on the coins of Lycia, into a sun symbol,
to make it the reliable evidence of sun worship, and give it a holy*or
sacred character as representing a god. It is surely pushing the argu-
ment too far to say that this is an “incontestable” representation of
the solar movement. The illustrations by d’Alviella on his page 71
are practically the same as figs. 224: to 220 of this paper.

Count d’Alviella’s further argument1 is that symbols of the sun godl
being frequently associated, alternated with, and sometimes replacedj
by, the Swastika, proves it to have been a suu symbol. But this is
doubted, and evidence to sustain the proposition is wanting. Undoubt-
edly the Swastika was a symbol, was intentional, had a meaning and a
degree of importance, and, while it may have been intended to repre-
sent the sun and have a higher and holier character, yet these mere
associations are not evidence of the fact.

D’Alviella's plate 2, page 80, while divided into sections a and b, is
filled only with illustrations of Swastika associated with circles, dots,
etc., introduced for the purpose of showing the association of the
Swastika therewith, and that the permutation and replacing of these
signs by the Swastika is evidence that the Swastika represented the
sun. Most of the same illustrations are presented m this paper, and it
is respectfully submitted that the evidence does not bear out his con-
clusion. If it be established that these other symbols are representa-
tives of the sun, how does that prove that the Swastika was itself a
representative of the sun or the sun god ? ITAlviella himself argues*
against the proposition of equivalence of meaning because of associ-
ation when applied to the Crux ansata, the circle, the crescent, the
triskelion, the lightning sign, and other symbolic figures. He denies
that because the Swastika is found on objects associated with these^
signs therefore they became interchangeable in meaning, or that th^/V
Swastika stood for any of them. The Count* 2 says that more likely the p,
engraver added the Swastika to these in the character of a talisman or r
phylactery. On'pagulrfnie argues irftTfe same line, LhatUecause it is
foundTnTau object of sacred character does not necessarily give it the
signification of a sacred or holy symbol. He regards the Swastika as

1<4La Migration des Symboles,” pp. 72, 75, 77.

2 Ibid., p. 61.
 788

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

a'syinbol of good fortune, and sees no reason why it may not be em-
/ployed as an invocation to a god of any name or kind-on the principle,
“Good Lord, good devil,” quoting the Neapolitan proverb, that it will
do no harm, and possibly may do good.

Prof. Max Muller 1 refers to the discovery by Prof. Percy Gardner of

/due of the coins of Mesembria, whereon the Swastika replaces the last
two syllables of the word, and he regards this as decisive that in
Greece the meaning of the Swastika was equivalent to the sun. This
word, Mesembria, being translated villa do midi, means town or city
of the south, or the sun. lie cites from Mr. Thomas’s paper on the
“Indian Swastika and its Western Counterparts”1 2 what he considers
an equally decisive discovery made some years ago, wherein it was
(shown that the wheel, the emblem of the sun in motion, was replaced
I by the Swastika on certain coins; likewise on some of the Andhra
coins and some punched gold coins noted by Sir Walter Elliott.3 In
these cases the circle or wheel alleged to symbolize the sun was re-
placed by the Swastika. The Swastika has been sometimes inscribed
within the rings or normal circles representing what is said to be the
four suns on Ujain patterns or coins (fig. 230). Other authorities have
adopted the same view, and have extended it to include the lightning,
\/the storm, the fire wheel, the sun chariot, etc. (See Ohncfalsch-Kiclitcr,
p. 790.) This appears to be a non seguitur. All these speculations may be
correct, and all these meanings may have been given to the Swastika,
( but the evidence submitted does not prove the fact. There is in the
\ case of the foregoing coins no evidence yet presented as to which sign,
1 the wheel or the Swastika, preceded and which followed in point of
( time. The Swastika may have appeared first instead of last, and may
not have been a substitution for the disk, but an original design. The
disk employed, while possibly representing the sun in some places, may
not have done so always nor in this particular case. It assumes too
much to say that every time a small circle appears on an ancient object
« it represented the sun, and the same observation can be made with
vp regard to symbols of' the other elements. Until it shall have been
^ satisfactorily established that the symbols represented these elements
with practical unanimity, and that the Swastika actually and inten-
tidmtfly replaced if"as“STTch, the theory remains undemonstrated, the
burden rests on those ivlio take the affirmative side; and until these
points shall have been settled with some degree of probability the con-
clusion is not warranted.

As an illustration of the various significations possible, one has but
to turn to Chapter iv, on the various meanings given to the cross among
American Indians, where it is shown that among these Indians the
cross represented the four winds, the sun, stars, dwellings, the dragon

1   Atlienajum, August 20, 1892, x>- 266.

2   Numismatic Chronicle, 1880, xx, pp. 18-48.

3   Madras Journ. of Lit. and Sci., ill, pi. 9.
 THE SWASTIKA.   789

fly, mide' society, flocks of birds, human form, maidenhood, evil spirit,
and divers others.

Mr. Edward Thomas, in his work entitled u The Indian Swastika and
its Western Counterparts,”1 says:

As far as I have been able to trace or connect the various manifestations of this
emblem [the Swastika], they one aiul all resolve themselves into tlie primitive^ ?
conception of solar motion, which was intuitively associated with the rolling or'-'
wlieel-like projection of the sun through tho upper or visible are of the heavens, as
understood and accepted in the crude astronomy of the ancients. The earliest phase
of astronomical science wo are at present in position to refer to, with the still extant
aid of indigenous diagrams, is the Chaldean. The representation of the sun in this
system commences with a simple ring or ontline circle, which is speedily advanced
toward the impression of onward revolving motion by the insertion of a cross or
four wlieel-like spokes within the circumference of the normal ring. As the original
Chaldean emblem of the sun was typified by a single ring, so tho Indian mind
adopted a^ similar definition, which remains to this day as the ostensible device or
cast-mark, of the modern Sauras or sun worshipers.

Tlie same remarks are made in “Ilios” (pp. 353, 354).   ^—•

The author will not presume to question, much less deny, the facts
stated by this learned gentleman, but it is to be remarked that, on tlie
theory of j)r§siimp|4oii, the circle jniglit represent many other things
than the sun, and unless flie evidence in favor of the foregoing state-
ment is susceptible of verification, the theory can hardly be accepted
as conclusive. Why should not the circle represent other things than,
the sun? In modern astronomy the full moon is represented by the!
plain circle, while the sun, at least in heraldry, is always represented
'as a circle with rays. It is believed that the u cross or four wheel!
like spokes” in the Chaldean emblem of the sun will be Tbiiml to be
rays rather that cross or spokes. A cast is in the TJ. S. National
Museum (Cat. No. 15470(1) of an original specimmi^frcim^Niffer, now in
tlie Boyal Museum, Berlin, of Shamash, the Assyrian god of the sun.

He is represented on this monument by a solar disk, 4 inches in diam-
eter, with eight rays similar to those of stars, their bases on a faint
circle at the center, and tapering outwards to a point, the whole sur-
rounded by another faint circle. This is evidence that the sun symbol
of Assyria required rays as well as a circle. A similar representation
of the sun god is found on a tablet discovered in the temple of the
Sun God at Abu-Habba.* 2 *

Perrot and Chipiez3 show a tablet from Sippara, of a. king, Nabu-
abal-iddin, 900 B. C., doing homage to the sun god (identified by the ,
inscription), who is represented by bas-relief of a small circle in tlieK
center, with rays and lightning zigzags extending to an outer circle.

In view of these authorities and others which might be cited, it is

'London, 1880.

2Rawlinson, “Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia/’ v, pi. 00; Trans. Soo.
Biblical Archaeology, vm, p. 165.

3   “History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria,” i, p. 200, fig. 71.
 790

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.



questionable whether the plain circle was continuously a representation
of the sun in the Chaldean or Assyrian astronomy. It is also doubtful
whether, if the circle did represent the sun, the insertion of the cross
or the four wlieel-like spokes necessarily gave the impression of “ onward
revolving motion ; ” or whether any or all of the foregoing afford a
satisfactory basis for the origin of the Swastika or for its relation to,
or representation of, the sun or the sun god.

Hr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter1 announces as his opinion that the
Swastika in Cyprus had nearly always a signification more or less
religious and sacred, though it may have been used as an ornament to
fill empty spaces. He attributes to the Croix sicasticale—or, as he calls
it, Croix cantonnee—the equivalence of the solar disk, zigzag lightning,
and double hatchet; while to the Swastika proper he attributes the
signification of rain, storm, lightning, sun, light, seasons, and also that
it lends itself easily to the solar disk, the fire wheel, and the sun chariot.

Greg1 2 says:

Considered finally, it may be asked if the fylfot or gammadion was an early sym-
bol of the sun, or, if only an emblem of the solar re.volutious or m ovements across
tlio heavens, why it was drawn square rather thau curved: The even if used in
a solar sense, must have implied something more tfian, or something distinct from,
\(j the sun, whoso proper and almost universal symbol was the circle. It was evidently
more connected with the cross —|— than with the circle or solar disk.

Hr. Brinton3 considers the Swastika as derived from the cross
rather than from the circle, and the author agrees that this is probable,
although it may be impossible of demonstration either way.

Several authors, among the rest d’Alviella, Greg, and Thomas, have
announced the theory of the evolution of the Swastika, beginning
with the triskelion, thence to the tetraskelion, and so to the Swastika.
A slight examination is sufficient to overturn this hypothesis. In the
first place, the triskelion, which is the foundation of this hypothesis,
made itsjirst appearance~bii the coins of Lycia. But this appearance
was within whatis called like first period of coinage, to wit, between
700 and 4S0 B. 0., and it did not become settled until the second, and
even the tlurcT period, 280 to 240 B. O., when it migrated to Sicily.
But the Swastika had already appeared in Armenia, on the hill of
Hissarlik, in the terrainares of northern Jtaly, and on the hut-urns of
southern Italy many hundred, possibly a thousand or more, years prior
to that time. Count d’Alviella, in his plate 3 (see Chart I, p. 794),
assigns it to a period of the fourteenth or thirteenth century B. C., with
an unknown and indefinite past behind it. It is impossible that a sym-
bol which first appeared in 480 B. C. could have been the ancestor of
one which appeared in 1400 or 1300 B. C., nearly a thousand years before.

1   Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, pp. 674,675.

2   Arcbuvologia, xlviU, pt. 2, p. 326.

3Proe. Amer. Pliilosopli. Soc., 1889, xxix, p. 180.
 THE SWASTIKA.

[Prometheus]

791

William Simpson1 makes observations upon the latest discoveries
regarding the Swastika and gives his conclusion:

*   *   * The finding of the Swastika in America gives a very wide geographical

space that is included by the problem connected with it, but it is wider still, for the
Swastika is found over the most of the habitable world, almost literally “ from
China to Peru,” and it can be traced barb tr> a very early period. The latest idea'—)
formed regardtngTTQe Swastika is that it may bo a form of the old wheel symbolism /
and that it represents a solar movement, or perhaps, in a wider sense, the whoW
celestial movement of the stars. The Dharmachakra, or Buddhist wheel, of which
the so-called “praying wheel” of the Lamas of Thibet is only a variant, can now be
shown to have representecT the solar motion. It did not originate with the Bud-
dhists; they borrowed it from the Brahminical system to the Veda, where it is called
“ the wheel of the sun.” I have lately collected a large amount of evidence on this
subject" being engaged^in writing upon it, and the numerous passages from the old
Brahminical authorities leave no doubt in the matter. The late Mr. Edward Thomas
* * * and Prof. Percy Gardner *   *   * declared that on some Andhra gold coins

and one from Mesembria, Greece, the part of the word which means davT or when
the sun shines, is represented by the Swastika^ These details will be found in a
letter published in the “Athenaeum” of August 20,1892, written by Prof. Max Muller,

who affirms that it

le meaning of the symbol in Greece. This

die of Apollo’s breastrthrnris a largo
another instancegomgiar to snow its solar sTgUtttuance

evidence may be “decisive” for India and Greece, but it dobs not-jaake,us_quito cer-
tainjJbont other parts of The worltH Still it raises a strong presumption that its
meaning is likely to be somewhat simihir wherever the symbol is found.

It is now assumed that the Triskelion or Three Legs^of the Isle of Man is only '
a variant of the Swastika. *   *   * There are many variants besides this in which

the legs, or limbs, differ in number, and they may all be classed as whorls, and were
possibly all, more or less, forms intended originally to express circular motion. As the
subject is too extensive to be fully treated here, and many illustrations would be nec-
essary, to those wishing for further details I would recommend a work just published
entitled “The Migration of Symbols,” by Count Goblet d’Alviella, with an intro-
duction by Sir George Birdwood. The frontispiece of the book is a representation
of Apollo, from a vase in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, and on the mid-

mb pronrhieTTt Swastika. In this we have
While accepting these new
interpretations of the symbol, mill StaTTTnclined to the notion that the Swastika
may, at the same time, have been looked upon in some pas£s__asa cross—that is._a
pre-Christian cross, which now finds acceptance by some^autliorities as representing
the four cardinal points. The importance of the cardinal points in primitive sym-
bolism appears to me to have been very great, and has not as yet been fully realized.
This is too large a matter to deal with here. All I can state is, that the wheel in
Tn^ia.wfls mwiftcfAii with the title of a ChaTcravarlin—from 'Chakra, a "Wheel—Ihe/7
title meaning; a supreme ruler, or a universal jnonarch. wfixTruled the four quart,riaL**
of the- world, and on his coronationhoTiad to drive his chariot, or wheel, to the four l
cardinal-points to signify his conquest of them. Evidence of other ceremonies of
the same_kind in Europe can be produced. From instances such as these, I am
inclined to assume that the Swastika, as across, represented the four quarters over(J^
which the solar power by its revolving motion carried its influence.   /

ORIGIN AND

Prehistoric archeologists have found in Europe many specimens of f
ornamental sculpture and engraving belonging to the Paleolithic age, "

1   Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, January, 1895, pp. 84,85.
 792

REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

/ but the cross is not known in any form, Swastika or other. In the FTeo-
l lithic age, which spread itself over nearly the entire world, with many
l geometric forms of decoration, no form of the cross appears in times
/ of high antiquity as a symbol or as indicating any other than an orna-
' mental purpose. In the age of bronze, however, the Swastika appears,
intentionally used, as a symbol as well as an ornament. Whether its
first appearance was in the Orient, and its spread thence throughout
prehistoric Europe, or whether the reverse was true, may not now be
determined Avith certainty. It is believed by some to be involved m
that other Avarmly disputed and much-discussed question as to the local-
ity of origin and the mode and routes of dispersion of Aryan peoples.
L""There is evidence to sIioav that it belongs to an earlier epoch than this,
and relates to the similar problem concerning the locality of origin and
the mode and routes of the dispersion of Ijpouze. Was bronze discov-

( erect in eastern Asia and was its migration westward through Europe,
or Avas it discovered on the Mediterranean, and its spread thence! The
SAvastika spread through the same countries as did the bronze, and
there is every reason to believe them to have proceeded contempora-
neously—whether at their beginning or not, is undeterminable.

The first appearance of the SAva^stijia-was^ipparentlyin. the^Orient,
preciselynTvnTa^   impossible to say, but probably in central

and southeastern Asia among the forerunners or predecessors of the
Bramins and Buddhists. At all events, a religious and symbolic sig-
nification Avas attributed to it by the earliest knoAvn peoples of these
localities.

M. Michael Zmigrodzki, a Polish scholar, public librarian at Suclia,
near OraeoAv, prepared and sent to the World’s Columbian Exposition
at Chicago a manuscript chart in French, showing his opinion of the
migration of the Swastika, which Avas displayed in the Woman’s
Building. It AAras arranged in groups: The prehistoric (or Pagan) and
Christian. These Avere divided geographically and Avitli an attempt at
chronology, as follows:

I.   Prehistoric:

1.   India and Bactria.

2.   Cyprus, Rhodes.

3.   North Europe.

1. Central Europe.

5.   South Europe.

6.   Asia Minor.

7.   Greek and Roman epoch—Numismatics.

II.   Christian:

8.   Gaul—Numismatics.

9.   Byzantine.

10.   Merovingian and Carloviugian.

*?   11. Germany.

12.   Poland and Sweden.

13.   Great Britain.

Lastly he introduces a group of the Swastika in the nineteenth cen-
tury. He presented figures of Swastikas from these localities and
 THE SWASTIKA.

793

representing tliese epoclis. He bad a similar display at the Paris Expo-
sition of 1889, which at its close was deposited in the St. Germain Pre-
historic Museum. I met M. Zmigrodzki at the Tenth International
Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology in Paris, and
heard him present the results of his investigations on the Swastika.

I have since corresponded with him, and he has kindly sent me sepa-
rates of his paper published in the Archives fiir Ethnographie, with
2GG illustrations of the Swastika; but on asking his permission to use
some of the information in the chart at Chicago, he informed me he had
already given the manuscript chart and the right to reproduce it to the
Chicago Folk-Lore Society. The secretary of this society declined to
permit it to pass out of its possession, though proffering inspection of
it in Chicago.

In his elaborate dissertation Count Coblet d’Alviella1 shows an ear-
lier and prehistoric existence of the Swastika before its appearance on
the hill of Hissarlik. From this earlier place of origin it, according to
him, spread*-to the Bronze age terramaj^sj)f northern Italy. All this
was prior to the thirteenth century B. C. From the hill of Ilissarlik it
spread east and west; to the east into Lyeaonia and Caucasus, to the!
west into Myceme and Greece; first on the pottery and then on the)
coins. From Greece it also spread east and west; east to Asia Minor
and west to Thrace and Macedonia. From the terramares he follows it
through the Villanova epoch, through Etruria and Grand Greece, to
Sicily, Gaul, Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, to all of which migration*-
he assigns various dates down to the second century B. C. It devel-
oped westward from Asia Minor to northern Africa and to Borne, with
evidence in the Catacombs; on the eastward it goes into India, Persia,
China, Tibet, and Japan. All this can be made apparent upon exami-
nation of the plate itself. It is introduced as Chart i, p. 794.

The author enters into no discussion with Count d’Alviella over the
correctness or completeness of the migrations set forth in his chart.
It will be conceded, even by its author, to be largely theoretical and
impossible to verify by positive proof. He will only contend that there
is a probability of its correctness. It is doubted whether he can main-
tain his proposition of the constant presence or continued appearance
of the Swastika on altars, idols, priestly vestments, and sepulchral <

urns, and that this demonstrates the Swastika to have always possessed
the attributes of a religious symbol. It appears to have been used
more frequently upon the smaller and more insignificant things of every-
day life—the household utensils, the arms, weapons, the dress, the fibuhe,
and the pottery; and while this may be consonant with the attributes
of the talisman or amulet or charm, it is still compatible with the theory
of the Swastika being a sign or symbol for benediction, blessing, good
fortune, or good luck; and that it was rather this than a religious

symbol.

1   “La Migration des Symboles,” pi. 3. *
 Chart I.—Probable introduction of the Swastika into different countries, according to Count Goblet d’Alviella.

[ “La Migration des Symboles,” pi. 3.]

? ? ?

r

Troad

XIII Century B. C., and earlier.

XIII and XII B.C.
XI toVI B.C....

VI B.C,

V B.C

IV B. C.....................

Ill B. C....................

II   B. C.t to II A.D.........

III   A.D.....................

Ill to VIII A.D.............

IX A.D......................

Terremares

Mycenae

Villanova

I

Greece

(pottery)

Lvcaonia

Caucasus

Etruria

Greece

Greece

(coins)

I

[

Thrace

Macedonia

I

Asia

Minor

Greece

Sicily



Gaul

Scandinavia Germany Great Britain Xortli Africa

Home

(Catacombs)

?

India

Persia

I

China

I___

f

Tibet

Iceland

Japan

794   REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.
 THE SWASTIKA.

795

Count Goblet d’Alviella, in the fourth section of the second chapter1
relating to the country of its origin, argues that the Swastika sign was
employed by all the Aryans except the Persians. This omission he
explains by showingjfliat the Swastika in all other lands stood for the
sun or'for the sun-god, while the Aryans of Persia had other signs for
thejame~ thing=the Cruxansata and the winged globe. His conclusion
is^that there were twozones occupied with different symbols, the fron-
tier between them being from Persia, through Cyprus, Rhodes, and Asia
Minor, to Libya; that the first belonged to the Greek civilization, which
employed the Swastika as a sun symbol; the second to the Egypto-
Babylonian, which employed the Crux ansata and the winged globe as
sun symbols.

Professor Sayce, in his preface to u Troja,” says:1 2 3

The same symbol [the Swastika], as is well known, occurs on the Archaic pottery
of Cyprus *' *   * as well as upon the prehistoric antiquities of Athens and

Mykeme [same, “Ilios,” p. 353], but it was entirely unknown to Babylonia, to
Assyria, jo*. Phrenicia^jnid^ to Egypt. It must th ere foriy~5ttber"h'a^   in

EmiQpeuJLiid-apxgml. eastward through Asia Minor or have been disseminated west-
ward from the primitiye home of the Hittites. The latter alternative is the more ^
probable; but whether it is so ornot, the presence of the symbol in the land of the
iEgean indicates a particular epoch and the influence of a pre-Phoenician culture.

Hr. Schliemann4 reports that “Rev. W. Brown Keer observed the
Swastika innumerable times in the most ancient Hindu temples, espe-
cially those of the Jainas.”

Max Muller cites the following paragraph by Professor Sayce:5

It is evident to me that the sign found at Hissarlilc is identical with that found
at Mycenm and Athens, as well as on the prehistoric pottery of Cyprus (Di Cesnola,
Cyprus, pis. 44"and 47), since the general artistic character of the objects -with which
this sign is associated in Cyprus and Greece agrees with that of the objects dis-
covered in Troy. The Cyprian vase [fig. 156, this paper] figured in Di Cesnola’s
“ Cyprus/’ pi. 45, which associates the Swastika with the figure of an animal, is a
striking analogue of the Trojan whorls, on which it is associated with the figure of
the stags. The fact that it is drawn within the vulva of the leaden image on the
Asiatic goddess shown in fig. 226 (“Ilios,” fig. 125 this paper) seems to show that it
was a symbol of generation.

Count Goblet d’Alviella,6’ citing Albert Dumont7 and Perrot and
Chipiez,8 says:

The Swastika appears in Greece, as well as in Cyprus and Rhodes, first on the pot-
tery, with geometric decorations, which form the second period in Greek ceramics.
From that it passes to a later period, where the decoration is more artistic and the
appearance of which coincides with the development of the Phomician influences on
the coasts of Greece.

Dr. Ohnefalscli-Richter, in a paper devoted to tlie consideration of

1   “La Migration des Symboles,” p. 93.

2   Ibid., p. 107.

3   “Ilios.,” p. xxi.v

4   Ibid, p. 352.

fiIbid, p. 353.

6   “ La Migration des Symboles,” p. 43.

7   “Peintures cdramiques de la Grece propro,” i, pi. xv, fig. 17.

8   “Histoire de Part dans Pantiqnitd,” in, figs. 513,515,518.
 79G

REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

lie Swastika in Cyprus,1 expresses the opinion that the emigrant or
commercial Plienicians traveling in far eastern countries brought
the Swastika by the sea route of the Persian Gulf to Asia Minor and
Cyprus, while, possibly, other people brought it by the overland route
from central Asia, Asia Minor, and Hissarlik, and afterwards by migra-
tion to Cyprus, Carthage, and the north of Africa.

Professor Goodyear says:* 2

y The true home of the Swastika is the Greek geometric style, as will be immediately
obvious to every expert who examines the question through the study of that style.
In seeking the home of a symbol, we should consider where it appears in the largest
dimension and where it appears in tlie most formal and prominent way. The Greek
geometric vases are tin*- only monuments on which the Swastika systematically
v/appears in panels exclusively assigned to it (pi. 60, fig. 13; and pi. 56, lig. 4). There
are no other monuments on which the Swastika can bo found in a dimension taking
up one-half the, hpight-fif. the entire object (pi. 56, fig. 4). The ordinary size of the
Swastika, in very primitive times, is under a third of an inch in diameter. They are
found in Greek geometric pottery 2 or 3 inches in diameter, but they also appear in
tho informal scattering way (pi. 61, fig. 4) which characterizes the Swastika in other
styles.

[Prometheus]

The Swastika dates from the earliest diffusion of theJ^gyjitia^iimandcr in the
t/fuiHin of tho Mediterranean, and it is a profound remark of Do Morgan (Mission
Seieutiiique an ('ancase) that the area of the Swastika .appears to be coextensive
\vitb_t.ho area of bmir/.e. In northern^prehistorie Europe, where the Swastika has
attracted considerable attention, it is distinctly connected with the bronze culture
derived, fronTtlio sonthT^Whcn foil ml oil prehistoric jmllCiy ~oTtUc north, the
southern home'oTlts beginnings is equally clear.

In seeking tho home of a symbol, we should consider not only the nature of its
appearance, but also where it is found in the largest amount, for this shows the
center of vogue and power—that is to say, the center of diffusion. The vogue of the
Swastika at Troy is not as great as its vogue in Cyprian Greek pottery (pi. 60, fig. 15)
and Rhodian pottery (pi. 60, fig. 2).   *   *   * Tl is well known to Melian vases (pi.

60, fig. and to archaic Greek vases (pi. 61, fig. 12), but its greatest prominence is
on the pottery of the Greek geometric style (pi.60, fig. 13; pi.56, fig. 4; pi.61, figs.
1 and 4; and figs. 173 and 174).   *   *   *

Aside from tho Greek geometric style, our earliest reference for tho Swastika, and
. very possibly an earlier reference than the first, is its appearance on tho “lint urns”
v of Ttaly. On such it appears rather as a fragment of the more complicated meander
patterns, from which it is derived. My precise view is that the earliest and, conse-
quently*, imperfect, forms of the Swastika are on the hut urns of Italy, bnt that, as
an independent and definitely shaped pattern, it first belongs to the Greek geometric
style! Ido not assert that the Swastika Tsvery common on hut urns, which are
often undecorated. *   *   * Our present intermediate link with India for the

Swastika lies in the Cancasus and in the adjacent territory of-Koban. This last
ancient center of the arts in metal has lately attracted attention through the publi-
cation of Virchow (Das Griiberfeld von Koban). In the original Coban l)TQjize»^pf
the Prehistoric Museum of St. Germain there is abundant matter for study (p. 351).

Mr. R. P. Greg, in “ Fret or Key Ornamentation in Mexico and Peru,”3
says:

Both the Greek fret and the fylfot appear to have been unknown to the Semitic
nations as an ornament or as a symbol.

’Bull. Soc. d’Antbrop., Paris, December 6, 1888, pp. 669,679,680.

2   “Grammar of the Lotus,” p. 348 et seq.

3Arelia*ologia, xlvii, pt. 1, p. 159.
 THE SWASTIKA.

797

In Egypt the fylfot does not occur. It is, I believe, generally admitted or supposed
that the fylfot is of early Aryan origin. Eastward toward India. Tibet, and China
it was adopted, in all probability, as a sacred symbol of   westward it may

have spread in one form oranotherlo Greecch-A^iaMiimr. jmd even to North Germany.

Oartailhac says:1

Modern Christian archaeologists have obstinately contended that the Swastika was
composed of four gamma, and so have called it the Croix Gamince. But the Rarna-
yana placed it on the boat of the Rama long before they had any knowledge of
Greek. It is found on a number of Buddhist edifices; the Sectarians of Yisliuu
placed it as a sign upon their foreheads. Burnouf says it is the Aryan sign par
excellence. It was surely a religious emblem in use in India fifteen centuries before ^
the Christian era, and thence it spread to every part. In Europe it appeared about
the middle of the ’civilization of the bronze age, and we find it, pure or transformed
into a cross, on a mass of objects in metal or pottery during the first age of iron.
Sometimes its lines were rounded and given a graceful curve instead of straight and
square at its ends and angles. [See letter by Gandhi, pp. 803, 805.]

M. Oartailhac notes* 2 several facts concerning the associations of the
Swastika foimcjL by him in Spain and Portugal and belonging to the
first (prehistoric) age of iron: (1) The Swastika was associated with
the silhouettes of the duck or bird, similar to those in Greece, noted
by Goodyear; (2) the association (in his fig. 41) on a slab from the lake
dwellings, of the Maltese cross and reproduction of the triskelion;

(3) a tetraskelion, which he calls a Swastika “flamboyant,” being the
triskelion, but with four arms, the same shown on Lycian coins as
being ancestors of the true triskelion (his fig. 412); (4) those objects
were principally found in the ancient lake dwellings of Sambroso and
Briteiros, supposedly dating from the eighth and ninth centuries B.

With them were found many ornaments, borders representing cords,
spirals, meanders, etc., which had the same appearance as those found
by Schliemann at Mycenra. Oartailhac says:3

Without doubt Asiatic influences are evident in both cases; first appearing in the
Troad, then in Greece, they wero spread through Iberia and, possibly, who can tell,
finally planted in a far-away Occident.

A writer in the Edinburgh Review, in an extended discussion on
“ The pre-Christian cross,” treats of the Swastika under the local name
of “ Fylfot,” but in such an enigmatical and uncertain manner that it is
difficult to distinguish it from other and commoner forms of the cross.
Mr. Waring4 criticises him somewhat severely for his errors:

He states that it is found *   *   * in the sculptured stones of Scotland (but

after careful search we can find only one or two imperfect representations of it,
putting aside the Newton stone inscription, where it is probably a letter or numeral
only); that it is carved on the temples and other edifices of Mexico and Central
America (where again we have sought for it in vain); that it is found on the cinerary
urns of the terramare of Parma and Vicenza, the date of which has been assigned
by Italian antiquaries to 1000 B. C. (but there again we have found only the plain

*   “Ages Prehistoriqiie de PEspagne et du Portugal,” pp. 285-293,

2   Ibid., p. 286.

3   Ibid., p. 293.

*   “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” p. 13.
 798

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

cross, and not the fylfot), and, finally, he asserts that “it was the emblem of Libitina
or Persephone, the awful Queen of the Shades, and is therefore commonly found
on the dress of the tumulorum fossor in the Roman catacombs,” but we have only
found one such example. “It is noteworthy, too,” he continues, “in reference to
its extreme popularity, or the superstitious veneration in which it has been also
universally held, that the cross pattde, or cruciform hammer (but we shall show
these are different symbols), was among the very last of purely pagan symbols
which was religiously preserved in EuropeTlong alter the establishment of Christi-
/Oh anityTnot in Europe, but i uT8can(iin aviaTand wherever tlie Scand in a v i an s had pene-
trated)!* It may btTseenupou tne bells ot many of outTSarish churches, as
at Appleby, Mexboroughj Haythersaye, Waddingtou, Bishop’s Norton, West Bark-
with, and other places, where it was placed as a magical sign to subdue the vicious
spirit of the tempestand he subsequently points out its constant use in relation
to water or rain.

Mr. Waring continues:

The Rev. C. Boutcll, in “Notes and Queries,” points out that it is to be found on
many mediaeval monuments and bells, and occurs—e. g., at Appleby in Lincolnshire
(peopled by Northmen)—as an initial cross to the formula on the bell “ Sta. Maria,
o. p. n. and c.” In these cases it has clearly been adopted as a Christian symbol.
In the same author’s “ Heraldry,” he merely describes it as a mystic cross.

Mr. Waring makes one statement which, being within his jurisdic-
tion, should be given full credit. He says, on page 15:

It [the Swastika] appear* in_ Sent.)mid and England only in those parts where
Scam]ipavipim penetrated and settled, but is not once found in any works of purely
Irish^or FraiiccTCeltln-ajL

He qualifies this, however, by a note:

, I believe it occurs_twice_on an “Ogam” stone _in the Museum of the Royal Irish
'i Academy, figured’IrTwilde’iTcatalogue (p. lb(i), but the fylfots are omitted in the
wood cut. [See fig. 215.]

Dr. Brinton,1 describing the normal Swastika, u with four arms of
equal length, the hook usually pointing from left to right,77 says: “In
this form it occurs in India and on very early (Neolithic) Grecian,
Italic, and Iberian remains.j; Drr-BriTTtoiris the only_author who,
writing at length or in a, critical manner, attributes the Swastika to the
Neolithic*period in Europe, and in this, more than likely, he is correct.
Professor Virchow’s opinion as to the antiquity of the hill of Hissarlik,
wherein Dr. Schliemann found so many Swastikas, should be consid-
ered in this connection. (See p. 832, 833 of this paper.) Of course,
its appearance among the aborigines of America, we can imagine,
must have been within the Neolithic period.

n

Jo

&

^roc. Amer. Philosoph. Soc., 1889, xxix, p. 179.
 THE SWASTIKA.

799

II.—Dispersion of the Swastika.

EXTREME ORIENT.

JAPAN.

The Swastika was in use in Japan in anr.ip.ntn.Rwp.il as modern times.
Fig. 29 represents a bronze statue of Buddha, one-fifteenth natural size,
from Japan, in the collection of M. Cernuschi, Paris. It has eight
Sw&stikas^on the pedestal, the ends all
turned at right angles to the right. This
specimen is shown by De Mortillet1 because
it relates to prehistoric man. The image or
statue holds a cane in the form of a “ tin tin-
nabulum,” with movable rings arranged to
make a jingling noise, and De Mortillet in-
serted it in his volume to show the likeness
of this work in Japan with a number of sim-
ilar objects found in the Swiss lake dwell-
ings in the prehistoric age_of bronze (x>. 806).

The Swastika mark was employed by the
Japanese on their porcelain. Sir Augustus
W. Franks1 2 shows one of these marks, a
small Swastika turned to the left and in-
closed in a circle (fig. 30). Fig. 9 also repre-
sents a mark on Japanese bronzes.3

KOREA.

The U. S. National Museum has a ladies’
sedan or carrying chair from Korea. It bears
eight Swastika marks, cut by stencil in the
brass-bound corners, two on each corner, one
looking each way. The Swas-
tika is normal, with arms cross-
ing at right angles, the ends bent
at right angles and to the right.

It is quite plain; the lines are all

straight, heavy, of equal thickness, and the angles all at 90
In appearance it resembles the Swastika in fig. 9.

Fig. 29.

BRONZE STATUE OF BUDDHA.

Japan.

Eight Swastikas on pedestal. Cano
tintinnabiilum with six movable
rings or bells.

One fifteenth natural size.

Fig. 30.

JAPANESE POT-
TER’S MARK ON
PORCELAIN.

De Mortillet, “ Mu-
see Prehistorique,”
fig. 1248.

degrees.

CHINA.

In the Chinese language the sign of the Swastika is pro-
nounced wan (p. 801), and stands for “many,” “a great number,” “ten
thousand,” “infinity,” and by a synecdoche is construed to mean “long

1 “Mus6e Pr6historique,” fig. 1230; Bull. Soc. d’Antfirop., Paris., 1886, pp. 299,313,
314.

2“Catalogue of Oriental Porcelain and Pottery,” pi. 11, fig. 139.

3De Morgan, “ Au Caucasc,” fig. 180.
 800

REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

life, a multitude of blessings, great happiness,” etc.; as is said in French,
“mille pardons,7’ u mille remerciments,77 a thousand thanks, etc. During
a visit to the Chinese legation in the city of Washington, while this paper
was in progress, the author met one of the attaches, Mr. Chung, dressed
in his robes of state; his outer garment was of moire silk. The pattern
woven in the fabric consisted of a large circle with certain marks therein,
prominent among which were two Swastikas, one turned to the right,
the other to the left. The name given to the sign was as reported above,
wan, and the signification was 11 longevity.77 a long life,77 “many years.77

<   Thus was showirthatTiirTiir ruTwell asTiear countries, in modern as

<   well as ancient times, this sign stood for blessing, good wishes, and, by
/ a slight extension, for good luck.

The author conferred with the Chinese minister, Yang Yu, with the
request that he should furnish any appropriate information concerning
the Swastika in China. In due course the author received the follow-
ing letter and accompanying notes with drawings:

*   *   * I have the pleasure to submit abstracts from historical and literary

* works on the origin of the Swastika in China and the circumstances connected with
it in Chinese ancient history. I have had this paper translated into English and
illustrated by india-ink drawings. The Chinese copy is made by Mr. Ho Yen-Shing,
the first secretary of the legation, translation by Mr. Chung, and drawings by Mr. Li.

With assurance of my high esteem, I am,

Very cordially,   Vang Yu.

Buddhist philosophers consider simple characters as half or incomplete characters
and compound characters as complete characters, while the Swastika pj-| is regarded
as a natural formation, f A Buddhist priest of the Tang Dynasty, Tao Sliih by name,
in a chapter of his work entitled Fa Yuen Clin Lin, on the original Buddha, describes
him as having this jlJJ mark on his breast and sitting on a high lily of innumerable
petals. [PI. 1.] v/

^/Empress Wu (684-704 A. D.), of the Tang Dynasty, invented a number of new forms
for characters already in existence, amongst which   was the word forjm^ (g)

for moon, for star, and so on. These characters were once very extensively
used in ornamental writing, and even now the word ((-HJ sun may be found in many

of the famous stone inscriptions of that age, which have been preserved to us up to
the present day. [PL 2.]

The history of the Tang Dynasty (620-906 A. D.), by Lni IIsu and others of the
Tsin Dyuasty, records a decree issued by Emperor Tai Tsung (763-779 A. D.) forbid-
ding the nse of the Swastika on silk fabrics manufactured for any purpose. [PI. 3.]
Fung Tse, of the Tang Dynasty, records a practice among the people of Loh-yang
to endeavor, on the 7th of the 7tli month of each year, to obtain spiders to weave
the Swastika on their web. Rung Ping-Chung, of the Sung Dynasty, says that the
people of Loh-yang believe it to be good luck to find the Swastika woven by spiders
?over fruits or melons. [PI. 4.]

Sung Pai, of the Sung Dynasty, records an offering made to the Emperor by Li
Yuen-su, a high official of the Tang Dynasty, of a buffalo with a Swastika on the
forehead, in return for which offering he was given a horse by the Emperor. [PI. 5.]
The TsMng-I-Luh, by Tao Kuh, of the Sung Dynasty, records that an Empress m
 Report of National Museum, 1 894. —Wilson.

Plate 1.

Origin of Buddha according to Tao Shih, with Swastika Sign.

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yu, Chinese
Minister, Washington, I). C.
 
 Report of National Museum, 1894,—Wilson

Plate 2.

[Prometheus]

Swastika Decreed by Empress Wu (684 704 A. D.) as a Sign for
Sun in China.   _

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Y"ii, Chinese
Minister, Washington, D. C.
 f

i
 Report of National Museum, 1894.—Wilson.

Plate 3.

Swastika Design on Silk Fabrics.

This use of the Swastika was forbidden in China by Emperor Tai Tsung (703-779 A. I).).

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U, S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yu, Chinese

Minister, Washington. D. C.
 
 Report of National Museum, 1 894. —Wilson.

Plate 4.



ft #

f-

Swastika in Spider Web over Fruit.

(A good omen in China.)

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to tne U. S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yu, Chinese

Minister, Washington, D. C.
 
 Report of National Mjseum, 1894.—Wilson.

Plate 5.

4 X1

J> it

^

JU

jU

^ is.)

#

•   Buffalo with Swastika on Forehead.

Presented to Emperor of Sung Dynasty.

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yu, Chinese

Minister, Washington, D. C.   *
 1


 Report of National Museum, 1 894.—Wilson.

Plate 6.

Incense Burner with Swastika Decoration.

South Tang Dynasty.

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yii, Chinese
Minister, Washington D. C.
 »
 Report of National Museum, 1894.—Wilson.

Plate 7.

House of Wu Tsung-Chih of Sin Shui, with Swastika in Railing

From a drawing- by Mr. Li. presented to the U. S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yii, Chinese

Minister. Washington, D. C.
 1
 Report of National Museum, 1894.—Wilson.

Plate 8.

Mountain or Wild Date.—Fruit Resembling the Swastika.

From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U. S. National Museum by 3Ir. Yang Yu, Chinese

Minister, Washington, D. C.
 
 THE SWASTIKA.   801

the time of the South Tang Dynasty had an incense burner the external decoration
of which had the Swastika design on it. [ PI. 6.]

Chu I-Tsu, in his work entitled Ming Shih Tsung, says Wu Tsung-Chih, a learned
man of Sin Shui, built a residence outside of the north gate of that town, which he
named “Wan-Chai,” from the Swastika decoration of the railings about the exterior
of the house. [PI. 7.]

An anonymous work, entitled the Tung Hsi Yang K*ao, described a fruit called
shan-tsao-tse (mountain or wild date), whose leaves resemble those of the plum. The
seed resembles the lichee, and tho fruit, which ripens in the ninth month of the year,
suggests a resemblance to the Swastika. [PI. 8.]

The Swastika is one of the symbolic marks of the Chinese porcelain.
Prime1 shows what he calls a “tablet of honor,” which represents a
Swastika inclosed in a lozenge with loops at the corners (fig. 31). This
mark on a piece of porcelain signifies that it is an imperial gift.

Major-General Gordon, controller of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich,
England, writes to Dr. Sclilieinann:1 2 “The
Swastika is Chinese. On the breech chasing
of a large gun lying outside my office, captured
in the Taku fort, you will find this same sign.”

But Dumoutier3 says this sign is nothing else
^lan the ancient Chinese character c h e, which,
according to D’Alviella,4 carries the idea of
perfection or excellence, and signifies the
renewal and perpetuity of life. And again,2
“Dr. Lockyer, formerly medical missionary to
tCiina, says the sign ft is thoroughly Chinese.”

The Swastika is found on Chinese musical instruments. The IT. S.
National Museum possesses a Hu-Ch’in, a violin with four strings, the
body of which is a section of bamboo about inches in diameter.
The septum of the joint has been cut away so as to leave a Swastika of
normal form, the four arms of which are connected with the outer walls
of the bamboo. Another, a Ti-Ch’in, a two-stringed violin, with a body
of cocoanut, has a carving which is believed to have been a Swastika;
but the central part has been broken out, so that the actual form is
undetermined.

Prof. George Frederick Wright, in an article entitled “Swastika,”5
quotes Rev. F. H. Chalfont, missionary at Chanting, China, as saying:
“Same symbol in Chinese characters <ouan,? or ‘wan,’ and is a favorite
ornament with the Chinese.”

potter’s mark on porcelain.
Claim.

Tablet of honor, with Swastika.

Prime, “ Pottery and Porcelain,” p. 254.

1   “ Pottery and Porcelain,” p. 254.

2   “Ilios,” p. 352.

3“Le Swastika et la roue solaire en Chine,” Revue d’Ethnographie, iv, pp.
319, 350.

4   “La Migration des Symboles,” p. 55.

5   New York Independent, November 10, 1893; Science, March 23, 1894, p. 162.

II. Mis. 90, pt. 2-----51
 802

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

TIBET.

Mr. William Woodville Boekhill,1 speaking of the fair at Kuinbum,

says:

I found there a number of Lh’asa Tibetans (they call them Gopa liere) selling
pulo, beads of various eolors; saffron, medicines, peacock feathers, incense sticks,
etc. I had a talk with these traders, several of whom I had met hero before in
1889. * * * One of them had a Swastika (yung-drung) tattooed on his hand, and
I learned from this man that this is not an uncommon mode of ornamentation in his
country.

Count D’Alviolla says that the Swastika is continued among the
Buddhists of Tibet; that the women ornament their pcttieoats witli it,

and that it is also placed upon
the breasts of their dead.1 2

lie also reports3 a Buddhist
statue at the Musee Guimet
with Swastikas about thebase.
He does not state to what
country it belongs, so the au-
thor has no means of deter-
mining if it is the same statue
as is represented in fig. 29.

INDIA.

Burnouf4 says approvingly
of the Swastika:

Christian arelneologists believe
this was the most ancient sign of
the cross. * *   * It was used

among tho Brahmins from all an-
tiquity. (Voyez mot “Swastika”
dans notre dietionnaire Sanskrit.)

FOOTPRINT OF BUDDHA WITH SWASTIKA, FROM AMARAVATI Swa8tifca> or Swasta, ill India COr-

T0PE'   responds to “benediction” among

From a figure by Fergusson and Schliemann.   . ,

Christians.

The same author, in his translation of the u Lotus de la Bonne Loi,” ^
one of the nine Dharmas or Canonical books of the Buddhists of the -
North, of 280 pages, adds an appendix of his own writing of 583 pages; ;
and in one (No. devoted to an enumeration and description of the
sixty-five figures traced on the footprint of Qakya (fig. 32) commences
as follows:

1. Svastikaya: This is the familiar mystic figure of many Indian seets, represented

1 “ Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891-92,” p. 67.

2“La Migration des Symboles,” p. 55, citing note I, Journ. Asiatique, 2e siSrie, iv,
p. 245, and Pallas, “ Sainmlungen liistorischer Naehriehten iiber die mongolisehen
Volkerschaften,” i, p. 277.

3Ibid., p. 55.

4 “Des Sciences et Religion,” p. 256.
 THE SWASTIKA.

803

thus, Lpj, aud whose name signifies, literally, ‘‘sign of benediction or of good
augury/’ (Rgya tcli’er rol pa, Vol. 11, p. 110.)

*   *   * The sign of the Swastika was not less known to the Brahmins than to

the Buddhists. “Eamayana,” Yol. II, p. 348, ed. Gor., Chap. XCVII, st. 17, tells of
vessels on the sea bearing this sign of fortune. This mark, of which the name and
usage are certainly ancient, because it is found on the oldest Buddhist medals, may
have been used as frequently among the Brahmins as among the Buddhists. Most ofi
the inscriptions on the Buddhist caverns in western India are cither preceded or fol-»
lowed by the holy (sacramentelle) sign of the Swastika. It appears less common on
the Brahmin monuments.

Mr. W. Crooke (Bengal Civil Service, director of Etli. Survey, North-
west Provinces and Oudli), says:1

The mystical emblem of the Swastika, which appears to represent the sun in his
journey through the heavens, is of constant occurrence. The trader paints it on the
flyleaf of his ledger, he who has young children or animals liablo to the evil eye
makes a representation of it on the wall beside his doorpost. It holds first place
among the lucky marks of the Jainas. It is drawn on the shaven heads of children
on the marriago day in Gujarat. A red circle with Swastika in the center is depicted
ou the place where the family gods are kept (Campbell, Notes, p. 70). In the Meerut
division the worshiper of the village god Bhumiya constructs a rude model of it in
the sli^ne by fixing up two crossed straws with a daub of plaster. It often occurs
in folklore. In the drama of the Toy Cart the thief hesitates whether he shall
make a hole in the wall of Charudatta’s house in the form of a Swastika or of a
water jar (Manning, Ancient India, 11, .160).

Village shrines.—The outside (of the shrines) is often covered with rude representa-
tions of the mystical Swastika.

V'

On page 250 lie continues thus:

Charms.—The bazar merchant writes the words “Ram Ram” over his door, or
makes an image of Genesa, the god of luck, or draws the mystical Swastika. The
jand tree is reverenced as sacred by Khattris and Brahmins to avoid the evil eye in
children. The child is brought at 3 years of age before a jand tree; a bough is cut
with a sickle and planted at the foot of the tree. A Swastika symbol is made before
it with the rice flour and sugar brought as an offering to the tree. Threads of string,
used by women to tie up their hair, are cut in lengths and some deposited on the
Swastika.

Mr. Yirchand R. Gandhi, a Hindu and Jain disciple from Bombay,
India, a delegate to the World’s Parliament of Religions at Chicago in
1893, remained for sometime in Washington, 1). C., proselyting among
the Christians. He is a cultivated gentleman, devoted to the spread
of his religion. I asked his advice and assistance, which he kindly
gave, supervising my manuscript for the Swastika in the extreme
Orient, and furnishing me the following additional information relative
to the Swastika in India, and especially among the Jains:

The Swastika is misinterpreted by so-called Western expounders of our ancient
Jain philosophy. The original idea was very high, but later on some persons thought
the cross represented only the combination of the male and the female principles.
While we are on the physical plane and our propensities on the material line, we
think it necessary to unite these (sexual) principles for our spiritual growth. On

1   “Introduction to Popular Religion and Folk Lore of North India,” p. 58.
 804

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 18»4.

the higher plane the soul is sexless, and those who wish to rise higher than the
physical plane must eliminate the idea of sex.

I explain the Jain Swastika by the following illustration [fig. 33] : The horizontal
and vertical lines crossing each other at right angles form the Greek cross. They
represent spirit and matter. We add four other lines by
bending to the right each arm of the cross, then three circles
and the crescent, and a circle within the crescent. The idea
thus symbolized is that there are four grades of existence
of souls in the material universe. The first is the lowest
state—Archaic or protoplasmic life. The soul evolves from
that state to the next—the earth with its plant aud animal
life. Then follows the third stage—the human; then the
fourth stage—the celestial. The word celestial” is here
held to mean life in other worlds than our own. All these
graduations are combinations of matter and soul on differ-
ent scales. The spiritual plane is that in which the soul is
entirely freed from the bonds of matter. In order to reach
that plane, one must strive to possess the three jewels
(represented by the three circles), right belief, right knowl-
edge, right conduct. When a person has these, he will
certainly go higher until he reaches the state of liberation,
which is represented by the crescent. The crescent has the
form of the rising moon and is always growing larger. The
circle in the crescent represents the omniscient state of the
soul when it has attained full consciousness, is liberated, and lives apart from matter.

The interpretation, according to the Jain view of the cross, lias nothing to do with
the combination of the male and female principle. Worship of the male and female
principles, ideas based upon sex, lowest even of the emotional plane, can never rise
higher than the male and female.

EXPLANATION OF THE JAIN
SWASTIKA, ACCORDING TO
GANDHI.

(1) Archaic or protoplas-
mic life: (2) Plant and
animal life; (3) Human
life; (4) Celestial life.

THE FORMATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA—FIRST
STAGE.

Handful of rice or meal, in circular form, thinner
in center.

THE FORMATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA —SECOND
STAGE.

Rice or meal, as shown in preceding figure, with
finger marks, indicated at 1,2,3,4.

The Jains make the Swastika sign when we enter our temple of worship. This
sign reminds us of the great principles represented by the three jewels and by which
we are to reach the ultimate good. Those symbols intensify our thoughts aud make
them more permanent.
 THE SWASTIKA.

805

Mr. Gandhi says the Jains make the sign of the Swastika as fre-
quently and deftly as the Roman Catholics make the sign of the cross.
It is not confined to the temple nor to the priests or monks. Whenever^\
or wherever a benediction or blessing is given, the Swastika is used^J
Figs. 34 a, b, c form a series showing how it is made. A handful of
rice, meal, flour, sugar, salt, or any similar substance, is spread over a
circular space, say, 3 inches in diameter and one-eiglith of an inch deep
(fig. 34a), then commence at the outside of the circle (fig. 34b), on its
upper or farther left-hand corner, and draw the finger through the meal
just to the left of the center, halfway or more to the opposite or near
edge of the circle (1), then again to the right (2), then upward (3), finally

1/   Fig. 34c.

THE FORMATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA—THIRD STAGE.

Ends turned out, typifying animal, human, and celestial life, as shown in tig. 33.

to the left where it joins with the first mark (4). The ends are swept
outward, the dots and crescent put in above, and the sign is complete
(fig. 34c).

The sign of the Swastika is reported in great numbers, by hundreds
if not by thousands, in the inscriptions on the rock walls of the Bud-v
dhist caves in India. It is needless to copy them, but is enough to say
that they are the same size as the letters forming the inscription; that
they all have four arms and the ends turn at right angles, or nearly so,
indifferently to the right or to the left. The following list of inscrip-
tions, containing the Swastikas, is taken from the first book coming to
hand—the “Report of Dr. James Burgess on the Buddhist Gave Tem-
ples and their Inscriptions, Being a Bart of the Result of the Fourth,
 806

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

Fifth, and Sixth Seasons’ Operations of the Archeological Survey of
Western India, 1S7G, 1S77, 187S, 1879

      Inserip-   Direction
   Plato.   tion   in which ends
      number.   are bent.
Ilhaja      XLIV      2   To right.
Kmla      XLYI      26   Do.
Do      XL VI      27   To left.
Kol      XL VI      5   To right.
Karle         1   I)o.
Do      XLVII      3   I)o.
J mmar      XLIX      5   Do.
Do      XLIX      6   To left.
Do      XLIX      7   To right.
Do      XLIX      8   To left.
Do      XLIX      9   To right.
Do      XLIX      10   Do. '
Do      YLIX      11 (?)   Do.
Do      XLIX      12   Do.
Do      XLIX      13 (?)   Do.
Do      XLIX      13 (?)   To left.
Do      XLIX      14   Do.
Do      L      17   To right.
Do      L      19   Do.
Xasik      LII      5   Do.
Do      LV (Xasik 21)      5 (?)   l)o.
Do      LV (Xasik 24)      8(?)   Do.

Cliantre2 says:

I remind you that the (East) Indians, Chinese, and Japanese employ the Swastika,
not only as a religious emblem but as a simple ornament in painting on pottery and
elsewhere, the same as wo employ the Greek fret, lozenges, and similar motifs in our
ornamentation. Xistres [the staff with jingling bells, hold in the hand of Buddha,
on whose base is engraved a row of Swastikas, fig. 29 of present paper] of similar
^ form and-stylo have been found in prehistoric Swiss lake dwellings of the bronze ago.
Thus the niatres and the Swastika~arc brought into relation with each other.
The sistres possibly relate to an ancient religion, as they did in the Orient; the
Swastika may have had a similar distinction.

I)e Mortillet and others hold the same opinion.3

CLASSICAL ORIENT.

[Prometheus]

BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, CIIALDEA, AND PERSIA.

Waring4 says, “In Babylonian and AssjTriau remains we search for
it [the Swastika] in vain.” Max Muller and Count Goblet d’Alviella
are of the same opinion.5

^rubner & Co., London, 1883, pp. 140, pi. 60.

a“Age du Bronze,” pt. 1, p. 206.

3“Musde Tr^historique,” pi. 98; “Notes de l’Origine Orientale de la Mtftallurgie,”
Lyon, 1879; “L’Ago de la Pierre et dn Bronze dans l’Asie Occidental,” Bull. Soc.
d’Anthrop., Lyon, i, fasc. 2, 1882; Bull. Soe. d’Anthrop. de Paris, 1886, pp. 299, 313,
and 314.

4 “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages.”

6“La Migration des Symboles,” pp. 51, 52.
 THE SWASTIKA.

807

Of Persia, D’Alviella (p. 51), citing Ludwig Muller,1 says that the
Swastika is manifested only by its presence on certain coins of the
Arsacides and the Sassanides.

PHENICIA.

It is reported by various authors that the Swastika has never been
found in Plienicia, e. g. Max Muller, J. B. Waring, Count Goblet d’Alvi-
ella.1 2

Ohnefalscli-Bicliter3 says that the Swastika is not found in Plienicia,
yet be is of the opinion that their emigrant and commercial travelers
brought it from the far east and introduced it into Cyprus, Carthage,
and the north of Africa. (See p. TOG.)

LYCAONIA.

Lempriere, in his Classical Dictionary, under the above title, gives the
following:

A district of Asia Minor forming the southwestern quarter of Phrygia. The origin
of its name and inhabitants, the Lycaones, is lost in obscurity. *   *   * Our first

acquaintance with this region is in the relation of the expedition of the younger
Cyprus. Its limits varied at different times. At first it extended eastward from
Iconium 23 geographical miles, and was separated from Cilicia on the south by the
range of Mount Taurus, comprehending a large portion of what in later times was
termed Cataonia.

Count Goblet d’Alviella,4 quoting Perrot and Cliipiez,5 6 states that
the Hittites introduced the Swastika on a bas-relief of Ibriz, Lycaonia, i
where it forms a border of the robe of a king or priest offering n*
sacrifice to a god.

*   ARMENIA.

M. J. de Morgan (the present director of the Gizeli Museum at Cairo),
under the direction of the French Government,
made extensive excavations and studies into the
prehistoric antiquities and archaeology of Riigsinn
Armenia. His report is entitled “Le Premier
Age de M<5taux dans FArmenie Busse.”0 He ex-

fcavated a number of prehistoric cemeteries, and
found therein various forms of crosses engraved
on ceintures, vases, and medallions. The Swas-
tika, though present, was more rare. He found
it on the heads of two large bronze pins (figs.

35 and 3G) and on one piece of pottery (fig. 37) chkithan-thagh.
i/from the prehistoric tombs. The bent arms are
all turned to the left, and would be the Suavastika of Prof. Max Muller.

1 “Det Saakaldte Hagebors,” Copenhagen, 1877.

2   “La Migration ties Sj'mboles,” pp. 51, 52.

3   Bull, de la Soe. d’Antlirop., December 6, 1888, xi, p. 671.

4   “La Migration des Symboles,” p. 51.

5   “Histoirc de PArt dans TAntiquity,” iv.

6“Mission Scientifique au Caucase.”

BRONZE PIN-HEAD FROM
 808

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

CAUCASUS.

/

In Caucasus, M. E. Chantre1 fouud tlie Swastika iu great purity of
form. Fig. 38 represents portions of a bronze plaque from that coun-
try, used on a ceiuture or belt. Another of slightly
different style, but with square cross and arms bent
at right angles, is repre-
sented in his pi. 8, fig. 5.

These belonged to the
first age of iron, and
much of the art was in-
tricate.1 2 It represented
animals as well as all ge-
ometric forms, crosses,
circles (concentric and
otherwise), spirals, meanders, chevrons,
herring bone, lozenges, etc. These were
sometimes cast in the metal, at other times
repousse, and again wen*, engraved, and
occasionally these methods were employed
together. Fig. 39 shows another form,
frequently employed and suggested as a possible evolution of the
Swastika, from the same locality and same plate. Fig. 40 represents

Fig. 36.

BRONZE PIN-IIEAI) FROM
AKTHALA.

DeMorgau, “Au Cauease,” fig.
I7K.

SWASTIKA MARK ON BLACK POTTERY.
Cheithan-thagh.

I>e Morgan, “Au Cauease,” fin. 179.

Fig. 38.

FRAGMENT OF BRONZE CEINTUltE.

Swastika repousse.

Necropolis of Koban, Caucasus.

Chantre, “ Le Cauease,” pi. 11, fig. 3.

signs reported by Waring3 as from Asia Minor, which he credits, with-
out explanation, to Ellis’s “Antiquities of Heraldry.”

1 “ Recherches Anthropologiques dans le Cauease/’ tome deuxikme, p6riode proto-

Mstorique, Atlas, pi. 11, fig. 3.

3Count Goblet d’Alviella, “La Migration des Symboles,” p. 51.

3 “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pi. 41, figs. 5 and 6,
 THE SWASTIKA.

809

The specimen shown in fig. 41 is reported by Waring,1 quoting
Rzewusky,2 as one of the several branding marks used on Circassian
horses for identification.

Mr. Frederick Rem-
ington, the celebrated
artist and literateur, has
an article, “Cracker Cow-
boy in Florida,”3 wherein
he discourses of the for-
gery of brands on cattle
in that country. One of
his genuine brands is a
circle with a small cross
in the center.^ The for-
gery consists in elongat-
ing each arm of the cross
and turning it with a
scroll, forming an ogee
Swastika(fig.l3d), which,
curiously enough, is ] >rae-
tically the same brand
used on Circassian horses (fig. 41). Max Ohnefalsch-Richtcr4 says that
instruments n£ copper^ (audumbaroasih) are rec-
ommended in the Atharva-Veda to make the Swas-
tika, which represents the figure 8; and thus he
attempts to account for the use of that mark '
branded on the cows in India (supra,p. 772), on the''
horses in Circassia (fig. 41), and
said to have been used in Arabia.

Fig. 39.

RRONZE AGRAFE OK KELT PLATE.

Triskelion in spiral.
Ivoban, Caucasus.

Chant re, “ Le Oauoase,” j>I. 11, fig. 4.

Fig. 40.

SWASTIKA SIGNS KKOM ASIA
MINOR.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in Remote

Ages,” ]>l. 41, figs. 5 and 6.

ASIA MINOR—TROY (lIISSARLIK).

Many specimens of the Swastika were found by Dr.

Schliemann in the ruins of Troy, principally on spindle
Mvhorls, vase's, and bijoux "of precious metal. Zmig-
rodzki5 made from Dr. Schliemann’s great atlas the
following classification of the objects found at Troy,
ornamented with the Swastika and its related forms:

Fifty-five of imre form; 114 crosses with the four dots, points or
alleged nail holes (Croix swasticale); 102 with three branches or arms
(triskelion); 86 with five branches or arms; 63 with six branches or
arms; total, 420.

Zmigrodzki continues his classification by adding those which have

Fig. 41.

RRAND FOR HORSES
IN CIRCASSIA.
Ogee Swastika, tet-
raskeliou.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in
Remote Ages,” |»1. 42,
lig. 20c.

1   “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pi. 42, lig. 20c.

2   “ Mines de POrient,” v.

3   Harper's Magazine, August, 1895.

4Rulletins de la Soc. d'Antlirop., 1888, ii, p. 678.

5Dixifcme Congr&s International d’Anthropologie et d'Arcli<Sologie l*r6histori(pie,
Paris, 1889, p. 474,
 810

/

relation to the Swastika thus: Eighty-two representing stars; 70 rep-
resenting suns; 42 representing branches of trees or palms; 15 animals
non-feroeious, deer, antelope, hare, swan, etc.; total, 209 objects. Many
of these were spindle whorls.

Dr. Scliliemann, in his works, “Troja” and “Ilios,” describes at length
his excavations of these cities and his discoveries of the Swastika on
many objects. His reports are grouped under titles of the various
cities, first, second, third, etc., up to the seventh city, counting always
from the bottom, the first being deepest and oldest. The same system
will be here pursued. The first and second cities were 45 to 52 feet (13
to 10 meters) deep; the third, 23 to 33 feet (7 to 10 meters) deep; the
fourth city, 13 to 17.0 feet (4 to 5J meters) deep; the fifth city, 7 to 13
feet (2 to 4 meters) deep; the sixth was the Lydian city of Troy, and
the seventh city, the Greek Ilium, approached the surface.

First and Second Cities.—But few whorls were found in the first and
second cities1 and none of these bore the Swastika
mark, while thousands were found in the third,
fourth, and fifth cities, many of which bore the
Swastika mark. Those of the first city, if unorna-
mented, have a uniform lustrous black color and are
the shape of a cone (fig. 55) or of two cones joined
at the base (figs. 52 and 71). Both kinds were
found at 33 feet and deeper. Others from the same
city were ornamented by incised lines rubbed in
with white chalk, in which ease they were fiat.1 2 In
the second city the whorls were smaller than in
the lirst. They were all of a black color and their
incised ornamentation was practically the same as
those from the upper cities.3

Zmigrodzki congratulated himself on having discovered among
Sehliemann’s finds what he believed to be the oldest representation of
the Swastika of which we had reliable knowledge. It was a frag-
^nent of a vase (fig. 42) of the lustrous black pottery peculiar to the
whorls of the first and second cities. But Zmigrodzki was compelled
to recede, which he did regretfully, when Scliliemann, in a later edi-
tion, inserted the footnote (p. 350) saying, that while he had found
this (with a companion piece) at a great depth in his excavations, and
had attributed them to the first city, yet, on subsequent examination,
he had become convinced that they belonged to the third city.

The Swastika, turned both ways and |7J-i, was frequent in the third,
fourth, and fifth cities.

The following specimens bearing the Swastika mark are chosen, out
of the many specimens in Scliliemann’s great album, in order to make
a fair representation of the various kinds, both of whorls and of Swas-

1 “ Ilios,” pp. 229, 350, note 1.

3 Ibid, %s. 63-70, p. 229.

3 Ibid, pi 303.

Fig. 42.

FRAGMENT OF Ll’STROlS
1SLACK POTTERY.
Swastika, right.
Depth, 23 feet.

SchlkMiiann, “Ilios,” fij;. i?47.
 THE SWASTIKA.

811

tikas. They are arranged in the order of cities, the depth being indi-
cated in feet.

The Third, or Burnt, City (23 to 33 feet dee])).—The spindle-whorl
shown in fig. 43 contains two Swastikas and two crosses.1 Of the one

Fig.43.

SPINDLE-WHORL with two swastikas ANI) TWO
,   ' CROSSES.

Depth, 23 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. isr>s.

Fig. 44.

SPINDLE-WIIORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 23 feet.

Schlieinann, “ Ilios,” fij'. IS74.

Swastika, two arms are bent to the right at right angles, while the
other two are bent to the right in curves. The other Swastika has but
two bends, one at right angles, the
other curved, both to the right. The
specimen shown in tig. 44 has two
Swastikas, in one of which the four
arms are bent at right angles to the
left. The entire figure is traced in
double lines, one
heavy and one
light, as though
to represent
edges or shad-
ows. The second Swastika has its ends bent at an
obtuse angle to the left, and at the extremities the
lines taper to a point.

Fig. 45.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 23 feet.

Sclilieinann, “ Ilios,” (is;. P.U'.i.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO
SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 28 feet.

Schlieinann, “ Ilios,” %. Is2»>.

The whorl shown in
fig. 45 is nearly spher-
ical, with two Swas-

tikas in the upper part.

The ends of the four arms in both are bent
at right angles, one to the right, the other
to the left. Fig. 4G represents a spindle-
whorl with two irregular Swastikas; but
one arm is bent at right angles add all the
arms and points are uncertain and of un-
equal lengths. The rest of the field is covered with indefinite and inex-
plicable marks, of which the only ones noteworthy are points or dots,
seven in number. In fig. 47 the top is surrounded by a line of zigzag

Fig. 47.

SPINDLE-WHORLWITII THREE SWASTIKAS.
Depth, 23 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” tig. IN5I.

‘All spindle-whorls from tlio hill of Hissarlik are represented- one-half natural
size.
 812

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891.

or dog-tooth ornaments. Witliin this field, on the upper part and
equidistant from the central hole, are three Swastikas, the ends of all
of which turn to the left, and but one at right angles.

one

Fig.48.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH SWASTIKAS

Depth, 23

Sohliomann, “ Ilios,” fij;.

All three have
or more ends
bent, not at any an-
gle, but in a curve
or hook, making an
ogee. Fig. 48 shows
a large whorl with
two or three Swas-
tikas on its upper
surface in connection
with several indefi-
nite marks appar-
ently without mean-
ing. The dots are
interspersed over the field, the Swastikas all bent to the right, but
with uncertain lines and at indefinite angles. In one of them the main
line forming the cross is curved toward the central
hole; in another, the ends are both bent in the
same direction—that is, pointing to the periphery
of the whorl. Fig. 49 shows a sphere or globe (sec
/ tigs. 7d, 88) divided by longitudinal lines into four
segments, which are again divided by an equa-
torial line. These segments contain marks or dots
and circles, while one segment contains a normal
Swastika turned to the left. This terra-cotta ball
has figured in a peculiar degree in the symbolic
representation of the Swastika. (Ireg says of it:1

"We sco on one hemisphere the Ft1 standing for Zeus
(=Indra) the sky god, and on the other side a rude representation of a sacred
(somma) tree; a very interesting and curious western perpetuation of the original
idea and a strong indirect proof of the Fy standing for the enihlom of the sky god.

F i g.. .">() represents
one of the biconieal
spindle-whorls with
various decorations
on the two sides,
longitudinal lines
interspersed with
dots, arcs of con-
centric circles ar-
ranged in three
parallels, etc. On one of these sides is a normal Swastika, the
arms crossing at right angles, the ends bent at right angles to the left.

1 Archioologia, xlviii, pt. 2, p. 322.

SPHERE DIVIDED INTO KIOHT
SEGMENTS, ONE OP WHICH
CONTAINS A SWASTIKA.

Srhlieninnn, “ Ilios,” %. P.i9<i.

Fig. 50.

mCONIOAL SPINDLE-WIIORL WITH SWASTIKA.
Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fi;;. 1949.
 THE SWASTIKA.

813

The specimen shown in fig. 51 contains four perfect Swastikas and two
inchoate and uncertain. Both of the latter have been damaged by
breaking the surface. The four Swastikas all have their arms bent to
the right; some are greater than at right angles, and one arm is curved.
Several ends are tapered to a point. Fig. 52 shows a whorl of biconical
form. It contains two Swastikas, the main arms of which are ogee

Fig. 51.

MICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH SIX SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 33 feet.

Schlietniinn, “ Ilios,” tig. ]«r>n.

Fig.52.

15ICON1CAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO OOEE
SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 33 feet.

St'hliemann, “Ilios,” tig. ]',7tl.

forms, crossing each other at the center at nearly right angles, the
ogee ends curving to the right. In fig. 55 the entire field of the upper ^
surface is filled with, or occupied by, a Greek cross, in the center of
which is the central hole of the whorl, while on each of the four arms
is represented a Swastika, the main arms all crossing at right angles,
the ends all bent to the right at a slightly obtuse angle. Each of these
bent ends tapers to a point, some
with slight curves and a small flour-
ish. (See figs. 55 and 34 for refer-
ence to this flourish.) The specimen
shown in fig. 54 has a center field in
its upper part, of which the decora-
tion consists of incised parallel lines
forming segments of circles, re-
peated in each one of the four quar-
ters of the field. The center hole
is surrounded by two concentric
rings of incised lines. In one of

these spaces is a single Swastika; its main arms crossing at right
angles, two of its ends bent to the left at right angles, the other two
in the same direction and curved.

U’INDLE-WHORL WITH
FOUR SWASTIKAS.
Depth, 33 feet.

[Prometheus]

>e Mortillet, “ Mus6e Pr£his-
torique,” fig. 1240.

Fig. 54.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH
ONE SWASTIKA.
Depth, 33 feet.

De Mortillet, “ Musee Pre-
historique,” fig. 1241.

The Fourth City (13.2 to 17.6 feet deep).—Schliemann says:1

We find among the successors of the burnt city the same triangular idols; the same
primitive bronze battle-axes; the same terra-cotta vases, with or without tripod feet;
the same double-handled goblets (6iita a/j,(piHV7teXXcx)\ the same battle-axes of
jade, porphyry, and diorite; the same rude stone hammers, and saddle querns of
trachyte. *   *   * The number of rude stone hammers and polished stone axes are

fully thrice as large as in the third eity, while the masses of shells and cockles

1 ** Ilios,” pp. 518, 571.
 814

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

accumulated in tlie d6bris of the houses are so stupendous that they bafllo all
description. The pottery is coarser and of a ruder fabric than in the third city.

*   *   * There were also found in the fourth city many needles of bone for female

handiwork, bear tusks, spit rests of mica
schist, whetstones of slate, porphyry, etc.,
of the usual form, hundreds of small silex
saws, and some knives of obsidian. Stone
whorls, which are so abundant at Mycense,
are but rarely found here; all of those which
occur are, according to Mr. Davis, of steatite.
On the other hand, terra-cotta whorls, with
or without incised ornamentation, are found
by thousands; their forms hardly vary from
those in the third (the burnt) city, and the
same may be generally said of their incised
ornamentation. “   ~   * The same repre-

sentation of specimens of whorls are given
as in the third city, and the same observa-
tions apply.

Fig. 55 shows a simple cone, the upper surface being flat and without
other decoration than three Swastikas equidistant from the hole and
from eacli other, all made by
the two crossed ogee lines
with ends curved to the right.

This specimen is much like
that of fig. 71 (Madam Schlie-
mann collection in the lT. S.

National Museum, Cat. No.

149704). Fig. 5G shows a re-
markable spindle-whorl. Its
marks greatly excited the in-
terest of l)r. Schliemann, and
he devoted much space to the
discussion of these and simi-
lar characters. The whorl is
in the form of a cone. It bears upon its conical surface four Swastikas,
the ends of three of which bend to the right and one to the left. There

are but two of these ends which
bend at right angles. Most of
them are at an obtuse angle, while
the ends of two are curved. Some
taper to a point and finish with a
slight flourish. The other marks
which so interested Dr. Schlie-
mann were the chevron ornament
(zigzag), drawn in parallel lines,
which, he strongly argued, and
fortified with many authorities,
represented lightning. The second series of marks he called a “ burn-
ing altar.” This assertion he also fortified with authorities and with

CONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH SWASTIKAS.
Depth, 13^ feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 18!U.

CONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH FOITIt SWASTIKAS OF VARI-
OUS KINDS.

Depth, 13£ feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig.

Fig. 55.

CONICAL SPINDLE-WHOM. WITH THREE OGEE
SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 13J feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1S50.
 THE SWASTIKA.

815

illustrations of a similar sign from different countries. (See fig. 101.)
Tlie third series of marks represented an animal, name and character

unknown, with a head or tusks
with two large branching horns
or ears, a straight back, a stiff but
drooping tail, four legs, and two
rows of the remarkable dots—
seven in one, six in the other—
placed overtliebackof theanimal.
(See figs. 99 and 100.)' Fig. 57
represents another cone-shaped
whorl, the flat surface of which is
engraved with one perfect Swas-
tika, the two arms crossing each
other at right^ angles and the two ends bending at right angles to
the right;’ the other two are curved, also to the right. Two of the
other figures Dr.

Scliliemann calls
Swastikas, al-
though they are
uncertain in some
of their arms
and angles. The
fourth character
he imagined to
be an inchoate or
attempted Swas-
tika. Fig. 58

shows a biconical whorl with curious and inexplicable characters. One
of them forms a crude Swastika, which, while the main arms cross at

right angles the ends are bent
at uncertain angles, three to
the left and one to the right.
These characters are so unde-
termined that it is doubtful
if they could have had any sig-
nification, either ornamental
or otherwise. Fig. 59 is almost
conical, the flat surface thereof
being only slightly raised at
the center. It is much the same
form as the whorls shown in
figs. 55 and 71. The nearly fiat
surface is the top, and on it,
equidistant from the center
hole and from each other, are three ogee Swastikas of double lines,
with their ends all curved to the right. In the alternate spaces are
small incised circles, with dots in the centers. In fig. GO a biconical

Pig. 60.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS.
Depth, 16J feet.

Schliemanu, “ Ilios,” fig. 1863.

I

Pig. 59.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH THREE OGEE SWASTIKAS.
Depth, 13£ feet.

Schliemann, “Ilios/’ fig. 199<i.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH ONE SWASTIKA.
Depth, 13 J feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1983.
 816

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

BICONICAL

Fig. 61.

SPINDLE-WIIORL WITH FIVE OOKK
SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 18 feet.

Srhliemann, “Ilios.” fig. 31*05.

whorl is shown. It has three of the circle segments marked in equi-
lateral positions, with three or four parallel lines, after the style shown
in fig. 51. In the spaces are two Swastikas, in both of which the two

main arms cross at right angles. Some
of the ends bend at a right, and others
at an obtuse, angle. In one of the
Swastikas the bent ends turn toward
each other, forming a rude figure 8.
The specimen shown in fig. G1 is bicon-
ical, but much flattened; it contains
live ogee Swastikas, of which the ends
of four bend to the right and one to
the left. In an interval between them
is one of the burning altars. Fig. G2
shows three Swastikas with double
parallel lines. The main arms cross each other at right angles; the ends
are bent at nearly right angles, one to the left, one to the right, and
the other both ways. Fig. G3 represents
a spindle-wliorl
with a cup-
sliaped depres-
sion around the
central hole,
which is sur-
rounded by three
lines in concen-
tric circles, while
on the field, at
00 degrees from

each other, are four ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions), the arms all turn-
ing to the left and spirally each upon itself. The specimen shown in

fig. G4 is biconical,
though, as usual,
the upper cone
is the smallest.
There are parallel
lines, three in a set,
forming the seg-
ments of three cir-
cles, in one space
of which appears
a Swastika of a
curious and unique
form, similar t o
that shown in fig.
GO. The two main arms cross each other at very nearly right angles and
the ends also bend at right angles toward and approaching each other, so

Fig.62.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH Till
SWASTIKAS.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Si-lilieinann, “   fig. Is.r>5.

Fig.63.

SPINDLE*WIIOIiL HAVING FOUR OGEE SWAS-
TIKAS WITH SPIRAL VOLUTES.

Depth, 18 feet.

Srhliemann, “ Ilios,” ti^j. W>S.

Fig. 64.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH ONE SWASTIKA.
Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. lsii5.
 THE SWASTIKA.

817

that if continued slightly farther they would close and form a decora-
tive figure 8. The specimen shown in fig. 05 is decorated Avitli parallel
lines, three in number, arranged in
segments of three circles, the periphery
of which is toward the center, as in
figs. GO and G4. In one of the spaces
is a Swastika of curious form; the main
arms cross each other at right angles,
but the four ends represent different
styles—two are bent square to the left,
one square to the right, and the fourth
curves to the left at no angle. Fig. GG
shows a biconical whorl, and its top is
decorated to represent three Swastikas
and three burning altars. The ends of the arms of the Swastikas all
bend to the left, some are at right angles and some at obtuse angles,

while two or three are curved; two
of them show corrections, the marks
at the ends having been changed in
one case at a different angle and in
another from a straight line to a
curve. Fig. G7 shows four speci-
mens of Swastika, the main arms
of all of which cross at right angles.
The ends all bend to the right, at
nearly right angles, tapering to a
point and finishing with the slight
flourish noted in the Jain Swastika
(fig. 34c). They are alternated with
a chevron decoration. Fig. G8 shows three Swastikas, the ends of the
arms of which are all bent to the left. One Swastika is composed of

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH THREE SWAS-
TIKAS ANI) THREE BURNING ALTARS.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1872.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH ONE SWAS-
TIKA.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemami, “Ilios,” fig. 1886.

Fig. 67.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH FOUR SWAS-
TIKAS.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1873.

Fig. 68.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH THREE SWAS-
TIKAS OB' DIFFERENT STYLES.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Scliliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1911.

two ogee lines. Two arms of another are curved, but all others are
bent at right angles, some of them tapering to points, finishing with a
H. Mis. 90, pt. 2-----------52
 818

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1*94.

Fig.G9.

BICONIOAL SPINDLE 'WHOM. AVITII ONE SWASTIKA OF THE
FIGURE-8 STYLE.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemann, *• I!ius,” fig. ]srti.

little flourish (figs. 07 and 34e). One of these ends, like that in fig. GO,
has been corrected by the maker. Fig. 09 represents one Swastika in
which the main arms cross at nearly right angles. Both ends of one

arm turn to theleftand those
of the other arm turn to the
right in figures style. One
of the ends is curved, the
others bent at different
angles. Fig. 70 shows the
parallel lines representing
segments of a circle similar
to figs. 00, 04, G5, and 09,
except that it has four in-
stead of three. It has one
Swastika; the main arms (of
double lines) cross at right
angles, the ends all curving
to the left with a slight ogee.

The V. S. National Museum was, during 1893, the fortunate recipient
of a collection of objects from Madame Schliemann, which her husband,

before his death, had signi-   __

fled should be given to the
United States as a token
of his remembrance of and
regard for his adopted
country. He never forgot
that he was an American
citizen, and, preparing for
death, made his acknowl-
edgments in the manner
mentioned. The collection
consisted of 178 objects, all
from ancient Troy, and they made a fair representation of his general
finds. This collection is in the Department of Prehistoric Anthropol-
ogy. In this collection is a spin-
dle whorl, found at 13J feet (4
meters) depth and belonging to
the fourth city. It had three
Swastikas upon its face, and is
here shown as fig. 71.1

The Fifth City.—Schliemann
says:2

The rude stone hammers found in
enormous quantities in the fourth city
are no longer found in this stratum, nor
did the stone axes, which are so very
abundant there, occur again here. In-

2 Ibid, p. 573.

Fig. 70.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-AVIIOBI. WITH ONE SWASTIKA, SLIGHTLY OGEE.

Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. IwM.

CONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL AVITII THREE OGEE SAVAST1K.VS.

Depth, 13.5 feet.

Gift of Madame Schliemann. Cat. No. 149704, U. S. N. M.

1 “Ilios,” fig. 1852.
 THE SWASTIKA.

819

stead of the hundreds of axes I gathered in the fourth city, I collected in all only two
here. *   *   * The forms of the terra-cotta whorls, too, are in innumerable instances

different here. These objects are of a much inferior fabric, and become elongated
and pointed. Forms of whorls like Nos. 1801, 1802, and 1803 [see figs. 72, 73, and 74],
which were never found before, are here plentiful.

The Sixth and Seventh Cities.—The sixth city is described ill “Ilios,”
page 587, and the seventh on pages G08 and G18. Both cities contained
occasional whorls of clay, all thoroughly baked, without incised or

painted ornamentation, and shed no fur-
ther light on the Swastika.

Fig.

pheres

Figs. 72, 73, 74.

FORMS OF WHORLS FROM THE FIFTH BURIED CITY OF
HISSARLIK, FOR COMPARISON.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” figs. 1801, 1602, 1803.

75 represents the opposite liemis-
of a tern-cotta ball, found at a
depth of 2G feet, divided by in-
cised lines into fifteen zones, of
which two are ornamented with
points and the middle zone, the
largest of all, with thirteen spec-
imens of y=, and flf.

Zmigrodzki says1 that there
were found by Schliemann, at Hissarlik, fifty-five specimens of the Swas-
tika “pure and simple” (pp. 809, 82G). It will be perceived by exami-
nation that the Swastika “pure and simple” comprised Swastikas of
several forms,- those in which the four arms of the cross were at other
angles besides right angles, those in which the ends bent at square
and other angles to the right; then those to the left (Burnouf and Max
Miiller’s Suavastika); those in which the bends were, some to the right
and some to the left, in the same design; where the points tapered oif
and turned outward with a
flourish; where the arms
bent at no angle, but were
in spirals each upon itself,
and turned, some to the
right, some to the left.

We shall see other related
forms, as where the arms
turn spirally upon each
other instead of upon them-
selves. These will some-
times have three, five, six,
or more arms, instead of

four (p. 7G8). The cross and the circle will also appear in connection
with the Swastika; and other designs, as zigzags (lightning), burning
altars, men, animals, and similar representations will be found associ-
ated with the Swastika, and are only related to it by the association
of similar objects from the same locality. A description of their pat-"
terns will include those already figured, together with Schliemann’s

1 Tenth Congr. Inter. d’Anthrop. et d’Archmol. Prohist., Paris, 1889, p. 474.

Fig. 75.

TERRA-COTTA SPHERE WITH THIRTEEN SWASTIKAS,
Third city. Depth, 26 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” figs. 215, 24<i.
 820

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

comments as to signification and frequency. They become more impor-
tant because these related forms will be found in distant countries and
among distant peoples, notably among the prehistoric peoples of Amer-
ica. Possibly these design shave
(^a signification, possibly not.

Dr. Schliemann thought that in
many cases’ they had. Professor
Sayce supported him, strongly
inclining toward an alphabetic
or linguistic, perhaps ideo-
graphic, signification. No opin-
ion is advanced by the author
on these theories, but the de-
signs are given in considerable
numbers, to the end that the
evidence may be fully reported,
and future investigators, radi-
cal and conservative, imaginative and unimaginative, theorists and
agnostics, may have a fair knowledge of this mysterious sign, and
an opportunity to indulge their respective talents
at length. Possibly these associated designs may
throw some light upon the origin or history of the
Swastika or of some of its related forms.

The specimen represented in fig. 70 is not a
spindle-whorl, as shown by the number and loca-
tion of the holes. It bears a good representation
of a Swastika the form of which has been noticed
several times. The two main arms cross each other
at nearly right angles. The ends of the arms all
bend to the right at a slightly obtuse angle and turn
outward with a flourish somewhat after the style of the Jain Swastika
(fig. 34c). Pig. 77 represents a spindle-whorl with a Swastika of the ogee
style curved to the right. The center hole of the whorl forms the cen-

spindle-wiiokl with ogee

SWASTIKA.

Tliirdeity. Depth, 23 lent.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. I''---

Fig. 70.

TERRA-COTTA DISK WITH ONE SWASTIKA.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1849.

Fig. 78.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-W1IOKL WITH IRREGULAR SWAS
TIKAS AND CROSSES.

Fourth city. Depth, 13.6 feet.

Schliemann, “Ilios,” fig. 1871.

Fig. 79.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH UNCERTAIN

AND MALFORMED SWASTIKAS.
Third city. Depth, 33 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. Ia70.

ter of the sign. The figure is of double lines, and in the interspaces are
four dots, similar to those iu figs. 00-118, and others which Dr. Schliemann
 THE SWASTIKA.

821

[Prometheus]

reports as common, and to which lie attributes some special but unknown
meaning. Swastikas and crosses of irregular shape and style are shown
in the field of fig. 78. Two fairly
well formed Swastikas appear, both
of the ogee style, with the ends
curved to the right. One is of the
style resembling the figure 8 (see
figs. GO and G4). Two others are
crudely and irregularly formed, and
would scarcely be recognized as
Swastikas except for their associ-
ation. Fig. 70 represents uncertain
and malformed Swastikas. The
arms are bent in different directions
in the same line. Two of the main
arms are not bent. The inexplicable dots are present, and the field
is more or less covered with unmeaning or, at least, unexplained

marks. Fig. 80 also illustrates
the indefinite and inchoate style
of decoration. One unfinished
Swastika appears which, unlike
anything we have yet seen, has
a circle with a dot in the center
for the body of the Swastika at
the crossing of the main arms.
Fig. SI shows two Swastikas,
both crossing tlieir main arms
at right angles and the ends
bending also at right angles—one
to the right, the other to the
left. This specimen is inserted here because of the numerous decora-
tions of apparently unmeaning, or, at least, unexplained, lines. Fig. 82
shows four segmented cir-
cles with an indefinite Swas-
tika in one of the spaces.

The ends are not well turned,
only one being well attached
to the main arms. One of
the ends is not joined, one
overruns and forms a sort
of cross; the other lias no
bend. Fig. 83 contains an
unmistakable Swastika, the
main arms of which cross at
right angles, turning to the
left with an ogee curve. The peculiarity of this specimen is that the
center of the sign is inclosed in a circle, thus showing the indifference

Fig. 82.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH ONE SWASTIKA AND FOUR
SEGMENTS OF CIRCLES.

Third city. Depth, 33 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 19sy.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL, FLATTENED, WITH TWO
SWASTIKAS AND INDEFINITE DECORATION.
Schliemann, “ Ilios,” lip. 1947.

Fig. 80.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH IRREGULAR AND
PARTLY FORMED SWASTIKAS HAVING LARGE DOT
IN CENTER.

Fourth city. Dejitli, 23 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” lip. 1S75.
 822

.y/ot

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

*

of the Swastika sign to other signs, whether cross or circle. The outer
parts of the field are occupied with the parallel lines of the circle

segment, as shown in many other
specimens. The specimen shown in
fig. 84 is similar in style to the last.
The bodies of six Swastikas are
formed by a circle and dot, Avhile the
arms of the cross start from the out-
side of the circle, extending them-
selves in curves, all of them to the
right. (See fig. 13d.) It has no other
ornamentation. The same remark is
to be made about the indifferent use
of the Swastika in association with
cross or Circle. We have seen many Swastikas composed of the crossed
ogee lines or curves. Figs. 85 and 80 show the same ogee lines and
curves not crossed; and thus, while it may be that neither of them are

Swastikas, yet they show a
relationship of form from
which the derivation of a
Swastika would be easv.

Fig. 83.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL, FLATTENED
Ogpo Swastika with central circle.
Third cit}'. Depth, 23 feet.

Sehlieuiann,

Fig. 84.

BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL WITH SIX OGEE SWASTIKAS
HAVING CENTRAL CIRCLE AND DOT.

Third city. Depth, 23 feet.

Sehliemann, ‘‘Ilios,'’ fig. 1,*C,2.

Fig. 85.

SPHERICAL SPINDLE WHORL AVITH
FLATTENED TOP AND OGEE LINES
AYHICH DO NOT FORM SAVASTIKAS.
Sehliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1*90.

Attention has been called to decorations comprising segments of the
circles incised in these whorls, the peripherv of which is toward their

centers (figs. GO, 04, 05, 09, 70, 82
and 83). Also to the mysterious
dots (figs. 40, 50, 75, 70, 77, 79,84,
92, 90 and 97). Fig. 87 shows a
combination of the segments of
three circles, the dots within each,
and two Swastikas. Of the Swas-
tikas, one is normal, turning to
the right; the other turns to the
rightr but at an obtuse angle,
with one end straight and the
other irregularly curved. Fig. 88
cotta sphere divided similar to fig,

Fig. 86.

BICON1CAL SPINDLE-AVIIORL AVITH OGEE CURVES AVHICII
ARE NOT CROSSED TO FOR.AI SAVASTIKAS.
Sehlieinann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1**9.

represents two sections of a terra-
49. Each of these sections contains
 THE SWASTIKA.

823

Fig. 87.

SPHERICAL, SPINDLE-WHORL, FLATTENED.

Two Swatikas combined with segments and dots.

Schliema.n, “ Iliosfig-. 19S8.

a figure like unto a Swastika and which may be related to it. It is a
circle with arms springing from the periphery, which arms turn all to
the left, as they do in the ogee Swastika. One has seven, the other
nine, arms. One has regular,
the other irregular, lines and
intervals. Fig. 89 represents a.
spindle-whorl of terra cotta
nearly spherical, with decora-
tion of a large central dot and
lines springing thereout, almost
like the spokes of a wheel, then
all turning to the left as volutes.

In some countries this has been
called the sun symbol, but there
is nothing,to indicate that it had
any signification at Hissarlik.

One of the marks resembles the long-backed, four-legged animal (figs.
99 and 100).1 Figs. 90, 91, 92, and 93 show a further adaptation of the

ogee curve developed into a
Swastika, in which many arms
start from the center circle
around the central hole in the
whorl, finally taking a spiral
form. The relation of this to a
sun symbol is only mentioned and
not specified or declared. The
inexplicable and constantly re-
curring dots are seen in fig. 90.

It is not contended that these are necessarily evolutions of the Swas-
tika. AVe will see farther on many lines and forms of decoration by
incised lines on these Trojan
whorls, which may have had no
relation'to the Swastika, but
are inserted here because per-,
sons rich in theories and bril *
liant in imagination have de-i
dared that they could see a
resemblance, a relation, in this
or some other decoration. As
objects belonging—toAli^same
culture, from the same locality,
and intimately associated with
unmistakable Swastikas, they
were part of the res gcstcc, and as such eiititled... to. adinis&ioii-as-evi-
dence in the case. The effect of their evidence is a legitimate subject
for discussion and argument. To refuse these figures admission would

left, ogee and zigzag.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1993.

Fig.

SPHERICAL SPINDLE-WHORL.

Largo central dot witli twelve arms, similar in form to
tho ogee Swastika.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1946.

Ilios” }). 4 IS.

2 See p. 786
 824

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

*

Fig. 90.

SPINDLE-WHORL.

Central dot with ogee arms
radiating therefrom in
different directions, bnt
in the form of a Swastika.
Third city. Depth, 29 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1830.

is lost in .antiquity.

Fig. 91.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH
CENTItAL HOLE AND
RADIATING AKMS.

Third city. Depth,
23 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilies,” fig.
Is42.

IJ

be to decide the case against this contention without giving the oppos-
ing party an opportunity to see the evidence or to be heard in argu-
inent. Therefore the objects are inserted.

Specimens of other crosses are presented because the
Swastika is considered to be a
form of the cross. There may
have been no evolution or rela-
tionship between them; but no
person is competent to decide
-^from a mere inspection or by rea-
ison of dissimilarity that there
(^was not. We have to plead ig-
noramus as to the growth and
evolution of both cross and Swas-
tika, because the origin of both
But all are fair subjects for discussion. There
certainly is nothing improbable in the relationship and evolution
between the Swastika and the cross. It may be almost assumed.

Evidence leading to conviction
may be found in associated contem-
poraneous specimens. M.Montelius,
an archaeologist of repute in the
National Museum at Stockholm,
discovered eight stages of culture
^ in the bronze age of that country,
which discovery was based solely
upon the foregoing principle applied
to the libuhe found in prehistoric
graves. In assorting his stock of
fibula?, he was enabled to lay out a series of eight styles, each different,
but with many presentations, lie arranged them seriatim, according
to certain differences in size, style, elegance of workmanship, etc.,
No. 1 being the smallest, and No. 8 the largest
and most elaborate. They were then classified
according to locality and association, and he dis-
covered that Nos. 1 and 2 belonged together, on
the same body or in the same grave, and the same
with Nos. 2 and 3, 3 and 4, and so on to No. 8, but
that there was no general or indefinite intermix
ture; Nos. 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 were not found
together and were not associated, and so on. Nos.
7 and 8 were associated, but not C and 8, nor 5
and 7, nor was there any association beyond ad-
joining numbers in the series. Thus Montelius was able to deter-

Cmine that each one or each two of the series formed a stage in the
culture of these peoples. While the numbers of the series separated

Fig. 92.

SPINDLE-WIIORL WITH CENTRAL CIRCLE AND MANY
ARMS.

Fourth city. Depth, 19.8 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1837.

SPINDLE-WIIORL WITH CEN-
TRAL HOLE, LARGE CIRCLE,
AND MANY CURVED ARMS.

Third city. Depth, 29 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,,, fig. 1833.
 THE SWASTIKA.

825

from eacli other, as 1, 5, 8, were never found associated, yet it was-
conclusively shown that they were related, were the same object, all
served a similar purpose, and together formed an evolutionary series
showing their common origin, derivative growth and continuous iiq^
pro vein ent in art,
always by com-
munication be-
tween their
makers or owners.

Thus it may be
with the other
forms of crosses,
and thus it ap-
pears to be with
the circle a'n d
spiral Swastikas
and those with
ends bent in op-
posite and differ-
ent directions.

Just what their
relations are and

not argued. This is left for the theorists and imaginists, protesting,
however, that they must not run wild nor push their theories beyond
bounds. Fig. 94 represents four crosses, the main arms of which are
at right angles, and each and all ends, instead of being turned at an
angle which would make them Swastikas, are bifurcated and turn both

Fig. 94.

LARGE BICONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL.
Four cresses witli bifurcated arms.
Third city. Depth, 23 feet.

Schlieinann, “ Ilios,” fig. I85t>.

at which end of the series the evolution began, is^

Fig. 95.

SPINDLE-WIIOUL.

Hole ami large circle in center
with broad arms of Greek
cross.

Third city. Depth, 26.4 feet.

Schlieinann, “ Ilios,” fig. IS'-’O.

Fig.96.

SPINDLE-WHORL.

Hole and large circle in center.
Eextended parallel arms with
dots, forming a Greek eros3.
Third city. Depth, 23 feet.

Schlieinann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1817.

Fig. 97.

SPINDLE-WHORL.

Greek cross. Tapering arms
with dots.

Third eity. Depth, 23 feet.

Schlieinann, “ Ilios,” fig. 181s.

ways, thus forming a foliated cross similar to the Maya cross, the “Tree
of life.” Figs. 95, 90, and 97 show Greek crosses. The centers of the
crosses are occupied by the central hole of the whorl, while the arms
extend to the periphery. In the centers of the respective arms are the
ubiquitous dots. The question might here be asked whether these holes, |
which represented circles, stood for the sun symbol or solar disk. The
 82 G

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

question carries its own answer and is a refutation of those who fancy
they can see mythology in everything. Fig. 98 is the same style of
figure with the same dots, save that it has three instead ot four arms.

Figs. 99 and 100 each show four of the curious
animals heretofore represented (fig. 50) in connec-
tion with the Swastika. They are here inserted
for comparison. They are all of the same form, and
one description will
serve. Back straight,
tail drooping, four
legs, round head show-
ing eye on one side,

Fig. 98.

SPINDLE-WHORL.

Central hole and three
arms with dots.

Thirdcity. Depth, 23feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 18P.I.

and long ears resem-

Fig. 99.

HICOMCAL SPINDLE-WHORL.

Four animals are shown similar to those
found associated with the Swastika.
Third city. Depth, 33 feet.

Schliemann-, “ llins,” fig. Is77.

bling those of a rabbit
or hare, which, in fig. 50, are called horns.

The general remarks in respect to the
propriety of inserting crosses and burn-
ing altars (p. 824) apply with equal pcrti-
ncncy to these animals and to the unexplained dots seen on so many

specimens. Fig. 101 shows both ends
of a spindle-whorl, and is here in-
serted because it represents one of
the 4iburning altars” of Dr. Schlie-
mann, associated with a Swastika,
as in figs. Cl, GO, and G8, and even
those of figure-8 style (figs. G4 and
G9).

- Dr. Schliemann found, during his ex-
cavations on the hill of llissarlik, no
less than 1,800 spindle-whorls. A few
were from the first and second cities;
they were of somewhat peculiar form (figs. 72 and 71), but the greatest
number were from the third city, thence upward in decreasing numbers.
'T The Swastika pure and simple was
| found on 55 specimens, while its
related or suggested forms were on
420 (pp. 809, 819). Many of the other
whorls were decorated with almost
every imaginable form of dot, dash,
circle, star, lozenge, zigzag, with
many indefinite and undescribable
forms. In presenting the claims of
the Swastika as an intentional sign,
with intentional, though perhaps
different, meanings, it might be unsatisfactory to the student to omit
^ descriptions of these associated decorative forms. This description is
impossible in words; therefore the author has deemed it wiser to insert

Fig. 100.

B1 CONICAL SPINDLE-WHORL.

Four animals are shown similar to tlios»o i
found associated with the Swastika.
Fourth city. Depth, 19.6 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 18G7.

SPINDLE-WHORL WITH FIGURE-8 SWASTIKA( ?) AND
SIX “BURNING ALTARS.”

Fourth city. Depth, 19.6 feet.

Schliemann, “ Ilios,” fig. 1833.
 THE SWASTIKA.

827

figures of these decorations as they appeared on the spindle-whorls
found at Troy, and associated with those heretofore given with the
Swastika. It is not decided, however, that these have any relation to
the Swastika, or that they had any connection with its manufacture or
existence, either by evolution or otherwise, but they are here inserted to
the end that the student and reader may take due account of the associa-
tion and make such comparison as will satisfy him. (Figs. 102 to 124.)

107.

108.

110.

111.

Figa. 102-113.
TROJAN SPINDLE-WHORLS.
Schliemann, “ Iliog.”

\Ov
 828

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, l89L

117.

123.   124.

Figs. 114-124.

TROJAN SPINDLE-WHORLS.
Schliemann, “ Ilios.”
 THE SWASTIKA.

829

[Prometheus]

Leaden idol of HissarWc.—Dr. Schlieinaim, in liis explorations on
the hill of Hissarlik, at a depth of 23 feet, in the third, the burnt *
city,found a metal idol (fig. 125), which was determined on an analysis^
to be lead.1 It was submitted to Professor Sayce who made the follow-
ing report:1 2

It is the Artemis Nana of Chaldea, who became the chief deity of Carchemish, the
Hittite capital, and passed through Asia Minor to the shores and islands of the
iEgean Sea. Characteristic figures of the goddess have
been discovered at Myeeme as well as in Cyprus.

In “Troja” Professor Sayce says:

Precisely the same figure, with ringlets on either side
of the head, but with a different ornament (dots instead
of Swastika) sculptured on a piece of serpontine was
recently found in Mamma, and published by M. Salmon
Reinacli in, Revue Arclneologique. By the side of the
goddess stands the Babylonian Bel, and among the Baby-
lonian symbols that surround them is the representation
of one of the terra-cotta whorls, of which Dr. Selilie-
mann found such multitudes at Troy.

The chief interest to us of Dr. Schlienmnifs
description of the idol lies in the last paragraph :3 4

The vulva is represented by a large triangle, in the
upper side of which we see three globular dots; we also
see two lines of dots to the right and left of the vulva.

The most curious ornament of the figure is a Swastikal_j7
which we see in the middle of the vulva. *   *   * g0t| n

far as we know, the only figures to which the idol before
us has any resemblance are the female figures of white
marble found in tombs in Attica and in the Cyclades.

Six of them, which are in the museum at Athens, * * *
represent naked women. *   *   * The vulva is repre-

sented on the six figures by a largo triangle. * * *

Similar white Parian marble figures, found in the Cy-
clades, whereon the vulva is represented by a decorated
triangle, are preserved in the British Museum. Lenor-
ment, in “Los Antiquitds de la Troade” (p. 46), says:

“The statuettes of tho Cyclades, in the form of a naked
woman, appear to be rude copies made by the natives, at
the dawn of their civilization, from the images of the
Asiatic goddess which had been brought by Phoenician
merchants. They were found in the most ancient sepul-
chers of the Cyclades, in company with stone weapons,

principally arrowheads of obsidian from Milo, and with polished pottery without
paintings. We recognize in them the figures of the Asiatic Venus found in such
large numbers from the banks of the Tigris to the island of Cyprus, through the
wholo extent of tho Chaldco-Assyrian, Araimean, and Phoenician world. Their pro-
totype is the Babylonian Zarpanit, or Zirbanit, so frequently represented on the
cylinders and by terra-cotta idols, the fabrication of which begins in the most
primitive time of Chaldea and continues among the Assyrians.

Fig. 125.

LEADEN IDOL OK ARTEMIS NANA
OK CHALDEA, WITH SWASTIKA.4
Third city. Depth, 23 feet.

Schlienutnn, “ llios.” fig. 126
1 >3 natural size.

1   “ llios,” fig. 226,

3Ibid, p. 691.

5 Ibid, p. 338.

4 See p. 795.

p. 337.
 830

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, lh9i.

t

It is to be remarked that this mark is not on the vulva, as declared
by Sehliemann, but rather ou a triangle shield which covers the mans
ceneris.

Professor Sayce is of the opinion, from the evidence of this leaden idol,
that the Swastika was, among the Trojans, a symbol of the generative
power of man.

An added interest-centers in these specimens from the fact that terra
cotta shields of similar triangular form, fitted to the curvature of the
body, were worn in the same way in prehistoric times by the aboriginal
women of Brazil. These pieces have small holes at the angles, appar-
ently for suspension by cords. The U. S. National Museum has some
of these, and they will be figured in the chapter relating to Brazil.
The similarity between these distant objects is remarkable, whether
they were related or not, and whether the knowledge or custom came
over by migration or not.

Old-shaped vases.—It is also remarkable to note in this connec-
tion the series of owl-slmped terra-cotta vases of the ruined cities of

"v^tlissarlik and their
•relation to the Swas
tika as a possible sy m
bol of the generative
power. These vases
have rounded bot-
toms, wide bellies,
high shoulders (the
height of which is
emphasized by the
form and position of
the handles), the
mouth narrow and
somewhat bottle
shaped, but not en-
tirely so. What would
be the neck is much
larger than usual for a bottle, and more like the neck of a human figure,
which the object in its entirety represents in a rude, but, nevertheless,
definite, manner. At the top of the vase are the eyes, eyebrows, and
the nose. It is true that the round eyes, the arched eyebrows, and the
pointed nose give it somewhat an owlish face, but if we look at fig. 127,
the human appearance of which is emphasized by the cover of the vase,
which serves as a cap for the head and has the effect of enlarging it to
respectable dimensions, we will see how nearly it represents a human
.being. The U. S. National Museum possesses one of these vases in the
Sehliemann collection (fig. 12G). It has the face as described, while
the other human organs are only indicated by small knobs. It and the
three figures, 127, 128, and 129, form a series of which the one in
the Museum would be the first, the others following in the order named.

TERRA-COTTA VASE WITH MAMELOX.

Fourth city. Depth, 16.5 feet.

Cat. No. 14**070, U. S. N. M.

1; natural size.

Fig.127.

TEKRA-COTTA VASE WITH CIRCLE
OR RING.

Fourth city. Depth, 20 feet.

Sehliemann, “ llios,’’ fig. 9b*.

J, natural size.
 THE SWASTIKA.

831

No. 2 in the series has the female attributes indefinitely and rudely
indicated, the lower organ being represented by a concentric ring. In
No. 3 the mamma) are well shown, while the other organ has the con-\y
centric ring, the center of which is filled with a Greek cross with four
dots, one in each angle, the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki (fig. 12).
No. 4 of the series is more perfect as a human, for the mouth is repre-
sented by a circle, the mammae are present, while in the other locality
appears a well-defined Swastika. The first three of these were found
in the fourth city at 20 to 22 feet depth, respectively; the last was
found in the fifth city at a depth of 10 feet. The leaden idol (fig. 125),
with its Swastika mark on the triangle covering the private parts, may
properly be considered as part of the series. When to this series is
added the folium ritus of Brazil (pi. 18), the similarity becomes signifi-
cant, if not mysterious. But, with all this significance and mystery, it

Fig. 128.

TERRA COTTA VASE WITH CIRCLE OR RING
AND CROIX SWASTICALE.
Sehlieinann, “ llios,” fig. 9SI',.

J natural size.

Fig. 129.

TERRA-COTTA VASE WITH CIRCLE OR
RING INCLOSING SWASTIKA.
Sehlieinann, “ Troja,” fig. ini.
natural size.

appears to the author that this sign, in its peculiar position, has anl
equal claim as a symbol of blessing, happiness, good fortune, as that it/
represents the generative power.

From the earliest time of which we have knowledge of the thoughts
or desires of man we know that the raising up “heirs of his body”
constituted his greatest blessing and .happiness, and their failure his
greatest misery. The first and~^reatest command of God to man, as
set forth in the Holy Bible, is to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replen
ish the earth/’1 This was repeated after the Deluge,1 2 and when He
pronounced the curse in the Garden, that upon the woman3 was, “In
sorrow thou sllalt bring forth children.” God’s greatest blessing to
Abraham, when He gave to him and his seed the land as far as he could
see, was that his seed should be as the dust of the earth, “so that if a

1   Genesis i, 28.

2   Genesis viii, 17; ix, 7.

3   Genesis iii, 16.
 832

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be
numbered.”1 u Tell the stars, if thou be able to number them *   *   *

so shall thy seed be. *   *   * As the father of many nations,” etc.

We all know the story of Sarai, how, when she and Abraham had all
riches and power on earth, it was as naught while they were childless,
and how their greatest blessing was the Divine promise of an heir, and
that their greatest happiness was over the birth of Isaac. This may
be no proof of the symbolism of the Swastika, but it shows how, in
high antiquity, man’s happiness in his children was such as makes the
^/Swastika mark, in the position indicated, equally a symbol of good
/fortune and blessing as it was when put on the spindle-whorls ol
LHissarlik, the vases of Greece, or the fibula* of Etruria.

The age of the Trojan cities.—It maybe well to consider for a moment
the age or epoch of these prehistoric Trojan cities on the hill of Ilis-
sarlik. Professor Virchow was appealed to by Schliemann for his
opinion. He says:1 2

Other scholars have been inclined to ascribe the oldest cities of llissarlik to the
Neolithic age, because remarkable weapons and utensils of polished stone are found
in them. *   *   * This conception is unjustified and inadmissible. To the third

century A. 1). belongs the surface of the fortress hill of llissarlik, which still lies
above the Macedonian wall; and the oldest “cities’’—although not only polished
stones but also chipped Hakes of chalcedony and obsidian occur in them—neverthe-
less fall within the age of metals, for even in the first city utensils of copper, gold,
and oven silver were dug up. No stone people, properly so called, dwelt upon the
fortress hill of llissarlik, so far as it has been uncovered.

Virchow’s opinion that none of the cities of llissarlik were in the
stone age may be correct, but the reason lie gave is certainly doubtful,
lie says they come within the age of metals, for, or because, u utensils
of copper, gold, and even silver were dug up among the ruins of the first
city.” That the metals, gold, silver, or copper, were used by the abo-
rigines, is no evidence that they were in a metal age, as it has been
assigned and understood by prehistoric archaeologists. The great prin-
ciple upon which the names of the respective prehistoric ages—stone,
bronze, and iron—were given, was that these materials were used for
cutting and similar implements. The use of gold and silver or any
metal for ornamental purposes has never been considered by archied -
ogists as synchronous with a metal age. Indeed, in the United States
there are great numbers of aboriginal cutting implements of copper, of
which the U. S. National Museum possesses a collection of five or six
hundred; yet they were not in sufficient number to, and they did
not, supersede the use of stone as the principal material for cutting
implements, and so do not establish a copper age in America. In
Paleolithic times bone was largely used as material for utensils and
ornaments. Bone was habitually in use for one purpose or another,
yet no one ever pretended that this establishes a bone age. In coun-
tries and localities where stone is scarce and shell abundant, cutting

1   Genesis xiii, 16; xv, 5.

2   “Uios,” preface, p. xi.
 THE SWASTIKA.

833

implements were, in prehistoric times, made of shell; and chisels or
hatchets of shell,' corresponding to the polished stone hatchet, were
prevalent wherever the conditions were favorable, yet nobody ever
called it. an age of shell. So, in the ruined cities of Hissarlik, the first
five of them abounded in stone implements peculiar to the Neolithic
age, and while there may have been large numbers of implements and
utensils of other materials, yet this did not change it from the polished
stone age. In any event, the reason given by Virchow—i. e., that
the use, undisputed, of copper, gold, and silver by the inhabitants of
these cities—is not evidence to change their culture status from that
denominated as the polished stone age or period.

Professor Virchow subsequently does sufficient justice to the antiquity
of Schliemann’s discoveries and says1 while “it is impossible to assign
these strata tQ the stone age, yet they are indications of what is the
oldest known settlement in Asia Minor of a people of prehistoric times
of some advance in civilization,’7 and1 2 3 that “no place in Europe is known
which could be put in direct connection with any one of the six lower
cities of Hissarlik.77

Professor Sayce also gives his opinion on the age of these ruins:2

The antiquities, therefore, unearthed l>y I)r. Schlieiuann at Troy, acquire for ns a
double interest. They carry us hack to the later stone ages of the Aryan race.

AFRICA.

EGYPT.

A consensus of the opinions of antiquarians is that the Swastika had
no foothold among the Egyptians. Prof. Max Miiller is of this opinion,
as is also Count Goblet d’Alviella.4

Waring5 says:

The only sign approaching the fylfot in Egyptian hieroglyphics that we have met
is shown in fig. 3, pi. 41, where it forms one of the hieroglyphs of Isis, hut is not
very similar to our fylfot.

Mr. Greg says:6 “In Egypt the fylfot does not occur." Many other
authors say the same. Yet many specimens of the Swastika have been
found in Egypt (figs. 130 to 130). Professor Goodyear,7 says:

The earliest dated Swastikas are of the third millenium I>. C., and occur on the for- 7 ,
eign Cyprian and Carian (f) pottery fragments of the time of the twelfth dynasty / V
(in Egypt), discovered by Mr. Flinders Petrie in 18S9. (Kahun, Onrob, and ITawara, 1
pi. 27, Nos. 1G2 and 173.)

1   “ Ilios,” app. 1, p. G85.

2   “ Ibid.,” app. G, p. 379.

3   “Troja,” p. xii.

4   “La Migration des Symbol es,” pp. 51, 52.

5   “Ceramie Art in Remote Ages,’7 p. 82.

R Arcliajologia, xlvii, pt. 1, p. 159.

7 “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 30, figs. 2 and 10, p. 35G.

H. Mis. 90, pt. 2----53
 834

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

GREEK VASE SHOWING DEER, GEESE,
AND SWASTIKAS.

Naukratis, Ancient Egypt. Sixth
and fifth centuries, 1>. C.
Petrie, Third Memoir, Egypt Exploration Knnd,
part I,pi. 4, fig. 3, and Goodyesir, Grammar
of the Lotus,” pi. Co, fig. 2.

AuwAtuUs.—Figs. 130 to 135, made after
illustrations in Mr. W. Flinders Petrie’s
Third Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund
(Pt. 1), found by him in Naukratis, all show

unmistakable Swas-
tikas. It should be
explained that these
/are said to be Greek
vases which have
been imported into
/Egypt. So that,while
Mound in Egypt and
so classed geograph-
ically, they are not
Egyptian, but Greek.

Coptos (Achwim-
Vanopotis). — Within
the past few years
great discoveries
have been made in Upper Egypt, in Sakkarah,
Fayum, and Achmirn, _the last of which ivas
the ancient city of Panopolis. The inhabit-
ants of Coptos and the surrounding or neigh-
boring cities were Christian Greeks, who mi-
grated from their eountry'~7Tufing the first
centuries of our era and settled in this land of

Jypt. Strabo mentions these people and
;ir ability as weavers and embroiderers.
.Discoveries have been made of their cemeteries,
winding sheets, and grave clothes. These
clothes have been subjected to analytic in-
vestigation, and it is the conclusion of M.
Gerspach, the administrator of the national
manufactory of the Gobelin tapestry, Paris,1
that they were woven in the same way as the
Gobelins, and that, except being smaller, they
did not differ essentially from them. He
adds:

These Egyptian tapestries and those of the Gobelins
are the result of work which is identical except in some
secondary details, so that I have been able, without
difficulty, to reproduce these Coptic tapestries in the
Gobelin manufactory.

On one of these Coptic cloths, made of linen,
reproduced in “Die Graber- und Textilfunde
von Acliinim-Panopolis,” by R. Forrer, occurs

DETAIL OF VASE SHOWN
THE PRECEDING FIGURE

1 “Les Tapisseries Coptes,” see. 4, pp. 5, G.
 THE SWASTIKA.

835

a normal Swastika embroidered or woven, tapestry fashion, with
woolen thread (fig. 130). It belongs to the first epoch, Avliich includes

Fig. 131.

rOTTKHY FRAGMENTS WITH TWO MEANDER SWASTIKAS.
Xaukratis, Ancient Egypt.

Petrie, Third Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 1, pi. 5, figs. 15, 21,

portions of the first and second centuries A. 13. There were on these
cloths an enormous amount of decoration, representing many figures,

Fig. 132.

[Prometheus]

FRAGMENT OF GREEK VASE WITH LION AND THREE MEANDER SWASTIKAS.

Naukratis, Ancient Egypt.

Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 2, fig. 7, and Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 30, fig 2.

*

both natural and geometric. Among them was the Swastika variously
applied and in different sizes, sometimes inserted in borders, and
 836

IvEPOIiT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894

Li- 133.

FRAGMENT OF GREEK VASE IiKCOItA'l El) WITH FIGURES OF fSACIiSjl ANIMALS AND SWASTIKAS, ASSOCIATED

WITH GREEK FRET.

.Xawkratis, Aiiciint Egypt.

l'utrio, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fuml, part J, pi. •>, tig. 1.

Fig.134.

FRAGMENT OF GREEK VASE WITH FIGURES OF ANIMALS, TWO MEANDER SWASTIKAS, AND GREEK FRET.

Isaukratis, Aneieut Egypt.

Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 2, pi. S, fig. 1, and Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. .10, tig. 1".
 THE SWASTIKA.

837

Fig.135.

GREEK VASE WITH DEER, AND MEANDER AND FIGURE-8 SWASTIKAS.

Naukrat.is, Ancient Egypt.

Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part pi. f>, tig. ].

Fig.136.

GREEK TAPESTRY.

Coptos, Egypt. First and second centuries, A. I).
Forrer, “Die Gr'aber- und Textilfunile von Achmin-Panopolis.”
 838

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.   *

sometimes adorning the corners of the tunics and togas as a large
medallion, as shown in the figure.1

ALGERIA.

Waring, in his “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages/’ discoursing upon the
Swastika, which he calls fylfot, shows in pi. 43, fig. 2 (quoting from Rela-

mare), the base of a col-
yiimn from a ruined Ro-
' man building in Algeria
(fig. 137), on the torus of
which are engraved two
Swastikas, the arms
crossing at right angles,
all ends bent at right
angles to the left. There
are other figures (five
and six on the same
plate) of Swastikas from
a Roman mosaic pave-
i/i nen t i n A1 geria. In stead
of being square,however,
or at right angles, as
might ordinarily be ex
pected from mosaic, they are ogee. In one of the specimens the ogee
ends finish in a point; in the other they finish in a spiral volute turning
upon itself. The Swastika has been found on a tombstone in Algeria.2

ASTIANTEE.

Mr. R. B.TEneas McLeod, of lnvergordon Castle, Ross-shire, Scotland,
reported3 that, on looking over some curious bronze ingots raptured at
Coomassee in 1874, during the late Ashantee Avar, by Captain Eden,
in wliosepossession they were
at Im^erness, he had found
some marked Avith the SAvas-
tika sign (fig. 188). These
specimens were claimed to be
aboriginal, but Avhether the
marks Avere cast or stamped
in the ingot is not stated.

n^orrer, “Die Griiber- und Textilfunde von Aclimim-Panopolis,” p. 20.

2Bull. Soc. Fran?aise do numisiii. et d’arcli^ol., n, pi. 3, p. 3.

3 “Rios,” p. 353.

Fig.138.

BRONZE INGOTS BEARING SWASTIKAS.
Comassee, Asliaiiteo.
 THE SWASTIKA.

839

CLASSICAL OCCIDENT—MEDITERRANEAN.

GREECE AND THE ISLANDS OF CYPRUS, RHODES, MELOS, AND THERA.

The Swastika lias been discovered in Greece and in the islands of the
Archipelago on objects of bronze and gold, but the principal vehicle
was pottery; and of these the greatest number were the painted vases.
It is remarkable that the vases on which the Swastika appears in the

’ Fig. 139.

VARIATION OF THE GREEK FRET..   OHREK GEOMETRIC VASE ™ THE LEYDEN MUSEUM, WITH

FIGURES OF GEESE AND SWASTIKA IN PANEL.'
Continuous lines crossing each other at right   Smyrna

angles forming figures resembling the Swas-   . ...   . ,, ,

&   r> o   ts   •( oiizp, ‘‘Antange, ’ eti'., \ lenna, 1S70, and Goodyear, “ Grammar ot <he

tikas.   Lotus,” pi. 56, fig. 4.

I^fargest proportion should be the oldest, those belonging to the Archaic
( period. Those already shown as having been found at Xaukratis, in
J Egypt, are assigned by Mr. Flinders Petrie to the sixth and fifth een
jturiesP. 0., and their presence is accounted for by migrations from
[Greece.

The Greek fret and Egyptian meander not thesameas the Swastika.—Pro-
fessor Goodyear says:1 2 “There is no proposition in archaeology which
can be so easily demon-   J

strated as the assertion
that the Swastika is
originally a fragment of
the Egyptian meander,
provided Greek geo-
metric vases are called
in evidence.”

Egyptian meander
here means the Greek
fret. Despite the ease
with which he says it
can be demonstrated
that the Swastika was
originally a fragment of
the Egyptian meander,
and with all respect for the opinion of so profound a student of classic
ornament, doubts must arise as to the existence of the evidence neces-
sary to prove his proposition.

Fig. 141.

GREEK VASE WITH FIGURES OF
HORSES, GEOMETRIC ORNAMENT’S
AND SWASTIKAS IN PANELS.
Athens.

Dennis, “ Etruria,” T, p. rxiii.

Fig.142.

GREEK VASE WITH SWASTIKAS
IN PANELS.

C'onze, “ Alliance,” e(<\, and Goodyear,
“ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 60,
lig. IS.

1   See p. 845.

2   “Grammar of the Lotus,” p.352.
 840

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891.

Fig.143.

DETAIL OF ARCHAIC GREEK VASE WITH FIOIRI
OF SOLAR GOOSE AND SWASTIKAS IV PANELS.

British Museum.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pi. 41, fig. 1.'.

Professor Goodyear, and possibly others, ascribe the origin of the
Swastika to the Greek fret; but this is doubtful and surely has not been

proved. It is difficult, if not impos-
sible, to procure direct evidence on
the proposition. Comparisons may
be made between the two signs; but
this is secondary or indirect evidence,
and depends largely on argument.
Xo man is so poor in expedients
that lie may not argue. Goldsmith’s
schoolmaster “evntho’ vanquished,
he could argue still.” The Greek
fret, once established, might easily
be doubled or crossed in some of its
members, thus forming a figure simi-
lar to the Swastika (fig. KID), which
would serve as an ornament, but is
without any of the characteristics of the Swastika as a symbol. The
crossed lines in the
Greek fret seem to
have been altogether
fortuitous. They gave
it no symbolic charac-
ter. It was simply a
variation of the fret,
and at best was rarely
used, and like it, was
employed only for or-
nament and not with
any signification—not
a sign of benediction,
blessing, or good luck, as was the Swastika. The foundation principle

of the Greek fret, so far as we can see its use,
is its adaptability to form an extended orna-
mental band, consisting
of doubled, bent, and
sometimes crossed or in-
terlaced lines, always con
tinuous and never ending,
and running between two
parallel borderlines. Two
interlacing lines can be
used, crossing each other at certain places, both
making continuous meanders and together forming
the ornamental band (fig. 139). In the Greek fret
the two lines meandered between the two borders
back and forth, up and down, but always forming a continuous line.
This seems to be the foundation principle of the Greek fret. In all this

Fig. 144.

CYPRIAN POTTERY PLAQUE WITH SWASTIKA IN PANEL.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Cesnola, “ Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, ami Temples,” pi. 47, liy. -R'.

DETAIL OF CYPRIAN VASE WITH
SWASTIKAS IN TRIANGLES.
Goodyear," Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. l,tig. 11.

Fig. 146.

DETAIL OF ATTIC VASE
WITH FIGURE OK ANTE-
LOPE( ?) AND SWASTIKA.

British Museum.

ISohlau, Jahrbuch, 1$S5, p. 50,
and Goodyear, “ Grammar of
the Lotus,” pi. 37, fi^. 9.
 THE SWASTIKA.

841

requirement or foundation principle tlie Swastika fails. A row or band
of Swastikas can not be made by continuous lines; each one is and
must be separated from its
fellows. The Swastika has
four arms, each made by a
single line which comes to
an end in each quarter.

This is more imperative
with the meander Swastika
than with the normal. If
the lines be doubled on
each other

to be car-
ried along
to form
another
Swastika
adjoining,
in the at-
tempt to
m a k e a
band, it

Fig. 147.

CYPRIAN VASE WITH SWASTIKAS.

! <“M,r

, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, ami Temples,” appendix by
Murray, p. 404, fig. 15.

Fig. 148.

TERRA COTTA FIGURINE
WITH SWASTIKAS IN
PANELS.

Cesnola, “ Cyprus, its Ancient
Cities, Tombs, and Temples,”
p. 300, and Ohnefalsch-Rich-
ter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop.,
Paris, IXN8, p. 081.

will be found impossible. The four lines from each of
the four arms can be projected, but each will be in a
different direction, and no band can be made. It is
somewhat difficult to describe this, and possibly not of
great need. An attempt to carry out the project of
making a band of Swastikas, to
be connected with each other?
or to make them travel in any
given direction with continuous
lines, will be found impossible.

Professor Goodyear attempts to show how this
is done by his figure on page 9G, in connection
with pi. 10, fig. 9, also figs. 173 and 174 (pp. 353

and 354). These fig-
ures are given in this
paper and are, respec-
tively, Nos. 21, 25, 2G,
and 27. Exception is
taken to the pretended
line of evolution in
these figures: (1)There

is nothing to show any actual relationship
between them. There is no evidence that
they agreed either in locality or time, or that
there was any unity of thought or design in

Fig. 149.

TERRA COTTA VASE WITH SWAS-
TIKA AND FIGURE OF HORSE.*

Fig. 150.

BRONZE FIBULA WITH SWASTIKA AND
REPRESENTATIONS OF A GOOSE AND
A FIS1I.

Bojotia, Greece.

De Mortillet, “ Musee Preliistorique,” fig. I ytlf>.

: Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. Gl, fig. 1.
 842

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

the winds of their respective artists. (2) Single specimens are no
evidence of custom. This is a principle of the common law which has

Waring. “ Ceramic Art ii> Remote Ages,” 1»1. 33, fig. 21, and <ioo.Iye.-ir, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” j.l. 4t., fig. 5.

still a good foundation, and was as applicable in those days as it is
now. The transition from the spiral to the Greek fret and from the

DETAIL OF CYI>RIAN VASE.

Sunhitwk, lotus, solar disk, and Swastikas.

Biihlau, Jahrbmh, l.v,rt, pi. s ; Reinaeh Revue Ar.-ha-ologique, 1SS5, H, p. 360 ; IVrr. t an.l Chipiez, “ History of Art in
Phenicia and Cyprus,” II ; Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 45, fig. 3.

Greek fret to the Swastika can be shown only by the existence of the
y/ custom or habit of the artist to make them both in the same or adjoin-

DETAIL OF GREEK GEOMETRIC VASE WITH SWASTIKAS AND FIGURES OF HORSES.

Thera.

Leyden Museum.

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 61, fig. 4.

ing epochs of time, and this is not proved by showing a single speci-
\l men. (3) If a greater number of specimens were produced, the chain of
 THE SWASTIKA.

843

evidence would still be incomplete, for the meander of the Greek fret will,
as has just been said, be found impossible of transition into the mean-
der Swastika. It (the Swastika) does not extend itself into a band, but
if spread at all, it spreads in each of the four directions (figs. 2.1 and

25). The transition will be found much easier from the Greek meander
fret to the normal Swastika and from that to the 7

meander Swastika than to proceed in the oppo-
site direction. Anyone who doubts this has

Fig. 154.

HRONZE FJRUI.A WITH LARGE SWASTIKA ON SHIELD.

Greece.

Mus6e St. Germain.

De Mortillet, “ Musee Prehistorique,” fifj. 1264.
l.j, natural size.

Fig. 155.

GREEK VASE, OINOCHOE, WITH
1 WO PAINTED SWASTIKAS.

De Mortillet, “ Mu.see Prt'historique,”
fij,'. 1244.

14 natural size.

but to try to make the Swastika in a continuous or extended band or
line (fig. 2G), similar to the Greek fret.

Figs. 133 and 134, from ISTaukratis, afford palpable evidence of the
different origin of the Swastika and the Greek fret. Evidently Gre-
cian vases, though found in Egypt, these specimens bear side by side
examples of the fret and the Swastika used contemporaneously, and



Fig. 156.

Fig. 157.

CYPRIAN VASE WITH SWASTIKAS AND FIGURE
OF ANIMAL.1

ARCHAIC GREEK POTTERY FRAGMENT.
Santorin, Ancient Thera.

(Vsnoia, “ Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Tempit
pi. 45, fi«. 36.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in Remote Afjes,” pi. 42,

fig- 2.

both of them complete and perfect. If one had been parent of the
other, they would have belonged to different generations and would
not have appeared simultaneously on the same specimen. Another
illustration of simultaneous use is in fig. 194, which represents an
Etruscan vase1 2 ornamented with bronze nail heads in the form of

1 See p. 795.

2Matdrianx pour PHistoire Primitive et Naturelle de lTIomme, xvm, p. 14.
 844

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

Swastikas, but associated with it is the design of the Greek fret, show-
ing them to be of contemporaneous use, and therefore not, as Professor

CYPRIAN VASE WITH LOTUS AND SWASTIKAS AND FIGURE OF RIRD.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Goodyear, “ Grammar of (he Lotus, )>1. fid, (ig. 15.

Goodyear believes, an evolution of one from the other. The specimen
is in the Museum at Este, Italy.

Fig.159.

CYPRIAN VASE WITH TWO SWASTIKAS.

Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” fig. 151.

The Greek fret has been in common use in all ages and all countries
adopting the Grecian civilization. Equally in all ages and countries has
 THE SWASTIKA.

845

FRAGMENT OF TERRA COTTA VASE
WITH SWASTIKAS, FROM RUINS OF
TEMPLE AT PALEO-PAP1IOS.
Depth, 40 feet.

Cesuola, “ Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs,
ami Temples,” p. 210.

appeared the crossed lines which have been employed by every architect
and decorator, most or many of whom had no knowledge of the Swastika,
either as an ornament or as a symbol.1

Swastika in panels.—Professor Goodyear, in
another place,* 2 argues in a mann er which tacitly
admits the foregoing proposition, where, in his
endeavor to establish the true home of the
Swastika to be in the Greek geometric style,

he says we should
seek it where it ap-
pears in “the largest
dimension” and in
“the most prominent
way.” In verification
of this declaration,
he says that in this
style the Swastika
systematically ap-
pears in panels ex-
clusively assigned to
it. Put he gives only

two illustrations of the Swastika in panels.
These have been copied, and are shown in figs.
140 and 142. The author has added other sx>eci-
mens, figs. 141 to 148, from Dennis’s “Etru-
ria,” from Waring’s “Ceramic Art,” and from
Cesuola and Olinefalsch-Piehter. It might be too much to say that
these are tbe only Swastikas in Greece appearing in panels, but it
is certain that the great
majority of them do not
thus appear. There-
fore, Professor Good-
year’s theory is not sus-
tained, for no one will
pretend that four speci-
mens found in panels
will form a rule for the
great number which did
not thus appear. This
argument of Professor
Goodyear is destructive
of his other proposition
that the Swastika sign originated by evolution from the meander or/
Greek fret, for we have seen that the latter was always used in a band

Fig. 161.

WOODEN HUTTON, CLAST, OR FIBULA
COVERED AVITII PLATES OF GOLD.
Ogee Swastika, tetraskelion in
center.

Sehliemann, “ Myceme,” fig. 3>5.

Fig.162.

DETAIL OF GREEK VASE WITH FIGURE OF GOOSE, HONEYSUCKLE
(ANTIIEMION), AND SPIRAL SWASTIKA.

Thera.

“ Monument! Inedite,” lxv, p. 2, and Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 46, fig. 7.

]Athenic vases painted by Andokides, about 525 14 C., represent the dress of the
goddess, ornamented witb Swastika and Croix swasticale. Am. Journ. Archied.,
Jauuary-Mareh, 1896, xi, No. 1, iigs. 9, 11.

2“ Grammar of the Lotus/’ pp. 348, 353.
 846

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

and never in panels. Although the Swastika and the Greek fret have
a certain similarity of appearance in that they consist of straight lines
bent at right angles, and this continued many times, yet the similarity

Swastikas (right).

Me’.os.

libhlau, Juhrlmch,   mi, < ioodyear, “ i Iramiimr of

tin- Lulus,” jil. Ill, fi^. s.

DETAIL OF GREEK VASE.

I hex, scroll, and meander Swastika (right).
Melos.

Hbhlau, .lahrluich, Inn",   121, ami Goodyear, “ < •rainiii.ir

<-£ the Lulus,” pi. «!», lit?. 2.

is more apparent than real: for an analysis of the motifs of both show
them to have been essentially different in their use, and so in their
foundation and origin.

Fig.165.

[Prometheus]

DETAIL OF A GREEK VASE IN THE BRITISH Ml/SEUM.
ltam, meander Swastika (left), circles, dots, and crosses.

Salzmann, “ Necropole <Ie Cain ire,” u, and Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 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
 THE SWASTIKA.

847

possible, and lias divided them according1 to forms and peculiarities.
The first group (figs. 140, 143, 140, 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 an I the islands of the Grecian Archi-

Fig. lf»C.

CYPRIAN VASE WITH SWASTIKAS AND FIGURES OF BIRDS.

IVrrot anil Cliipiez, “ History of Art in Phenk'ia ami Cyprus,” 11, p. 31K), fig. 237 ; Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 4K, figs. fi, 1_‘;

CVsnola, “ Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples,” Appendix by Murray, p. 41‘2, pi. 41, tig. 34.

pelago, and these, with such specimens as have been found in Smyrna,
have for this purpose all been treated as Greek.

Swastikas with four arms crossing at right angles, ends bent to the left.—
Figs. 141, 142, 144, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 150, 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 de-
scribed as to color or form. It
would be difficult to do so cor-
rectly; besides, these descrip-
tions arc not important in our
study of the Swastika. Fig.

155 represents a vase or pitcher
(oinochoe, Greek—ozVo?, wine,
and to pour) with painted
Swastika, ends turned to the
left. It is in the Museum of
St. Germain, and is figured by
M. l)o Mortillet in ‘-Musee Fre-
historique.'7 Fig. 15(5represents
a Cyprian vase from Ormidia,
in the New York Museum. It is described by Cesnola1 and by
Perrot and Chipiez.2 Fig. 157 is taken from a fragment of archaic j
Greek pottery found in Santorin (Ancient Thera), an island in the

1 “Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples,” pi.45, fig. 36.

History of Art in Phenicia and Cyprus,” ii, p. 302, iig. 230.

Fig.1G7.

CYPRIAN VASE WITH LOTUS, BOSSES, BUDS, SEPALS, AND
DIFFERENT SWASTIKAS.

Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York City.

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” pi. 4S, fig. ;!.
 848

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

Greek Archipelago. This island was first inhabited by the Pheni-
cians, afterwards by the Greeks, a colony of whom founded Cyrene
in Africa. This specimen is cited by Pochette and figured by
Waring.1

Swastikas with four arms crossing at other than right angles, the ends
ogee and to the left.—Figs. 158, 150, and 100 show Swastikas witli four

arms crossing at other than
right angles, many of them
ogee, but turned to the left.
Fig. 101 is a representation
of a wooden button or clasp,
much resembling the later
gold brooch of Sweden, class-
ified by Montelius (p. 807),
covered with plates of gold,
from Sepulcher iv, Myceme
(Sohliemann.Myceme, fig. 085,
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
JM idler and the ( roi.v sirasticalc of Zmigrodzki, which Bnrnouf attrib-
Autcd 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 Fima Indians of
New Mexico (fig. 258).

Dr. Schliemann reports that the
Swastika in its spiral form is rep
resented innumerable times in the
sculptured ceiling of the Thalamus
in the treasury at Orcliomenos.

(See figs. 21 and 25.)

lie also reports2 that Swastikas
(turned both ways) maybe seen in
the Royal Museum at Berlin incised
on a balustrade relief of the hall
s/whicli surrounded the temple of Athene at Pergamos. Fig. 1G2 repre-
sents a spiral Swastika with four arms crossing at right angles, the ends
all turned to the left and each one forming a spiral.

1 “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pi. 42, fig. 2.

8“Troja,” p. 123.

Figuro of horse, solar diagram, Artemis with
geese, and Swastikas (normal and meander,
right and left).

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the l.otns,” jd. *0, fur- l‘->.

CYl'RIAN VASK WITH ROSSES, TjOTUS BUDS. AM) DIFFERENT
SWASTIKAS.

Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York City.

Goodvoar, “ Grammar of the I.otus,” jd. 4S, tio. i;,.
 THE SWASTIKA.

849

Waring1 figures and describes a Grecian oinoclioe from Camirus,
Rhodes, dating, as lie says, from 700 to 500 B. 0., 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. 103, 1G1, and
105 show the Swastika in meander pattern. Fig. 103 shows two Swas-
tikas, the arms of both
bent

to the right, one
six, the other nine times.
The Swastika shown in
fig. 101 is bent to the
right eight times. That
shown in fig. 105 bends
to the left eight times.

Swastikas of different
kinds on the same object. —

Fig. 170.

DETAIL OF RHODIAN VASE.

Figures of geese, circles an<l dots, and Swastikas (rightand left).
British Museum.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” j>1. 27, fig. 9.

The next group (figs. 1G7
to 170) is of importance
in that it represents ob-
jects which, bearing the

normal Swastika, also show on the same object other styles of Swas-
tika, 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
111eir chronologic identity anxL-tlieiiicoiLseancnt-rolniloilToIxicIi other,
showing them to bjTaTTthe same sign—that is, they were all Swastikas,

Fig.171.

DETAIL OF RHODIAN VASE.

Geese, lotus circles, and two Swastikas (right and left,).

Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” p. 271, fig. 145.

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.

?| Many examples of vases similar to fig. 172 are shown in the London,
; Paris, and Few York museums, and in other collections. (See figs.
1 149, 159.) Fig. 174 shows an Attic painted vase (Lobes) of the
I Archaic period, from Athens. It is a pale yellowish ground, probably the

H   1 “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages/’ frontispiece, fig. 3, and p. 115.

I   H. Mis. 90, pt. 2-----54
 850

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

natural color, witli 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

GREEK VASE OF TYPICAL RHODIAN STYLE.

Ibex, lotus, geese, aiul six Swastikas (normal, meander, and ogee, all left).
Oooilyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus,” l>. 251, pi. 38.'

scattered over the field as chance or luck might determine. A speci-
men of Swastika interesting to prehistoric arcliaiologists is that on a
vase from Cyprus (Musee St. Germain, Xo. 21557), on which is repre-
sented an arrowhead, stemmed, barbed, and suspended by its points
between the Swastika.2

I)r. Max Olmefalsch-Kickter presented a paper before the Soci£t<$

'• Another Rhodian vase, similar in style, with Swastikas, is shown in the “Grammar
of the Lotus,” pi. 37, fig. 4.

2Mat«5riaux pour l’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de rilomme, 1881, xvi,p. 416
 THE SWASTIKA.

851

d’Antliropologie in Paris, December G, 1888, reported in the Bulletin of
that year (pp. 6G8-G81). It was entitled “La Croix gammee et la Croix
cantonnee en Chypre.v (The Croix gammee is the Swastika, while
the Croix cantonnee is the
cross with dots, the Croix
sicasticale of Zmigrodzki.) In
tli is paper the author describes
his finding the Swastika dur-
ing his excavations into pre-
historic Cyprus. On the first
page of his paper the follow-
ing statement appears:

The Swastika comes from India
as an ornament jn form of a cone   detail of gkeek vase.   ^

(conique) ofmetal, gold, silver, or 1>‘‘“r   -™'1

bronze gilt, worn on the ears (see
G. Perrot: “Ilistoire do PArt,” in,
p. 562 etfig. 384), andnose-rings (see
S. Peinacli: u Cbroniqne d’Orient,”

3° s6rie, t. IV, 1886). I was tlio first to make known the nose-ring worn by the god-
dess Aphrodite-Astarte, even at Cyprus. In the Indies the Avomen still wear these
ornaments in their nostrils and ears. The fellah in of Egypt also wear similar
jewelry; but as Egyptian art gives us no example of the usage of these ornamentsin

DETAIL OF GREEK VASE.

Deer, solar diagrams, and three Swastikas (single,
double, and meander, right).

Melos.

Conze, “ Meliosehe Thongefas.se,’* and Goodyear, u Grammar of the Lotus,1
pi, GO, fig. S.

Fig. 174.

ARCHAIC GREEK VASE AVITH FIVE SWASTIKAS OK FOUR DIFFERENT FORMS.

Athens.

Birch, “ History of Ancieut Pottery,” quoted by AVaring in “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” j»I. 41, fig. 15; Deunis, “ The Cities anil

Cemeteries of Etruria,” i, p. 91.

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 AAdiich surrounded the
island of Cyprus.

The first pages of his memoir are employed in demonstrating that
 852

KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

the specimens of the Swastika found in Cyprus, the most of which are
set forth in this paper (figs.^T-l^iir^howa Phenician influence; and
according to his theory demonstrate their mi-
gration or importation. He does not specify
the evidence on which he bases his assertion
of Phenician influence in Cyprus, except in
one or two par-
ticulars. Speak-
ing of the spec-
imen shown in
fig. 177 of the
present paper,
he says:

It represents tlie
sacred palm under
Avliicli Apollo, the
god of light, Avas
horn. #   *   * At

Cyprus the palm
did not appear
only Avith the Phc-
nicians; it was
not known prior to
that time (p. G74).

The design shown in fig. 178 lie de-
scribes as representing two birds in the
attitude of adoration before a Swastika,   Fig> 176

all being figured on a Greek cup of the atticvasefor perfume,withckoixkwas-

,   1 -j v •   . j   T1CALE AND TWO FORMS OF SAVASTIKAS.

Sty 1C I lpy ion.   Ohuefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soo. d’Anthrop., l’aris, lbM,

Dr. Olmefalsch-Kichter adds:   v- 673,%.4.

On the A'ases of Dipylon the Swastikas are generally transformed into other orna-
*   ments, mostly meanders. But this is not the

rule in Cyprus. The Swastika disappeared
from there as it came, in its sacred form, Avith
the Phenieian influence, Avith the Phenician
inscriptions on the vases, with the concentric
circles Avithout central points or tangents.

He says2 that the Swastika as well
as the “Croix eantonnee” (with points
{ or dots), while possibly not always the
\ equivalent of tlie solar disk, zigzag
-s lightning, or the double hatchet, yret
/ are employed together and are given

Swastikas with palm tree, sacred to Apoiio. ''tlie same signification, and frequently
Citium, Cyprus.   rejilaee eacli otlier. It is liis opinion3

ML Soo. d'Auuuop., iw, is*,.   tbat tbe gwagtika iu Cyprus bad nearly

A'ASE.

Serpents, erosses, and Swastikas
(normal, right, left, and mean-
der).

Goodyear, “ Grammar of the Lotus," pi. 60,
fig. 9.

DETAIL OF CYPRIAN VASE.

XG. Hirselifield, “Vasi archaici Ateniesi,” Annali dell’ Instituto di eorrispondenza
archteologica, 1872, TaAr. d’Ag. K. 6, 52.

3 Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, pp. 674-675.

3Il>id., p. 675.
 THE SWASTIKA.

853

Fig. 178.

CYPRIAN YASE WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS
AND SWASTIKA IN PANEL.

Musee St. Germain.

Ohnefalscli-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris,
I88S, p. 674, fig. 6.

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 a tour the storm, the light-

___.__ ning, 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 tlie fire wheel, and to the sun
chariot. In suj)port of
this, he cites a figure
(fig. 179) taken from
Cesnola,1 in which the
wheels of the chariot are decorated with four Swas-
tikas displayed in each of the four
quarters. - The chief personage on
the ear he identifies as the god of
Apollo-Kesef, 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 Heliosi
The other personage is Herakles/

Meequars,therighthand of Apollo,
both of them heroes of the sun.

The su-
preme god-
dess of the

Tsle of Cyprus was jAphrodite-Astarte,2 whose
presence with a prepon-
derating Phenician in-
fluence can be traced
back to the period of the
age of iron, her images
bearing signs of the
Swastika, being, accord-
ing to Hr. Ohnefalsch-
Picliter, found in Cyprus.

In fig. 180 the statue of
this goddess is shown,
which he says avus found
by himself in 1884 at
Curium. It bears four
Swastikas, two on the shoulders and tAvo on
the forearms. Fig. 181 represents a centaur
found by him at the same time, on the right arm of Avhicli is a Swastika
painted in black, as in the foregoing statue.

Fig. 179.

CHARIOT OF APOLLO-RESEF.

Sun sj'mbol(?) on shield and four Swastikas (two
right and two left) on quadrants of chariot wheels.

Cesnola, “ Salaminia,” p. 240, fig. 226, and Ohnefalscli-Richter,
Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., TariM, 1X88, p. 675, fig. 7.

Fig. 180.

TERRA-COTTA STATUE OF TIIE
GODDESS APIIRODITE-ASTARTE
WITH FOUR SWASTIKAS. 3
Curium, Cyprus.

Olinefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Antlijop.,
p. 676, fig. 8.

Paris,

ONE

Fig.181.

CENTAUR WITH
SWASTIKA.

Salaminia,” p. 248, fig. 230;
Ohnefalscli-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’An-
throp., Paris, 1888, p. 676, fig. 9.

Cesnola,

1   “Salaminia,” p. 240, fig. 226.

2   Aphrodite=Pheniciaii Aslitoretli, Astarte = Babylonian Ishtar.

3   See p. 773.
 854

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

AVe have found, in the course of this paper, many statues of human
figures bearing the mark of the Swastika on some portion of their gar-
ments. M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, on page G77, gives the following expla-
nation thereof:

^ It appears to me that the priests and priestesses, also the hoys who performed the
' services in the sacred places, were in the habit of burning or tattooing Swastikas
upon their arms. *   *   * In 1885, among tlm votive offerings found in one of the

sacred places dedicated to Aphrodite-Astoret, near Idalinm, was a stone statuette,
j representing the young Adonis Kinyras in a squatting posture, Avith 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. 078), the Croix caul ounce (the Croix sirasticale
of Zmigrodzki) replaced the Swastika on the gar-
ments, and he cites the statue of Hercules strangling
the lion in the presence of Athena, whose robe is
ornamented with the Croix cant ounce. He repeats
that the two signs of the cross re present the idea
of light, sun, sacrifice, rain, storm, and the seasons.

EUROPE.

[Prometheus]

GREEK STATUE OK AVH-

ltODITE-Alii ADX E.   3VRONZE AGE.

Six Swastikas (four

right and two left). Prehistoric archaeologists claim that bronze was
rdistis ci.rysokon. introduced into Europe in prehistoric times from the

Ohnefals',h-Riphter, Bull. Sup.   .   ’   .

<i’Anthrc>i>., Buns, issn, v. extreme Orient. The tm mines of the peninsula ot
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 Sundries 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
f 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
 THE SWASTIKA.

855

mark found on the same objects came also from the Orient. ThisA
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 lire*/
vailed. Nearly all varieties of the Swastika came into use during thoV
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^7
the Swastika is found principally on the spin die-whorl; in Greece and I
Cyprus, on the pottery vases; in Germany, on the eeintures of bronze; 1
in Scandinavia, on weapons and on toilet and dress ornaments. In/
Scotland and Ireland it was mostly on sculptured stones, which arqf.^
many times themselves ancient Celtic crosses. In England, Erauce,
and Etruria, the Swastika appears on small bronze ornaments, princi-
pally fibulae. Different forms of the Swastika, i. e., those to the right,
left, square, ogee, curved, spiral and meander, triskelion and tetraske-
lion, 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 Miiiler, seems
to fail altogether.

Greg says:1

About 500 to 600 B. C., the fylfot, (Swastika) curiously enough begins to dis-
appear 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-Bichter says:1 2

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 writh 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 tcho 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. 0.; while Dr. Brin ton and the late President Welling have-
made the latest contributions thereto. The culture of the Etruscans

1   Archaeologiii, xi/viii, pt. 2, p. 305.

2   Bull. Soc. d’Antlirop., Paris, 1888, p. 679.
 856

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

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.

While it may be doubtful if any specimen of Swastika can be identi-
fied as having belonged to the Xeolitliic 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 examina-
tion. There are other figures,
incised and in relief. One of
them is the celebrated uburn-
ing altar*’ mark of Dr. Sclilie-
mann. 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 exca-
vated from the neighboring
cemetery of the prehistoric
city of Oorneto-Tarquinii. They were of pottery, but made as if to
represent rude huts of skin, stretched on cross poles, in general appear-
ance not unlike the cane and rush conical cabins used to this day by the
peasants around Borne. They belonged to the Bronze Age, and ante-
dated the Etruscan civilization. This was demonstrated by the finds
at Oorneto-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, fibulte, bronze and pottery vases, etc., the characteristics of which



Fig. 183.

HUT URN IN THE VATICAN MUSEUM.
“Burning altar” mark associate! with Swastikas.
Etruria (Bronze Age).
 THE SWASTIKA.

857

were different from Etruscan afreets of similar purpose, so they could

be satisfactorily identified and segregated. The hut urns were recep-

tacles for the ashes of the cremated dead, which, undisturbed, are to
be seen in the museum. The vases forming part of this grave furni-
ture 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,1 and another from the
Alban Mount.* 2 3 He says (note 1):

1/

These remarkable urns were first found in 1817 at Montecucco, Dear Marino, and at
Monte Crescenzio, near the Lago de Castello, beneath a stratum of peperlno (tufa)

18 inches thick. They were embedded in a yellowish volcanic ash and rested on a
lower and earlier stratum of peperino.*

Curiously enough, the three or four pronged mark, called “burning
altar” by Dr. Sckliemann, is on both hut urns in Dennis’s u Cities
and Cemeteries of Etruria.” Dr. Schlieinann argues strongly in favor
of the relationship between Swastika and the u 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 Vati-
can at Home.4 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 speci-
men completes the proof cited by^Scliliemann, and associates the!/
Swastika with the “ burning altar ” sign in tlie Etruscan country, as
well as on the hill of Ilissarlik and in other localities.

Dennis supposes the earliest Etruscan vases, called by many different
names, to date from the twelfth century B. 0. to 540 B. 0.,5 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 witli annular bands, zigzag, waves, meanders, con-
centric circles, hatched lines, Swastikas, and other geometric patterns.

Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,” i, p. 69.

2Ibid., ii, p. 457.

3Annali dell’ Instituto, Rome, 1871, pp. 239-279; Bnlletino Institute, Rome, 1871,
pp. 34-52; Pigorini and Sir John Lubbock, “ Notes on Hut Urns and other objects
from Marino,” London, 1869; Virchow, “Die Huttenurnen von Marino,” Berlin, 1883.

4“Troja,” p. 122.

6“Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,” i, p. lxxxix.
 858

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

A fragment of Archaic Greek pottery is reported by Eochette from
the necropolis of Cum.T, in the eampagna of Italy, and is shown in fig!

_____   184. Eochette reports it as an exam-
ple 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 ot Greek pottery found
there, and that the Phenicians are not
known to have employed the Swas-
tika, 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 Eochette
to this decision was the zigzag orna-
mentation, which he translated to be a
Phenician sign for water; but this
ml in many places without having any

rig. 184.

FRAGMENT OF ARCHAIC GREEK roTTKKY WITH
THREE SWASTIKAS.

Cuinte, Italy.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” j.l. •Ji*, fij.. ].

pattern was used many times
such meaning, and is no proof of his
proposition.

Pigs. 185 and 180 represent the one-
handled cinerary urns peculiar to the
Eronze Age in Italy. They are be-
lieved to have been contemporaneous
with or immediately succeeding the
hut urns just
shown,
cinerary
shown in fig.

185 was found
at Marino,
near Albano,
in the same lo-
cality and un-
der the same
condition as
the hut urns.

The original is in the Vatican Museum and was
figured by Pigorini in “ArclnTologia,” 1800.
Fig. 180 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 Avork peculiar

Fig.185.

CINERARY URN WITH SWASTIKAS IN PANELS.
Sau Marino, near Albano, Italy.
Vatican Museum.

CINERARY URN WITH SWASTIKAS
INCLOSED BY INCISED LINES IN
INTAGLIO.

Cervetri, Italy.

“ Conestabile due Disci! in ISronz.o,” jil. 5,

fig. 2.

?s natural size.
 THE SWASTIKA.

859

GOLD FIBULA WITH SWASTIKAS (LEFT).
Etruscan Museum, Vatican.

Catalogue of the Etruscan Museum, part 1, pi. 215, fig.
L> natural size.



Fig. 188.

ETRUSCAN GOLD BULLA
WITH SWASTIKA ON
BOTTOM.

Waring, “ Ceramic Art in Re-
mote Ages,” pi. 42, fig. 4 a.

to tlie 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 deco-
rated with a circle and Swastika inside.
The figure is taken from
“ IJArt pour Tous,”

Fig. 187.   and is reproduced by

Waring.

An ornamental
Swastika (fig. 180) is
found on a silver bowl
from Cervetri (Caere), 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 Copen-
hagen, and is taken from
the report of the Congres
Internationale d’Anthropo-
logie et d’Arclneologie Fre-
historique, Copenhagen,

1875, page 180. This speci-
men, by its rays or crotch-
ets around the junction of
the pin with the shield, fur-
nishes the basis of the argument by Goblet d’Al-
viella1 that the Swastika was evolved from the
circle and was a symbol of the sun or sun-god.

(See p. 785.)

Bologna was the site of the Iloman city Bononia,
and is supposed to have been that of Etruscan
Felsina. Its Etruscan cemetery is extensive.

Different names have been given to the excava-
tions, 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 1 2

Fig.189.

ORNAMENTAL SWASTIKA ON
ETRUSCAN SILVER BOWL.
Cervetri (Caere), Etruria.

Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote
Ages,” pi. 41, fig. 13.

Fig. 190.

BRONZE FIBULA WITH TWO
SWASTIKAS AND SUPPOSED
RAYS OF SUN.2

Etruria.

Copenhagen Museum.

Goblet d’Alviella, fig. 19 a, De Mortiliet,
“ Mus£e Prehistorique,” fig. 12(53.
natural size.

1   “La Migration des Symboles,” p. 67.

2   See p. 786.
 860

REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1894.

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 Folsina necropolis, Bologna, orna-
mented with a row of Swastikas stamped
into the clay in a manner peculiar to the
locality.

Fig. 193 shows the end view of one of the
bobbins from Bologna, Italy, in the posses-
sion of Count Cozzadini 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 belong-
ing to this culture,
are made by little
points consecutively placed, so as to give the
appearance of a continuous line.