Thomas Wilson: The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol (1896) - book discussion

Dr. Thomas Wilson (1832-1902) was Curator of the Department of Prehistoric Anthropology at the United States National Museum from 1887 presumably until his death in 1902. The US National Museum (today known as the National Museum of Natural History) is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution. Before this, Wilson served in the Union during the Civil War and as a US consul in Belgium and France.[1][2]

Trained in law, he was appointed chairman of a committee formed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1899.[3] The goal of this committee was to draft a law in order to preserve Native American archaeological artifacts located on federal lands. Up until this point, grave robbers private collectors had been able to take artifacts off of public lands. Beyond this, apparently the US government was unable to regulate foreign archaeologists from coming to the US and taking artifacts they had excavated back to their home nations, depleting the US of its historic heritage. After years of debate in Congress, the The Antiquities Act was passed in 1906.

Wilson's interest in the swastika seems to be his other defining contribution--his gravestone even has one carved into it.[4]

Ambitiously, Wilson attempted to catalog swastikas from across the world in his 1896 work The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol and published a map of his findings.[5] Wilson notes in the preface to his work that English-language works in the archaeology and history of the swastika were nearly non-existent.

While groundbreaking at the time, now 125 years old, his work is, of course, quite outdated. Nevertheless, simply reading Wilson's work would dispel many stupid notions which are still in common belief. For example, I have seen so many people say that because Buddhist swastikas are supposedly facing a different direction than "Nazi" swastikas, the swastika facing one direction is "good luck", while the "Nazi" swastika is also somehow distinct because it is rotated. In reality, swastikas facing both directions and rotated at different angles were in common use all over the globe, including among Buddhists.

(Compare this to how biological anthropologists writing during the 1890s had already established there was no such thing as a "white race", because of the tremendous history of admixture among the so-called "white race". Yet, our supposedly brilliant 21st century academics have forgotten.)

The purpose of this web page is to discuss information from Wilson's work and digitize it as the first step for making a 21st century digital version of his mapping attempt. Moreover, once and for all we will establish that the swastika is a world-wide and ancient symbol to which Neo-Nazis and other ethno-tribalist degenerates have no claim.


Yet somehow people still think Neo-Nazis deserve to have exclusive claim of this symbol.

[1] Otis Mason. (1902). In Memoriam: Thomas Wilson. American Anthropologist, 4(2): 286-291.
     https://www.jstor.org/stable/659223
[2] "Thomas Wilson." (1902). The Annals of Iowa, 5(6): 478-478.
     https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.2813
     https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?httpsredir=1&article=2813&context=annals-of-iowa
[3] Ronald F. Lee. (1970). The Antiquities Act of 1906. US Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
     https://www.nps.gov/articles/lee-story-antiquities.htm
[4] Find a Grave. Thomas Wilson (1832-1902).
     https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56626017/thomas-wilson
[5] Printed between page 904 and 905.

The full title of his work is:

Thomas Wilson. (1896). The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and its Migration; with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times. Report of the United States National Museum for 1894, pages 757-1011.


It can be accessed at the following links:

Screenshots of the figures were taken from the following version. For higher quality images of any figure, download and examine any one of the "single page" zip options.
https://archive.org/details/theswastika00wilsuoft/page/n7/mode/2up
(This version of the scan places the index (pages 759-761) at the very end for some reason).

https://archive.org/details/swastikaearlies00musegoog/page/n10/mode/2up
(Google Books scan with watermark on every page. Many of the figures are missing due to poor scan quality. Contains index at the beginning. Page numbering, etc. are the same.)

https://archive.org/details/cu31924023008067/page/n5/mode/2up
(Second(?) edition, published in 1898. Page numbering is the same. Contains additional appendix and index (pages 1013-1041). Pages 1013-1020 contain additional information and excerpts from letters that Wilson received after the initial publication).

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40812
(High quality digital reproduction of the first edition in HTML, EPUB, and Kindle format (including images) by Project Gutenberg).


For the sake of space, not all sections of this work have been reproduced below. For the sake of digital formatting, figures, etc. are not laid out precisely as they were in the printed work. Footnote numbering follows the numbers in the Project Gutenberg version.

For some further information on the history of this work's publication, see the appendix attached at the end of this web page.

The rest of this web page is excerpts from Wilson's book (essentially all the parts where he discusses artifacts with swastikas on them) with discussion and additional information about the artifacts cited by Wilson. I have not been able to find precise information on all the artifacts Wilson describes. If you have additional information and links to museums/collections where the artifacts are currently kept (including catalog number or other relevant archival information) or links to scientific publications describing the artifacts, please link them in the comments. No pseudo-archaeology or random links with unsubstantiated claims.

[Post comments here].

Keep in mind that many of the artifacts discussed by Wilson are not necessarily ancient and therefore do not give a perfect representation of the entire history of the swastika--it was already an ancient symbol belonging to time immemorial when these cultures made the artifacts! Countless new examples of swastikas have been discovered in the 125 years since Wilson made this work. And, of course, archaeological knowledge has advanced greatly since then, and dates or other information written in Wilson's work may no longer be accurate in light of new data.


Our goal is to carry the torch and one day include as many swastikas as possible on a digital map to demonstrate the world-wide distribution of this ancient symbol.

Click here to return to the index of swastika-related articles:
https://aryan-anthropology.blogspot.com/p/the-swastika-aryan-symbol.html

TABLE OF CONTENTS

*****

PREFACE

An English gentleman, versed in prehistoric archaeology, visited me in the summer of 1894, and during our conversation asked if we 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, De Morgan, and Zmigrodzki, and he said, "No, 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 Dictionary, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia, 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 extensive histories of Art in Egypt, in Chaldea and Assyria, and in Phoenicia; 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 erroneous, 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 Institution for "diffusion of knowledge among men."

[...]

Much of the information in this paper is original, and relates to prehistoric more than to modern times, and extends to nearly all the countries 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 the 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.

*****

     I.--DEFINITIONS, DESCRIPTION, AND ORIGIN

DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE CROSS

[...]

Of the many forms of the cross, the Swastika is the most ancient. Despite the speculations of students, its origin is unknown. It began before history...

[...]

... Prof. Max Müller makes the symbol different according as the arms are bent to the right or to the left. That bent to the right he denotes as the true Swastika, that bent to the left he calls Suavastika (fig. 10), but he gives no authority for the statement, and the author has been unable to find, expect in Burnouf, any justification for a different in names. Professor Goodyear gives the title of "Meander" to that form of Swastika which bends two or more times (fig. 11).


Fig. 9. Normal Swastika.
Fig 10. Suavastika.


Fig. 11.
Swastika.
Meander.


Fig 12.
Croix Swasticale (Zmigrodzki).

[...]

There are several varieties possibly related to the Swastika which have been found in almost every part of the 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. As 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 Swastika. Certain of them have been accepted by the author as related to the Swastika, while others have been rejected; but this rejection has been confined to cases where the known facts seemed to justify another origin for the symbol. Speculation has been avoided.



Fig. 13a.
Ogee and spiral Swastikas.
Tetraskelion (four-armed).


Fig. 13b.
Spiral and volute.
Triskelion (three-armed).


Fig. 13c.
Spiral and volute.
(Five or many armed.)


Fig. 13d.
Ogee Swastika, with circle.

*****

NAMES AND DEFINITIONS OF THE SWASTIKA

[...]

... The definition and etymology of the word is thus given in Littre's French Dictionary:

Svastika, or Swastika, a mystic figure used by several (East) Indian sects. It was equally well known to the Brahmins as to the Buddhists. Most of the rock inscriptions in the Buddhist caverns in the west of India are preceded or followed by the holy (sacramentelle) sign of the Swastika. (Eug. Burnouf, "Le Lotus de la bonne 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.)

[...]

*****

SYMBOLISM AND INTERPRETATION

[Aryan Anthropology author's note: In this section, Wilson quotes from dozens of authors who have speculated on the meaning, origin, and spread of the swastika. In summary, the different authors speculate all sorts of different meanings and origins, and nothing definitive can be said with the information archaeologists had amassed by the late 1800s. I have not yet personally read extensively of more modern investigations into the history and meaning of the swastika, but I doubt much more of a consensus has been reached.

Many authors believed it was a symbol of the sun, although Wilson disagrees that there is sufficient evidence of this. Whatever precise meaning it may have meant originally in the various different cultures which used it, in more recent times (such as in National Socialist iconography), it has frequently been envisioned as a sun symbol in art.]

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 writers it has been respectively the emblem of Zeus, of Baal, of the sun, of the sun-god, of the sun 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 Ruler of the Universe. It has also been held to symbolize light or the god of light, of the forked lightning, and of water. It is believed by some to have been the oldest Aryan symbol.

[...]

The Swastika sign had great extension and spread itself practically over the world, largely, if not entirely, in prehistoric times, though its use in some countries has continued into modern times.

The elaboration of the meanings of the Swastika indicated above and its dispersion or migrations form the subject of this paper.

Dr. Schliemann found many specimens of Swastika in his excavations 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 Müller for an explanation, who, in reply, wrote an elaborate description, which Dr. Schliemann published in "Ilios."[10]

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 the 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 occurrence of such crosses in different parts of the world may or may not point to a common origin, hut if they are once called Svastika the vulgus profanum will at once jump to the conclusion that 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.[11]

The name Svastika, however, can be traced (in India) a little farther back. It occurs as the name of a particular sign in the old grammar of Pânani, about a century earlier. Certain compounds are mentioned there in which the last word is karna, "ear." * * * One of the signs for marking cattle was the Svastika [fig. 41], and what Pânani 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," the final a of Svastika is not to be 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'Alviella[12] reinforces Max Müller'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 Müller continues his explanation:[13]

It [the Swastika] occurs often at the beginning of the Buddhist inscriptions, on Buddhist coins, and in Buddhist manuscripts. Historically, the Svastika is first attested on a coin of Krananda, supposing Krananda to be the same king as Xandrames, the predecessor of Sandrokyptos, whose reign came to an end in 315 B.C. (See Thomas on the Identity of Xandrames and Krananda.) The paleographic evidence, however, seems rather against so early a date. In the footprints of Buddha the Buddhists recognize no less that sixty-five auspicious signs, the first of them being the Svastika [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, the Nandyâvarta [see fig. 14], is a mere development of the Svastika. Among the Jainas the Svastika was the sign of their seventh Jina, Supârsva (Colebrooke "Miscellaneous Essays," II, p. 188; Indian Antiquary, vol. 2, p, 135).

In the later Sanskrit literature, Svastika retains the meaning of an auspicious mark; thus we see in the Râmâyana (ed. Gorresio, II, p. 348) that Bharata selects a ship marked with the sign of the Svastika. Varâhamihira in the Brihat-samhitâ (Med. Saec., vi, p. Ch.) mentions certain buildings called Svastika and Nandyâvarta (53.34, seq.), but their outline does not correspond very exactly with the form of the signs. Some Sthûpas, 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 referring to a woman covering her breast with crossed arms (Bâlarâm, 75.16), svahastas-vastika-stani, and likewise with reference to persons sitting crosslegged.

Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter[14] speaking of the Swastika position, either of crossed legs or arms, among the Hindus,[15] suggests as a possible explanation that those women bore the Swastikas upon their arms as did the goddess Aphrodite, in fig. 8 of his 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, possible gave the name to the position as being a representative of the sign.

Max Müller continues:[16]

Quite another question is, why the sign 卐 should have had an auspicious meaning, and why in Sanskrit it should have been called Svastika. The similarity between 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 numismatist, who has called attention to the fact that in the long list of the recognized devices of the twenty-four Jaina Tirthankaras the sun is absent, but that while the eighth Tirthankara has the sign of the half-moon, the seventh Tirthankara is marked with the Svastika, i.e., the sun. Here, then, we have clear indications that the Svastika, with the hands pointing in the right direction, was 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, health, and wealth.

But, 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 (+) occurs as a sign for earth in certain ideographic groups. It was probably intended 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-Pali inscriptions (Max Müller, "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 Hieratic numerals, does not prove by any means that the one figure was derived from the other. We forget too easily that what was possible in one place was possible also in other places; and the more we extend our researches, the more we shall learn that the chapter of accidents is larger than we imagine.

[...]

M. Eugene Burnouf[21] speaks of a third sign of the footprint of Çakya, called Nandâvartaya, 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 labyrinth, a garden of diamonds, a chain, a golden waist or shoulder belt, and a conique with spires turning to the right.


Fig. 14.
Nandâvartaya, a third sign of the footprint of Buddha.
Burnouf, "Lotus de la Bonne Loi," Paris, 1852, p. 626.

[...]

Zmigrodzki, commenting on the frequency of the Swastika on the objects found by Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik, gives it as his opinion[30] that these representations of the Swastika have relation to a human cult indicating a supreme being filled with goodness toward man. The sun, 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 increasing 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 hence he concludes that the people of Hissarlik, in the "Burnt City" (the third 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:[31]

Originally it [the Swastika] would appear to hare been an early Aryan atmospheric device or symbol indicative of both rain and lightning, phenomena appertaining to the god Indra, subsequently or collaterally developing, possibly, into the Suastika, or sacred fire 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.

[...]

Dr. H. Colley March, in his learned paper on the "Fylfot and the Futhore Tir,"[54] 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 revolve the stars of the firmament. This appearance of rotation is most impressive in the constellation of the Great Bear. About four thousand years ago the apparent pivot of rotation was at α Draconis, much nearer the Great Bear than now, and at that time the rapid circular sweep must have been far more striking than at present. In addition to the name Ursa Major the Latins called this constellation Septentriones, "the seven plowing oxen," that dragged the stars around the pole, and the Greeks called it ἕλικη, from its vast spiral movement.[55] In the opinion of Dr. March all these are represented or symbolized by the Swastika.

Prof. W. H. Goodyear, of New York, has lately (1891) published an elaborate quarto work entitled "The Grammar of the Lotus: A New History of Classic Ornament as a Development of Sun Worship."[56] It comprises 408 pages, with 76 plates, and nearly a thousand figures. His theory develops the sun symbol from the lotus by a series of ingenious and complicated evolutions passing through the Ionic style of architecture, 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 worshiped in many countries from Japan to the Straits of Gibraltar;" it was a symbol of "fecundity," "life," "immortality," and of "resurrection," and has a mortuary significance and use. But its elementary and most important signification was as a solar symbol.[57]

He describes the Egyptian lotus and traces it through an innumerable number of specimens and with great variety of form. He mentions 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.[58] Direct association of the solar disk and lotus are, according to him, common on the monuments and on Phoenician and Assyrian seals; while the lotus and the sacred animals, 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 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 sun or some of his deities.[59] 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 fourteenth century B.C. By intercommunication with the Greeks it formed the foundation of the Greek Ionic capital, which, he says,[60] "offers no dated example of the earlier time than the sixth century B.C." He supports this contention by authority, argument, and illustration.

He shows[61] 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, 16, 17).

Chantre[62] 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. 186 (fig. 17) he says represents the decorating motif, the most frequent in all that part of prehistoric Europe. He cites "Notes sur les torques on ornaments spirals."[63]

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 objects with many sacred and mythologic characters in Egypt and afterwards in Greece is accepted. How far it extends in the direction contended for by Professor Goodyear, is no part of this investigation. It appears well established that in both countries it became highly conventionalized, and it is quite sufficient for the purpose of this argument that it became thus associated with the Swastika. Figs. 18 and 19 represent details of Cyprian vases and amphora belonging to the Cesnola collection in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, showing the lotus with curling sepals among which are interspersed Swastikas of different forms.



Fig. 18.
Detail of Cyprian vase showing lotuses with curling sepals.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 47, fig. 1.


Fig. 19.
Detail of Cyprian amphora in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Lotus with curling sepals and different Swastikas.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 47, figs. 2, 3.


Fig. 21.
Theory of lotus rudiments in spiral.
Tomb 33, Abd-el-Kourneh, Thebes.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 96.


Fig. 25.
Special Egyptian meander.
An illustration of the theory of derivation from the spiral.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 10, fig. 9.

[...]

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

There is no proposition in archaeology which can be so easily demonstrated as the assertion that the Swastika was originally a fragment of the Egyptian meander, provided Greek geometric vases are called in evidence. The connection between the meander and the Swastika has been long since suggested by Prof. A. S. Murray.[71] Hindu specialists have suggested that the Swastika produced the meander. Birdwood[72] says: "I believe the Swastika to be the origin of the key pattern ornament of Greek and Chinese decorative art." Zmigrodzki, in a recent publication,[73] has not only reproposed this derivation of the meander, but has oven connected the Mycenae 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 suggested, in the first instance, by its appearance in the shape of the meander on the Rhodian (pl. 28, fig. 7), Melian (pl. 60, fig. 8), archaic Greek (pl. 60, fig. 9, and pl. 61, fig. 12), and Greek geometric vases (pl. 56). The appearance in 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.

On page 354, Goodyear says:

The solar significance of the Swastika is proven by the Hindu coins of the Jains. Its generative significance is proven by a leaden statuette from Troy. It is an equivalent of the lotus (pl. 37, figs. 1, 2, 3), of the solar diagram (pl. 57, fig. 12, and pl. 60, fig. 8), of the rosette (pl. 20, fig. 8), of concentric rings (pl. 47, fig. 11), of the spiral scroll (pl. 34, fig. 8, and pl.39, fig. 2), of the geometric boss (pl. 48, fig. 12), of the triangle (pl. 46, fig. 5), and of the anthemion (pl. 28, fig. 7, and pl. 30, fig. 4). It appears with the solar deer (pl. 60, figs. 1 and 2). with the solar antelope (pl. 37, fig. 9), with the symbolic fish (pl. 42, fig. 1), with the ibex (pl. 37, fig. 4), with the solar sphinx (pl. 34, fig. 8), with the solar lion (pl. 30, fig. 4), the solar ram (pl. 28, fig. 7), the solar horse (pl. 61, figs. 1, 4, 5, and 12). Its most emphatic and constant association is with the solar bird (pl. 60, fig. 15; fig. 173).

Count Goblet d'Alviella, following Ludwig Müller, Percy Gardner, S. Beal, Edward Thomas, Max Müller, H. Gaidoz, and other authors, accepts their theory that the Swastika was a symbolic representation of the sun or of a sun god, and argues it fully.[74] He starts with the proposition that most of the nations of the earth have represented the sun by a circle, although some of them, notably the Assyrians, Hindus, Greeks, and Celts, have represented it by signs more or less cruciform. Examining his fig. 2, wherein signs of the various people are set forth, it is to be remarked that there is no similarity or apparent relationship between the six symbols given, either with themselves or with the sun. Only one of them, that of Assyria, pretends 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. Each of the six symbols is represented as being from a single nation of people. They are prehistoric or of high antiquity, and most of them appear to have no other evidence of their representation of the sun than is contained in the sign itself, so that the first objection is to the premises, to wit, that while his symbols may have sometimes represented the sun, it is far from certain that they are used constantly or steadily as such. ...

[...]



Fig. 26.
Detail of a Greek vase.
Meander and Swastika.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," fig. 174.


Fig. 27.
Detail of Greek geometric vase in the British Museum.
Swastika, right, with solar geese.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 353, fig. 173.


Fig. 28.
Greek geometric vase.
Swastika with solar geese.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 353, fig. 172.

[...]

Dr. Brinton[88] 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 its first appearance on the coins of Lycia. But this appearance was within what is called the first period of coinage, to wit, between 700 and 480 B.C., and it did not become settled until the second, and even the third period, 280 to 240 B.C., when it migrated to Sicily. But the Swastika had already appeared in Armenia, on the hill of Hissarlik, in the terramares of northern Italy, 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 symbol 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.

William Simpson[89] 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 back to a very early period. The latest idea formed regarding the Swastika is that it may be a form of the old wheel symbolism and that it represents a solar movement, or perhaps, in a wider sense, the whole 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 represented the solar motion. It did not originate with the Buddhists; 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 day, 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 Müller, who affirms that it "is decisive" of the symbol in Greece. This evidence may be "decisive" for India and Greece, but it does not make us quite certain about other parts of the world. Still it raises a strong presumption that its meaning is likely to be somewhat similar 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 necessary, 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 introduction 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 middle of Apollo's breast there is a large and prominent Swastika. In this we have another instance going far to show its solar significance. While accepting these new interpretations of the symbol, I am still inclined to the notion that the Swastika may, at the same time, have been looked upon in some cases as a cross--that is, a pre-Christian cross, which now finds acceptance by some authorities as representing the four cardinal points. The importance of the cardinal points in primitive symbolism 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 India was connected with the title of a Chakravartin--from Chakra, a wheel--the title meaning a supreme ruler, or a universal monarch, who ruled the four quarters of the world, and on his coronation he had to drive his chariot, or wheel, to the four 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 a cross, represented the four quarters over which the solar power by its revolving motion carried its influence.


[10] Page 316, et seq.
[11] 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.
[12] "La Migration des symboles," p. 104.
[13] "Ilios," pp. 347, 348.
[14] Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie, 1888, p. 678
[15] Mr. Gandhi makes the same remark in his letter on the Buddha shell statue shown in pl. 10 of this paper.
[16] "Ilios," p. 348.
[21] "Lotus de la Bonne Loi," p. 626. [30] Tenth Congress International d'Anthropologie et d'Archaeologie Prehistoriques, Paris, 1889, p. 474.
[31] Archaeologia, XLVII, pt. 1, p. 159.
[54] Trans. Lancaster and Cheshire Antiq. Soc., 1886.
[55] Haddon, "Evolution in Art," London, 1895, p 288.
[56] Sampson, Low, Marston & Co., London.
[57] Goodyear, "The Grammar of the Lotus," pp. 4, 5.
[58] Ibid., p. 6.
[59] Ibid., pp. 7, 8.
[60] Ibid., p. 71.
[61] Ibid., pp. 74, 77.
[62] "Age du Bronze," Deuxieme partie, p. 301.
[63] Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l'Homme, 3d ser. VIII, p. 6.
[71] Cesnola, "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples," p. 410.
[72] "Industrial Arts of India," p. 107.
[73] "Zur Geschichte der Swastika."
[74] "La Migration des Symboles," chap. 2, pt. 3, p. 66.
[88] Proc. Amer. Philosoph. Soc., 1889, XXIX, p. 180.
[89] Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, January 1895, pp. 84, 85.

*****

ORIGIN AND HABITAT

Prehistoric archaeologists have found in Europe many specimens of sculpture and engraving belonging to the Paleolithic age, but the cross is not known in any form, Swastika or other. In the Neolithic age, which spread itself over nearly the entire world, with many 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 ornamental 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 with certainty. It is believed by some to be involved in that other warmly disputed and much-discussed question as to the locality of origin and the mode and routes of dispersion of Aryan peoples. There is evidence to show 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 bronze. Was bronze discovered in eastern Asia and was its migration westward through Europe, or was it discovered on the Mediterranean, and its spread thence? The Swastika spread through the same countries as did the bronze, and there is every reason to believe them to have proceeded contemporaneously--whether at their beginning or not, is undeterminable.

[...]

Professor Goodyear says:[1]

[...]

... In northern prehistoric Europe, where the Swastika has attracted considerable attention, it is distinctly connected with the bronze culture derived from the south. When found on prehistoric pottery of the north, the southern home of its beginnings is equally clear. ...

[...]

Dr. Brinton,[106] describing the normal Swastika, "with four arms of equal length, the hook usually pointing from left to right," says: "In this form it occurs in India and on very early (Neolithic) Grecian, Italic, and Iberian remains." Dr. Brinton is 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 considered 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.


[100] "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 348 et seq.
[106] Proc. Amer. Philosoph. Soc., 1889, XXIX, p. 179

*****

     II.--DISPERSON OF THE SWASTIKA

     EXTREME ORIENT

JAPAN

The Swastika was in use in Japan in ancient as well 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 Swastikas on the pedestal, the ends all turned at right angles to the right. This specimen is shown by De Mortillet[107] because it relates to prehistoric man. The image or statue holds a cane in the form of a "tintin-nabulum," with movable rings arranged to make a jingling noise, and De Mortillet inserted it in his volume to show the likeness of this work in Japan with a number of similar objects found in the Swiss lake dwellings in the prehistoric age of bronze (p. 806).

The Swastika mark was employed by the Japanese on their porcelain. Sir Augustus W. Franks[108] shows one of these marks, a small Swastika turned to the left and in closed in a circle (fig. 30). Fig. 9 also represents a mark on Japanese bronzes.[109]


Fig. 29.
Bronze Statue of Buddha. Japan.
Eight Swasitkas on pedestal. Cane tintinnabulum with six movable rings or bells.


Fig. 30.
Japanese potter's mark on porcelain.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1248.

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1013).

S. D. Frey (Palatine Bridge, N.Y., April 27, 1897) encloses a mark on the side of an old Saki jar of Kioto ware, a swastika enclosed in a cross with four circles.

Miss E. R. Scidmore, the noted traveler and author, reports swastika marks in common use in Japan as decoration. She very politely presented the author with a set of small Japanese teacups with a comparatively large swastika in heavy lines, ends bent indiscriminately right and left, on the side of each.

In the Exposition de la musique au Palais d'industrie à Paris, 1896, was a series of thirty fine instruments, Japanese; "On one, a sort of guitar, 'biwa sacrée,' a swastika is sculptured." Reported by Dr. Delish, "L'Anthropologie," 1896, vol. VII, No. 6, p. 728.

**

[107] "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1230; Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris., 1886, pp. 299, 313, 314.
[108] "Catalogue of Oriental Porcelain and Pottery," pl. 11, fig. 139.
[109] De Morgan, "Au Caucase," fig. 180.

*****

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 Swastika is normal, with arms crossing 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 degrees. In appearance it resembles the Swastika in fig. 9.

*****

CHINA

In the Chinese language the sign of the Swastika is pronounced wan (p. 801), and stands for "many," "a great number," "ten thousand," "infinity," and by a synecdoche is constructed to mean "long life, a multitude of blessings, great happiness," etc.; as is said in French, "mille pardons," "mille remercîments," 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 attachés, Mr. Chung, dressed in his robes of state; his outer garment was of moiré 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 reported above, wan, and the significance was "longevity," "long life," "many years." Thus was shown that in far as well as near 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 recieved the following 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, Yang Yu.

Buddhist philosophers consider simple characters as half or incomplete characters and compound characters as complete characters, while the Swastika 卍 is regarded as a natural formation. A Buddhist priest of the Tang Dynasty, Tao Shih by name, in a chapter of his work entitled Fa Yuen Chu Lin, on the original Buddha, describes him as having this 卍 mark oh his breast and sitting on a high lily of innumerable petals. [Pl. 1.]


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 Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

Empress Wu (684-704 A.D.), of the Tang Dynasty, invented a number of new forms for characters already in existence, amongst which [left-facing swastika in a circle] was the word for sun, [Z in a circle] for moon, [circle] for star, and so on. These characters were once very extensively used in ornamental writing, and even now the word [left-facing swastika in a circle] 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.]


Plate 2. Swastika Decreed by Emperess 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 Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

The history of the Tang Dynasty (620-906 A.D.), by Lui Hsu and others of the Tsin Dynasty, records a decree issued by Emperor Tai Tsung (763-779 A.D.) forbidding the use of the Swastika on silk fabrics manufactured for any purpose. [Pl. 3.]


Plate 3. Swastika Design on Silk Fabrics.
This use of the swastika was forbidden in China by Emperor Tai Tsung (763-779 A.D.)
From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U.S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

Fung Tse, of the Tang Dynasty, records a practice among the people of Loh-yang to endeavor, on the 7th of the 7th month of each year, to obtain spiders to weave the Swastika on their web. Kung 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. [Pl. 4.]


Plate 4. Swastika in Spider Web over Fruit.
(A good omen in China.)
From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U.S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

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. [Pl. 5.]


Plate 5. 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 Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

The Ts'ing-I-Luh, by Tao Kuh, of the Sung Dynasty, records that an Empress in the time of the South Tang Dynasty had an incense burner the external decoration of which had the Swastika design on it. [Pl. 6.]


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 Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

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. [Pl. 7.]


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 Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

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 the fruit, which ripens in the ninth month of the year, suggests a resemblance to the Swastika. [Pl. 8.]


Plate 8. Mountain or Wild Date.--Fruit Resembling the Swastika.
From a drawing by Mr. Li, presented to the U.S. National Museum by Mr. Yang Yü, Chinese Minister, Washington, D.C.

The Swastika is one of the symbolic marks of the Chinese porcelain. Prime[110] 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.


Fig. 31.
Potter's mark on porcelain. China.
Tablet of honor, with Swastika.
Prime, "Pottery and Porcelain," p. 254.

Major-General Grordon, controller of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, England, writes to Dr. Schliemann:[111] "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 Dumoutier[112] says this sign is nothing else than the ancient Chinese character che, which, according to D'Alviella,[113] carries the idea of perfection or excellence, and signifies the renewal and perpetuity of life. And again,[111] "Dr. Lockyear, formerly medical missionary to China, says the sign 卍 is thoroughly Chinese."

The Swastika is found on Chinese musical instruments. The U.S. National Museum possesses a Hu-Ch'in, a violin with four strings, the body of which is a section of bamboo about 3.5 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,"[114] 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."

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1014).

Mr. R. E. Martyr (letter of January 20, 1898) notifies of the occurrence of variations of the swastika occurring in Solo, a dialect of western Ssu-ch'uan, citing Baber's Travels in 1881; also a Journey in that country, by Mr. F. S. A. Bourne, Parliamentary Papers C. 5371/88, China No. 1, 1888.

* Blogger's note: In the Appendix this is labelled under the section "Java", but Ssu-ch'uan is an old spelling of the Chinese province of Sichuan.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ssu-ch%27uan

Edward Colborne Baber was a British man who was employed as a diplomat in China, and he travelled extensively within China in the 1870s and 1880s. He published a number of works about his travels and died in 1890.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Colborne_Baber
https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n85-207688/

Frederick Samuel Augustus Bourne was a British judge and diplomat serving in China from 1876 to 1916.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Samuel_Augustus_Bourne

I did not try to find the report in the Parliamentary Papers, but here is another citation for Bourne's report:
Bourne, F. S., "Report of a journey in southwestern China," China #1, 1888 (C. 5371).
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/yunnan-myth/464EF7E0E2BB6D482FE44563366E90B8

I couldn't find any information on the "Solo dialect" in Sichuan. However, "Solo" is the colloquial name for the city of Surakarta, a large city on the island of Java. It was the capital of the powerful Surakarta Sunanate (sometimes called the Principality of Solo). Wilson probably hastily looked up Solo in an encyclopedia, leading to an erroneous association with Java?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuanese_dialects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surakarta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surakarta_Sunanate

**

[110] "Pottery and Porcelain," p. 254.
[111] "Ilios," p. 352.
[112] "Le Swastika et la roue solaire en Chine," Revue d'Ethnographie, IV, pp. 319, 350.
[113] "La Migration des Symboles," p. 55.
[114] New York Independent, November 16, 1893; Science, March 23, 1894, p. 162.

*****

TIBET

Mr. William Woodville Rockhill,[115] speaking of the fair at Kumbum, says:

I found there a number of Lh'asa Tibetans (they call them Gopa here) selling pulo, beads of various colors, saffron, medicines, peacock feathers, incense sticks, etc. I had a talk with these traders, several of whom I had met here 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'Alviella says that the Swastika is continued among the Buddhists of Tibet; that the women ornament their petticoats with it, and that it is also placed upon the breasts of their dead.[116]

He also reports[117] a Buddhist statue at the Musée Guimet with Swastikas about the base. He does not state to what country it belongs, so the author has no means of determining if it is the same statue as is represented in fig. 29.

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1013).

Hon. W. W. Rockhill (Department of State, December 26, 1896) calls

Your [my] attention to the existence in Tibet of a religion, the name of which translated means "The Religion of the Swastika," and in which this sign plays a most important role. This religion, which is also known as the Bon Religion, is probably the modern form of the Pre-Buddhist Shaminism of Tibet. It has a voluminous literature, some few works of which have been translated into European languages, in which you will find many interesting references to this sign. Chinese works also contain numerous references and explanations of its meaning and origin.

**

[115] "Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891-92," p. 67.
[116] "La Migration des Symboles," p. 55, citing note 1, Journ. Asiatique, 2nd série, IV, p. 245, and Palla, "Sammlungen historischer Naehriehten über die mongolischen Völkerschaften," I, p. 277.
[117] Ibid., p. 55.

*****

INDIA

Burnouf[118] says approvingly of the Swastika:

Christian archaeologists believe this "was the most ancient sign of the cross. * * * It was used among the Brahmins from all antiquity. (Voyez mot "Swastika" dans notre dictionnaire Sanskrit.) Swastika, or Swasta, in India corresponds to "benediction" among Christians.

 


Fig. 32.
Footprint of Buddha with Swastika, from Amaravati tope.
From a figure by Fergusson and Schliemann.

The same author, in his translation of the "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. 8) devoted to an enumeration and description of the sixty-five figures traced on the footprint of Çakya (fig. 32) commences as follows:

1. Svastikaya: This is the familiar mystic figure of many Indian sects, represented thus, 卐, and whose name signifies, literally, "sign of benediction or of good augury." (Rgya tch'er rol pa, Vol. 11, p. 110).

* * * The sign of the Swastika was not less known to the Brahmins than to the Buddhists. "Ramayana," Vol. 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 of the inscriptions on the Buddhist caverns in western India are either preceded or followed by the holy (sacramentelle) sign of the Swastika. It appears less common on the Brahmin monuments.

Mr. W. Crooke (Bengal Civil Service, director of Eth. Survey, Northwest Provinces and Oudh), says:[119]

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 liable 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 marriage day In Gujarat. A red circle with Swastika in the center is depicted on 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 shrine 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 representations of the mystical Swastika.

On page 250 he 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. Virchand E. 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, D.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 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 and 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 different 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 knowledge, 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, has 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.

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 and make them more permanent.



Fig. 33.
Explanation of the Jain Swastika, according to Gandhi.
(1) Archaic or protoplasmic life; (2) Plant and animal life; (3) Human life; (4) Celestial life.


Fig. 34a.
The formation of the Jain Swastika--first stage.
Handful of rice or meal, in circular form, thinner in center.

Fig. 34b.
The formation of the Jain Swastika--second stage.
Rice or meal, as shown in the preceding figure, with finger marks, indicated at 1, 2, 3, 4.

Mr. Gandhi says the Jains make the sign of the Swastika as frequently 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. 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-eighth 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 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).


Fig. 34c.
The formation of the Jain Swastika--third stage.
Ends turned out, typifying animal, human, and celestial life, as shown in fig. 33.

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 Buddhist 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 inscriptions, containing the Swastikas, is taken from the first book coming to hand--the "Report of Dr. James Burgess on the Buddhist Cave Temples and their Inscriptions, Being a Part of the Result of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Seasons' Operations of the Archaeological Survey of Western India, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879:"[120]

Chantre[121] 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 we employ the Greek fret, lozenges, and similar motifs in our ornamentation. Sistres [the staff with jingling bells, held in the hand of Buddha, on whose base is engraved a row of Swastikas, fig. 29 of present paper] of similar form and style have been found in prehistoric Swiss lake dwellings of the bronze age. Thus the sistres and the Swastika are 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.

De Mortillet and others hold the same opinion.[122]

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1013-1014).

General Lew Wallace, "Prince of India," vol. I, p. 263:

"I am a Prince of India. * * * I began walk as a priest--a disciple of Siddartha--whom my Lord, of his great intelligence, will remember was born in Central India. Very early, on account of my skill in translating, I was called to China and there put to rendering the thirty-five discourses of the father of the Buddhisottwa into Chinese and Thibettan. I also published a version of the Lotus of the Good Law, and another of the Nirvâna. These brought me great honor. To an ancestor of mine, Maha Kashiapa, Buddha happened to have intrusted his innermost mysteries--that is, he made him Keeper of the Pure Secret of the Eye of Right Doctrine. Behold the symbol of that doctrine."

The Prince drew a leaf of ivory, worn and yellow, from a pocket under his pelisse and passed it to Mahommed, saying, "Will my lord look?"

Mahommed took the leaf, and in the silver sunk into it saw this sign:

[left-facing swastika, rotated 45 degrees]

"I see," he said, gravely. "Give me its meaning."

"Nay, my Lord, did I that, the doctrine of which, as successor of Kashiapa, though far removed, they made me Keeper--the very highest of Buddhistic honors--would then be no longer a secret. The symbol is of vast sanctity. There is never a genuine image of Buddha without it over his heart. It is the monogram of Vishnu and Siva, but as to its meaning I can only say every Brahmin of learning views it worshipfully, knowing it the compression of the whole mind of Buddha."

**

[118] "Des Sciences et Religion," p. 256.
[119] "Introduction to popular Religion and Folk Lore of Northern India," p. 58.
[120] Trubner & Co., London, 1883, pp. 140. pl. 60.
[121] "Âge du Bronze," pt. 1, p. 206.
[122] "Musée Préhistorique," pl. 98; "Notes de l'Origine Orientale de la Métallurgie," Lyon, 1879; "L'Âge de la Pierre et du Bronze dans l'Asie Occidentale," Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Lyon, I, fasc. 2, 1882; Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop de Paris, 1886, pp. 299, 313, and 314.

*****

CLASSICAL ORIENT

BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, CHALDEA, AND PERSIA

Waring[123] says, "In Babylonian and Assyrian remains we search for it [the Swastika] in vain." Max Müller and Count Goblet d'Alviella are of the same opinion.[124]

Of Persia, D'Alviella (p. 51), citing Ludwig Müller,[125] says that the Swastika is manifested only by its presence on certain coins of the Arsacides and the Sassanides.

PHOENICIA

It is reported by various authors that the Swastika has never been found in Phoenicia, e.g. Max Müller, J. B. Waring, Count Goblet d'Alviella.[126]

Ohnefalsch-Richter[127] says that the Swastika is not found in Phoenicia, yet he 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. 796).

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,[128] quoting Perrot and Chipiez,[129] states that the Hittites introduced the Swastika on a bas-relief of Ibriz, Lycaonia, where it forms a border of the robe of a king or priest offering a sacrifice to a god.


[123] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages."
[124] "Les Migration des Symboles," pp. 51, 52.
[125] "Det Saakaldte Hagebors," Copenhagen, 1877.
[126] "La Migration des Symboles," pp. 51, 52.
[127] Bull. de la Soc. d'Anthrop., December 6, 1888, XI, p. 671.
[128] "La Migration des Symboles," p. 51.
[129] "Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité," IV.

*****

ARMENIA

M. J. de Morgan (the present director of the Gizeh Museum at Cairo), under the direction of the French Government, made extensive excavations and studies into the prehistoric antiquities and archaeology of Russian Armenia. His report is entitled "Le Premier Age de Métaux dans l'Arménie Russe."[130] He excavated a number of prehistoric cemeteries, and found therein various forms of crosses engraved on ceintures, vases, and medallions. The Swastika, though present, was more rare. He found it on the heads of two large bronze pins (figs. 35 and 36) and on one piece of pottery (fig. 37) from the prehistoric tombs. The bent arms are all turned to the left, and would be the Suavastika of Prof. Max Müller.


Fig. 35.
Bronze pin-head from Cheithan-Thagh.
De Morgan, "Au Caucase," fig. 177.


Fig. 36.
Bronze pin-head from Akthala.
De Morgan, "Au Caucase," fig. 178.

Fig. 37.
Swastika mark on black pottery.
Cheithan-thagh.
De Morgan, "Au Caucase," fig. 179.


[130] "Mission Scientifique au Caucase."

*****

CAUCASUS

In Caucasus, M. E. Chantre[131] found the Swastika in great purity of form. Fig. 38 represents portions of a bronze plaque from that country, used on a ceinture or belt. Another of slightly different style, but with square cross and arms bent at right angles, is represented in his pl. 8, fig. 5. These belonged to the first age of iron, and much of the art was intricate.[132] It represented animals as well as all geometric forms, crosses, circles (concentric and otherwise), spirals, meanders, chevrons, herring bone, lozenges, etc. These were sometimes cast in the metal, at other times repoussé, and again were engraved, and occasionally these methods were employed together. ... Fig. 40 represents signs reported by Waring[133] as from Asia Minor, which he credits, without explanation, to Ellis's "Antiquities of Heraldry."



Fig. 38.
Fragment of bronze ceinture.
Swastika repoussé.
Necropolis of Koban, Caucasus.
Chantre, "Le Caucase," pl. 11. fig. 3.

The specimen shown in fig. 41 is reported by Waring,[134] quoting Rzewusky,[135] as one of the several branding marks used on Circassian horses for identification.

Mr. Frederick Remington, the celebrated artist and literateur, has an article, "Cracker Cowboy in Florida,"[136] wherein he discourses of the forgery of brands on cattle in that country. One of his genuine brands is a circle with a small cross in the center. The forgery consists in elongating each arm of the cross and turning it with a scroll, forming an ogee Swastika (fig. 13d), which, curiously enough, is practically the same brand used on Circassian horses (fig. 41). Max Ohnefalsch-Richter[137] says that instruments of copper (audumbaroasih) are recommended in the Atharva Veda to make the Swastika, which represents the figure S; 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. 40.
Swastika signs from Asia Minor.
Waring "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, figs. 5 and 6.


Fig. 41.
Brand for horses in Circassia.
Ogee Swastika, tetraskelion.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 20c.


[131] "Recherches Anthropologiques dans la Caucase," tome deuxième, péiode protohistorique, Atlas, pl. 11, fig. 3.
[132] Count Goblet d'Alviella, "La Migration des Symboles," p. 51.
[133] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, figs. 5 and 6.
[134] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 20c.
[135] "Mines de l'Orient," v.
[136] Harper's Magazine, August, 1895.
[137] Bulletins de la Soc. d'Anthrop. 1888, II. p. 678.

*****

ASIA MINOR--TROY (HISSARLIK)

Many specimens of the Swastika were found by Dr. Schliemann in the ruins of Troy, principally on spindle whorls, vases, and bijoux of precious metal. Zmigrodzki[138] 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 pure 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 relation to the Swastika thus: Eighty-two representing stars; 70 representing suns; 42 representing branches of trees or palms; 15 animals non-ferocious, deer, antelope, hare, swan, etc.; total, 209 objects. Many of these were spindle whorls.

Dr. Schliemann, 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.

[...]

First and Second Cities.--But few whorls were found in the first and second cities[139] 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 unornamented, 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 case they were flat.[140] In the second city the whorls were smaller than in the first. They were all of a black color and their incised ornamentation was practically the same as those from the upper cities.[141]


Fig. 42.
Fragment of lustrous black pottery.
Swastika, right. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 247.

[...]

The Swastika, turned both ways 卐 and 卍, was frequent in the third, fourth and fifth cities.

The following specimens bearing the Swastika mark are chosen, out of the many specimens in Schliemann's great album, in order to make a fair representation of the various kinds, both of whorls and of Swastikas. They are arranged in the order of cities, the depth being indicated in feet.


The Third, or Burnt, City (23 to 33 feet deep).--[...]




Fig. 43.
Spindle-whorl with two Swastikas and two crosses. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1858.

Fig. 44.
Spindle-whorl with two Swastikas. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1874.


Fig. 45.
Spindle-whorl with two Swastikas. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1919.


Fig. 47.
Spindle-whorl with three swastikas. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1851.


Fig. 49.
Sphere divided into eight segments, one of which contains a Swastika.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1999.


Fig. 50.
Biconical spindle-whorl with Swastika.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1949.


Fig. 51.
Biconical spindle-whorl with six Swastikas. Depth, 33 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1859.

Fig. 52.
Biconical spindle-whorl with two ogee Swastikas. Depth, 33 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1876.


Fig. 53.
Spindle-whorl with four Swastikas. Depth, 33 feet.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1240.

Fig. 54.
Spindle-whorl with one swastika. Depth, 33 feet.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1241.

[...]

The Fourth City (13.2 to 17.6 feet deep).--[...]

[...]



Fig. 55.
Conical spindle-whorl with three ogee Swastikas. Depth, 13.5 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1850.


Fig. 56.
Conical spindle-whorl with four Swastikas of various kinds. Depth, 13.5 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1879.


Fig. 57.
Conical spindle-whorl with Swastikas. Depth, 13.5 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1891.


Fig. 59.
Biconical spindle-whorl with three ogee Swastikas. Depth, 13.5 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1990.


Fig. 60.
Biconical spindle-whorl with two Swastikas. Depth, 16.5 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1863.


Fig. 61.
Biconical spindle-whorl with five ogee Swastikas. Depth, 18 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1905.


Fig. 62.
Spindle-whorl with three Swastikas. Depth, 19.8.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1855.


Fig. 63.
Spindle-whorl having four ogee Swastikas with spiral volutes. Depth, 18 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1868.


Fig. 66.
Biconical spindle-whorl with three Swastikas and three burning altars. Depth, 19.8 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1872.


Fig. 67.
Biconical spindle-whorl with four Swastikas. Depth, 19.8 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1873.

Fig. 68.
Biconical spindle-whorl with three Swastikas of different styles. Depth, 19.8 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1911.


Fig. 71.
Conical spindle-whorl with three ogee Swastikas. Depth, 13.5 feet.
Gift of Madame Schliemann. Cat. No. 149704, U.S.N.M.

[...]

The U.S. National Museum was, during 1893, the fortunate recipient of a collection of objects from Madame Schliemann, which her husband, before his death, had signified 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 acknowledgments 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 Anthropology. In this collection is a spindle-whorl, found at 13.5 feet (4 meters) depth and belonging to the fourth city. It had three Swastikas upon its face, and is here shown as fig. 71.[145]

[...]

The sixth and Seventh Cities.--The sixth city is described in "Ilios," page 587, and the seventh on pages 608 and 618. Both cities contained occasional whorls of clay, all thoroughly baked, without incised or painted ornamentation, and shed no further light on the Swastika.

Fig. 75 represents the opposite hemispheres of a terra-cotta ball, found at a depth of 26 feet, divided by incised lines into fifteen zones, of which two are ornamented with points and the middle zone, the largest of all, with thirteen specimens of 卐 and 卍.


Fig. 75.
Terra-cotta sphere with thirteen Swastikas. Third city. Depth, 26 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," figs. 245, 246.

Zmigrodzki says[147] that there were found by Schliemann, at Hissarlik, fifty-five specimens of the Swastika "pure and simple" (pp. 809, 826). It will be perceived by examination 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 Müller'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 off 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 themselves. These will sometimes have three, five, six, or more arms, instead of four (p. 768), 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 associated with the Swastika, and are only related to it by the association of similar objects from the same locality. A description of their patterns will include those already figured, together with Schliemann's comments as to signification and frequency. They become more important because these related forms will be found in distant countries and among distant peoples, notably among the prehistoric peoples of America. Possibly these designs have 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 ideographic, signification. No opinion is advanced by the author on these theories, but the designs are given in considerable numbers, to the end that the evidence maybe fully reported, and future investigators, radical 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. 76 is not a spindle-whorl, as shown by the number and location of the holes. It bears a good representation of a Swastika the form of which has been noticed several times. ...


Fig. 76.
Terra-cotta disk with one Swastika.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1849.


Fig. 78.
Biconical spindle-whorl with irregular Swastikas and crosses. Fourth City. Depth, 13.6 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1871.


Fig. 81.
Biconical spindle-whorl, flattened, with two Swastikas and indefinite decoration.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1947.


Fig. 83.
Biconical spindle-whorl, flattened. Ogee Swastika with central circle. Third City. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1987.


Fig. 84.
Biconical Spindle-whorl with six ogee Swastikas having central circle and dot. Third city. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1862.


Fig. 87.
Spherical spindle-whorl, flattened. Two Swastikas combined with segments and dots.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1988.


Fig. 88.
Sections of terra-cotta sphere.[149] Central circles with extended arms turning to the left, ogee and zigzag.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1993.

[...]

Fig. 88 represents two sections of a terra cotta sphere divided similar to fig. 49. Each of these sections contains 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 decoration 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.


Fig. 89.
Sphereical spindle-whorl. Large central dot with twelve arms, similar in form to teh ogee Swastika.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1946.


Fig. 99.
Biconical spindle-whorl. Four animals are shown similar to those found associated with the Swastika. Third city. Depth, 33 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1877.


Fig. 100.
Biconical spindle-whorl. Four animals are shown similar to those found associated with the Swastika. Fourth city. Depth, 19.6 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1867.


[...]

Dr. Schliemann found, during his excavations on the hill of Hissarlik, 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 74), but the greatest number were from the third city, thence upward in decreasing numbers. 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.

[...]

Leaden idol of Hissarlik.--Dr. Schliemann, in his 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.[150] It was submitted to Professor Sayce who made the following report:[151]

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 Aegean Sea. Characteristic figures of the goddess have been discovered at Mycenae 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 serpentine was recently found in Maeonia, and published by M. Salmon Reinach in Revue Archaeologique. By the side of the goddess stauds the Babylonian Bel, and among the Babylonian symbols that surround them is the representation of one of the terra cotta whorls, of which Dr. Sehliemann found such multitudes at Troy.

The chief interest to us of Dr. Sehliemann's description of the idol lies in the last paragraphs:[152]

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 Swastika, which we see in the middle of the vulva, * * * So 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 represented on the six figures by a large triangle. * * * Similar white Parian marble figures, found in the Cyclades, whereon the vulva is represented by a decorated triangle, are preserved in the British Museum. Lenorment, in "Les Antiquités de la Troade" (p. 46), says: "The statuettes of the 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 sepulchers 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 whole extent of the Chaldeo-Assyrian, Aramaean, and Phoenician world. Their prototype 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.

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


Fig. 125.
Leaden idol of Artemis Nana of Chaldea, with Swastika.[153] Third city. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig 126.

[...]

Owl-shaped vases.---[...]


Fig. 129.
Terra-cotta vase with circle or ring inclosing Swastika.
Schliemann, "Troja," fig. 101.

[...]


[138] Dixième Congrès International d'Anthropologie et d'Archéologie Préhistorique, Paris, 1889, p. 474.
[139] "Ilios," pp. 229, 350, note 1.
[140] Ibid, figs. 63-70, p. 229.
[141] Ibid, p. 303.
[145] "Ilios," fig. 1852.
[147] Tenth Congr. Inter. d'Anthrop. et d'Archaeol. Prehist., Paris, 1889, p. 474.
[149] See p. 786.
[150] "Ilios," fig. 226, p. 337.
[151] Ibid., p. 694.
[152] Ibid., p. 338.
[153] See p. 795.

*****

AFRICA

EGYPT

A consensus of the opinions of antiquarians is that the Swastika had no foothold among the Egyptians. Prof. Max Müller is of this opinion, as is also Count Goblet d'Alviella.[162]

Waring[163] says:

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

Mr. Greg says:[164] "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 136). Professor Goodyear,[165] says:

The earliest dated Swastikas are of the third millenium B.C., and occur on the foreign Cyprian and Carian (?) pottery fragments of the time of the twelfth dynasty (in Egypt), discovered by Mr. Flinders Petrie in 1889. (Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara, pl. 27, Nos. 162 and 173.)

Naukratis.--Figs. 130 to 135, made after illustrations in Mr. W. Flinders Petrie's Third Memoir of the Egyptian Exploration Fund (Pt. 1), found by him in Naukratis, all show unmistakable Swastikas. It should be explained that these are said to be Greek vases which have been imported into Egypt. So that, while found in Egypt and so classed geographically, they are not Egyptian, but Greek.


Fig. 130.
Greek vase showing deer, geese, and Swastikas.
Naukratis, Ancient Egypt. Sixth and fifth centuries, B.C.
Petrie, Third Memoir, Egypt Exploration Fund, part I, pl. 4, fig.3, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 60, fig. 2.


Fig. 130a.
Detail of vase shown in the preceding figure.


Coptos (Achmim-Panopolis).--Within the past few years great discoveries have been made in Upper Egypt, in Sakkarah, Fayum, and Achmim, the last of which was the ancient city of Panopolis. The inhabitants of Coptos and the surrounding or neighboring cities were Christian Greeks, who migrated from their country during the first centuries of our era and settled in this land of Egypt. Strabo mentions these people and their ability as weavers and embroiderers. Discoveries have been made of their cemeteries, winding sheets, and grave clothes. These clothes have been subjected to analytic investigation, and it is the conclusion of M. Gerspach, the administrator of the national manufactory of the Gobelin tapestry, Paris,[166] 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 Gräber- und Textilfunde von Achmim-Panopolis," by R. Forrer, occurs a normal Swastika embroidered or woven, tapestry fashion, within woolen thread (fig. 136). It belongs to the first epoch, which includes portions of the first and second centuries A.D. There were on these cloths an enormous amount of decoration, representing many figures, both natural and geometric. Among them was the Swastika various applied and in different sizes, sometimes inserted in borders, and sometimes adorning the corners of tunics and togas as a large medallion, as shown in the figure.[167]


Fig. 131.
Pottery fragments with two meander Swastikas. Naukratis, Ancient Egypt.
Petrie, Third Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 1, pl. 5, figs. 15, 21.


Fig. 132.
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," pl. 30, fig. 2.


Fig. 133.
Fragment of Greek vase decorated with figures of sacred animals and Swastikas, associated with Greek fret. Naukratis, Ancient Egypt.
Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 2, pl. 6, fig. 1.


Fig. 134.
Fragment of Greek vase with figures of animals, two meander Swastikas, and Greek fret. Naukratis, Ancient Egypt.
Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 2, pl. 8, fig. 1, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus, pl. 30, fig. 10.


Fig. 135.
Greek vase with deer, and meander and figure-8 Swastikas. Naukratis, Ancient Egypt.
Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, part 2, pl. 5, fig. 1.


Fig. 136.
Greek tapestry. Coptos, Egypt. First nd second centuries, A.D.
Forrer, "Die Gräber- und Textilfunde von Achmin-Panopolis."

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1014).

R. Forrer, Strasbourg, Germany (March 7, 1897):

At Achmim I found it [the swastika] in all forms, from the single cross to the most complicated, and on the Keltish coins of the Donau tribes.

**

[162] "La Migration des Symboles," pp. 51, 52.
[163] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," p. 82.
[164] Archaeologia, XLVII, pt. 1, p. 159.
[165] "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 30, figs. 2 and 10, p. 356.
[166] "Les Tapisseries Coptes," see. 4, pp. 5, 6.
[167] Forrer, "Die Gräber- und Textilfunde von Achmim-Panopolis," p. 20.

*****

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 Delamare), the base of a column from a ruined Roman 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 pavement in Algeria. Instead of being square, however, or at right angles, as might ordinarily be expected 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.[168]


Fig. 137.
Torus of column with Swastikas. Roman ruins, Algeria.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 43, fig. 2, quoting from Delamare.

[168] Bull. Soc. Française de numism. et d'archéol., II, pl. 3, p. 3.

*****

ASHANTEE

Mr. R. B. Aeneas McLeod, of Invergordon Castle, Ross-shire, Scotland, reported[169] that, on looking over some curious bronze ingots captured at Coomassee in 1874, during the late Ashantee war, by Captain Eden, in whose possession they were at Inverness, he had found some marked with the Swastika sign (fig. 138). These specimens were claimed to be aboriginal, but whether the marks were cast or stamped in the ingot is not stated.


Fig. 138.
Bronze ingots bearing Swastikas.
Comassee, Ashantee.


[169] "Ilios," p. 353. (Wilson has a typo--in the original source his name is spelled "Macleod".

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1014).

Felix von Luschan published (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, XXVIII, fasc. 2, p. 138-9; Berlin, 1896, 2 figs.) an account of a woman, Basundi, from the Valley Kuili, whose back was tattooed with swastikas, mostly in spirals, turning right and left. (Reviewed by Dr. L. Laboy [sic] in L'Anthropologie, VII, No. 5, 1896, p. 606.)

Dr. Von Luschan has published a later volume (Beitrage zur Volkerkunde der Deutschen Schutzgebiete; Berlin, 1897, pl. 46, p. 87) where he presents a mass of interesting material relating to various African tribes, notably the Massai, Swaheli, Togo, Cameruns, and the New Britains. Among the decorations is a well marked swastika (p. 46).

* Blogger's note: Wilson has a typo--the review article is by Dr. Léon Laloy (1867-1910). The rest of the citation is correct, and his one-paragraph review can be seen here:
https://archive.org/details/lanthropologie7189unse/page/606/mode/2up

**
*****

CLASSICAL OCCIDENT--MEDITERRANEAN

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

The Swastika has 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 largest proportion should be the oldest, those belonging to the Archaic period. Those already shown as having been found at Naukratis, in Egypt, are assigned by Mr. Flinders Petrie to the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., and their presence is accounted for by migrations from Greece.


Fig. 139.
Variation of the Greek fret.
Continuous lines crossing each other at right angles forming figures resembling the Swastikas.


Fig. 140.
Greek geometric vase in the Leyden Museum, with figures of geese and Swastika in panel.[170] Smyrna.
Conze, "Anfänge," etc., Vienna, 1870, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 56, fig. 4.

The Greek fret and Egyptian meander not the same as the Swastika.--Professor Goodyear says:[171] "There is no proposition in archaeology which can be so easily demonstrated as the assertion that the Swastika is originally a fragment of the Egyptian meander, provided Greek geometric 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 necessary to prove his proposition.


Fig. 141.
Greek vase with figures of horses, geometric ornaments and Swastikas in panels. Athens.
Dennis, "Etruria," I, p. cxiii.


Fig. 142.
Greek vase with Swastikas in panels.
Conze, "Anfäge," etc., and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 60, fig. 13.


Fig. 143.
Detail of Archaic Greek vase with figure of solar goose and Swastikas in panels. British Museum.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, fig. 15.


Fig. 144.
Cyprian pottery plaque with Swastika in panel. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Cesnola, "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples," pl. 47, fig. 40.


Fig. 145.
Detail of Cyprian vase with Swastikas in triangles.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 1, fig. 11.


Fig. 146.
Detail of Attic vase with figure of antelope(?) and Swastika. British Museum.
Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1885, p. 50, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 37, fig. 9.


Fig. 147.
Cyprian vase with Swastikas.
Cesnola, "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and 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-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 681.

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 impossible, 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.


Fig. 149.
Terra cotta vase with Swastika and figure of horse.[172]


Fig. 150.
Bronze fibula with Swastika and representations of a goose and fish. Boeotia, Greece.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1265.


Fig. 151.
Detail of Greek vase with Swastikas and figures of birds.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 33, fig. 24, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 46, fig. 5.


Fig. 152.
Detail of Cyprian Vase. Sunhawk, solar disk, and Swastikas.
Böhlau, Jarhbuch, 1886, pl. 8; Reinach Revue Archaeologique, 1885, II, p. 360; Perrot and Chipiez, "History of Art in Phoenicia and Cyprus," II; Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 45, fig. 3.


Fig. 153.
Detail of Greek geometric vase with Swastikas and figures of horses. Thera.
Leyden Museum.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 61, fig.4.


Fig. 154.
Bronze fibula with large Swastika on Shield. Greece.
Musée St. Germain.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1264.


Fig. 155.
Greek vase, oinochoë, with two painted Swastikas.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1244.


Fig. 156.
Cyprian vase with Swastikas and figure of animal.[173]
Cesnola, "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples," pl. 45, fig. 36.


Fig. 157.
Archaic Greek pottery fragment. Santorin, Ancient Thera.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 2.


Fig. 158.
Cyprian vase with lotus and Swastikas and figure of bird.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus, pl. 60. fig. 15.


Fig. 159.
Cyprian vase with two Swastikas.
Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," fig. 151.

[...]

Swastika in panels.--[...]


Fig. 160.
Fragment of terra cotta vase with Swastikas, from ruins of temple at Paleo-Paphos. Depth, 40 feet.
Cesnola, "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples," p. 210.


Fig. 161.
Wooden button, clasp, or fibula covered with plates of gold. Ogee Swastika, tetraskelion in center.
Schliemann, "Mycenae," fig. 385.


Fig. 162.
Detail of Greek vase with figure of goose, honeysuckle (anthemion), and spiral Swastika. Thera.
"Monumenti Inedite," LXV, p. 2, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 46, fig. 7.


Fig. 163.
Detail of Greek vase. Spinx with spiral scrolls, and two meander Swastikas (right). Melos.
Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1887, XII, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 34, fig. 8.


Fig. 164.
Detail of Greek vase. Ibex, scroll, and meander Swastika (right). Melos.
Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1887, XII, p. 121, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 39, fig. 2.


Fig. 165.
Detail of a Greek vase in the British Museum. Ram, meander Swastika (left), circles, dots, and crosses.
Salzmann, "Necropole de Camire," LI, and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 28, fig. 7.

[...]

Although the Swastika and 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 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.

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


Fig. 166.
Cyprian vase with Swastikas and figures of birds.
Perrot and Chipiez, "History of Art in Phoenicia and Cyprus," II, p. 300, fig. 237; Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 48, figs. 6, 12; Cesnola, "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples," Appendix by Murray, p. 412, pl. 44, fig. 34.

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


Fig. 167.
Cyprian vase with lotus, bosses, buds, sepals, and different Swastikas.
Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 48, fig. 3.

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


Fig. 168.
Cyprian vase with bosses, lotus buds, and different Swastikas.
Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 48, fig. 15.


Fig. 169.
Detail of early Boeotian vase. Figure of horse, solar diagram, Artemis with geese, and Swastikas (normal and meander, right and left).
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 61, fig. 12.

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

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

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

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

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


Fig. 170.
Detail of Rhodian vase. Figures of geese, circles and dots, and Swastikas (right and left). British Museum.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 27, fig, 9.


Fig. 171.
Detail of Rhodian vase. Geese, lotus circles, and two Swastikas (right and left).
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 271, fig. 145.

Many examples of vases similar to fig. 172 are shown in the London, Paris, and New York museums, and in other collections. (See figs. 149, 159.) Fig. 174 shows an Attic painted vase (Lebes) of the Archaic period, from Athens. It is a pale yellowish ground, probably the natural color, with figures in maroon. It belongs to the British Museum. It bears on the front side five Swastikas, all of different styles; three turn to the right, two to the left. The main arms cross at right angles, but the ends of four are bent at right angles, while one is curved (ogee). Three have the ends bent (at right angles) four times, making a meander form, while two make only one bend. They seem not to be placed with any reference to each other, or to any other object, and are scattered over the field as chance or luck might determine. A specimen of Swastika interesting to prehistoric archaeologists is that on a vase from Cyprus (Musée St. Germain, No. 21557), on which is represented an arrowhead, stemmed, barbed, and suspended by its points between the Swastika.[182]


Fig. 172.
Greek vase of typical Rhodian style. Ibex, lotus, geese, and six Swastikas (normal, meander, and ogee, all left).
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 251, pl. 38.[183]

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

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

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

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


Fig. 173.
Detail of Greek vase. Deer, solar diagrams, and three Swastikas (single, double, and meander, right). Melos.
Conze, "Meliosche Thongefässe," and Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 60, fig. 8.


Fig. 174.
Archaic Greek vase with five Swastikas of four different forms. Athens.
Birch, "History of Ancient Pottery," quoted by Waring in "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, fig. 15; Dennis, "The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria," I, p. 91.


Fig. 175.
Detail of Archaic Boeotian vase. Serpents, crosses, and Swastikas (normal, right, left, and meander).
Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 60, fig. 9.


Fig. 176.
Attic vase for perfume, with Croix Swasticale and two forms of Swastikas.
Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 673, fig. 4.


Fig. 177.
Detail of Cyprian vase. Swastikas with palm tree, sacred to Apollo. Citium, Cyprus.
Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 673, fig. 3.

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

Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter adds:

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

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

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


Fig. 178.
Cyprian vase with figures of birds and Swastika in panel. Musée St. Germain.
Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 674, fig. 6.


Fig. 179.
Chariot of Apollo-Resef. Sun symbol(?) on shield and four Swastikas (two right and two left) on quadrants of chariot wheels.
Cesnola, "Salaminia," p. 240, fig. 226, and Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 675, fig. 7.


Fig. 180.
Terra-cotta statue of the goddess Aphrodite-Astarte with four Swastikas.[189] Curium, Cyprus.
Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc, d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 676, fig. 8.


Fig. 181.
Cyprian centaur with one Swastika.
Cesnola, "Salaminia," p. 243, fig. 230; Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 676, fig. 9.

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

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

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


Fig. 182.
Greek statue of Aphrodite-Ariadne. Six Swastikas (four right and two left). Polistis Chrysokon.
Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 677, fig. 10.

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1014).

CYPRUS

General Cesnola (letter of December 23, 1896) remarks the frequency of the swastika mark on the mortuary pottery from Cyprus in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which he is director, and expresses his belief, from the evidence presented, that it was a symbol of death, or in some way related to death.

**

[170] See p. 845.
[171] "Grammar of the Lotus," p. 352.
[172] Goodyear, "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 61, fig. 1.
[173] See p. 795 [177] "Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples," pl. 45, fig. 36.
[178] "History of Art in Phoenicia and Cyprus," II, p. 302, fig, 239.
[179] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 2.
[180] "Troja," p. 123.
[181] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," frontispiece, fig. 3, and p. 115.
[182] Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l'Homme, 1881, XVI, p. 416.
[183] Another Rhodian vase, similar in style, with Swastikas, is shown in the "Grammar of the Lotus," pl. 37. fig. 4.
[184] G. Hirschfield, "Vasi archaici Ateniesi," Annali dell' Instituto di corrispondenza archaeologica, 1872, Tav. d'Ag. K. 6, 52.
[185] Bull Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, pp. 674-675.
[186] Ibid., p. 675.
[187] "Salaminia," p. 240, fig. 226.
[188] Aphrodite = Phoenician Ashtoreeth, Astarte = Babylonian Ishtar.
[189] See p. 773.

*****

EUROPE

BRONZE AGE

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

Greg says:[190]

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

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

Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter says:[191]

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

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

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

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


Fig. 183.
Hut urn in the Vatican Museum.
"Burning altar" mark associated with Swastikas. Etruria (Bronze Age).

[...]

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

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


Fig. 184.
Fragment of Archaic Greek pottery with three Swastikas. Cumae, Italy.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 1.

A fragment of Archaic Greek pottery is reported by Rochette from the necropolis of Cumae, in the campagna of Italy, and is shown in fig. 184. Rochette reports it as an example of a very early period...


Fig. 185.
Cinerary urn with Swastikas in panels. San Marino, near Albano, Italy.
Vatican Museum.


Fig. 186.
Cinerary urn with Swastikas inclosed by incised lines in intaglio. Cervetri, Italy.
"Conestabile due Dischi in Bronzo," pl. 5, fig. 2.

Figs. 185 and 186 represent the one-handled cinerary urns peculiar to the Bronze Age in Italy. They are believed to have been contemporaneous with or immediately succeeding the hut urns just shown. The cinerary urn shown in fig. 185 was found at Marino, near Albano, in the same locality and under the same condition as the hut urns. The original is in the Vatican Museum and was figured by Pigorini in "Archaeologia," 1869. Fig. 186 shows a one-handled urn of pottery with Swastika (left) in intaglio, placed in a band of incised squares around the body of the vessel below the shoulder.


Fig. 187.
Gold fibula with Swastikas (left). Etruscan Museum, Vatican.
Catalogue of the Etruscan Museum, part 1, pl. 26, fig. 6.


Fig. 188.
Etruscan gold bulla with Swastika on bottom.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 4a.

A small though good example of Etruscan work is shown in the gold fibula (fig. 187). It is ornamented on the outside with the fine gold filigree work peculiar to the best Etruscan art. On the inside are two Swastikas. It is in the Vatican Museum of Etruscan antiquities. Fig. 188 represents another specimen of Etruscan gold filigree work with a circle and Swastika. It is a "bulla," an ornament said to indicate the rank of the wearer among the Etruscan people. It is decorated with a circle and Swastika inside. The figure is taken from "L'Art pour Tous," and is reproduced by Waring.


Fig. 189.
Ornamental Swastika on Etruscan silver bowl. Cervetri (Caere), Etruria.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, fig. 13.

An ornamental Swastika (fig. 189) 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 Copenhagen, and is taken from the report of the Congrés Internationale d'Anthropologie et d'Archaeologie Préhistorique, Copenhagen, 1875, page 486. This specimen, by its rays or crotchets around the junction of the pin with the shield, furnishes the basis of the argument by Goblet d'Alviella[197] that the Swastika was evolved from the circle and was a symbol of the sun or sun-god. (See p. 785.)


Fig. 190.
Bronze fibula with two Swastikas and supposed rays of sun.[198] Etruria. Copenhagen Museum.
Goblet d'Alviella, fig. 19a, De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1263.


Fig. 191.
Pottery urn ornamented with successive bands in intaglio, two of which are composed of Swastikas.
Necropolis Arnoaldi, Bologna. Museum of Bologna.
Gozzadini, "Scavi Archaeologici," etc., pl. 4, fig. 8.

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


Fig. 192.
Fragment of pottery with row of Swastikas in intaglio.
Necropole Felsinea, Italy. Museo Bologna.
Gozzadini, "Due Sepolcri," etc., p. 7.


Fig. 193.
Swastika sign on clay bobbin. Type Villanova, Bologna.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1239.

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

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


Fig. 194.
Pottery vase ornamented with bronze nail heads in form of Swastika. Este, Italy.
Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primtive et Naturelle de l'Homme, 1884, p. 14.

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

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

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

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

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1015-1016).

BRONZE AGE, ETRURIA

Prof. H. W. Haynes, Boston, takes exception to the author's statement that hut-urns belonged to the Bronze Age (letter of February 9, 1898). [...]

[...]

The author states (p. 857) that "he (Dr. Schliemann) appears unable, in 'Ilios,' to cite any instances of the swastika being found on the hut-urns in connection with the 'burning-altar' sign." Professor Haynes doubts this statement and refers to "Ilios," p. 350, note 7. (Letter of February 9, 1898).

Sven Söderberg, Lund, Sweden, letter of January 27, 1897, says:

This (the Torcello spear-head, fig. 204, p. 865) is a forgery. I have seen it in the Torcello Museum. It is a copy of the iron spear-head of Muncheberg in Brandenburg (your fig. 201), which no doubt belonged to some Gothic tribe settled in these environs in the fourth century.

Count Goblet d'Alviella (Migrations, etc., p. 36; Les Migrations des, etc., p. 46) attributes the specimen (the author's fig. 223) to a tumulus of the Bronze Age, on the authority of de Mortillet (La Croix, etc., Paris, fig. 76), but Professor Haynes (letter of March 12, 1898) says de Mortillet does not so specify.

**

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


Fig. 195.
Fragment of pottery with Swastika stamped in relief.


Fig. 196.
Stamp for making Swastika sign on pottery. Swiss lake dewlling of Bourget, Savoy. Musée de Chambéry.
Chantre, "Age du Bronze," figs. 53, 55, and Keller, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," pl. 161, fig. 3.

Germany and Austria.--Fig. 197 represents a fragment of a ceinture of thin bronze of the Halstattien epoch of the Bronze Age from a tumulus in Alsace. It is made after the style common to that period; the work is repoussé and the design is laid off by diagonal lines which divide the lines into lozenges, wherein the Swastika is represented in various forms, some turned square to the right, others to the left, while one is in spiral and is turned to the left. Other forms of the cross also appear with dots in or about the corners, which Burnouf associates with the myth of Agni and fire making, and which Zmigrodzki calls the Croix swasticale. This specimen is in the collection Nessel at Haguenau.


Fig. 197.
Fragment of ceinture from a tumulus in Alsace. Thin bronze repoussé with Swastikas of various kinds. Bronze Age, Halstattien epoch.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1255.


Fig. 198.
Fragment of a ceinture from the tumulus of Metzstetten, Würtemberg. Thin bronze open work in intricate Swastikas. Halstattien epoch.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1257, and Chantre, "Le Caucase," II, p. 50, fig. 25.

Another ceinture was found at the same place and is displayed with it. It bears representations of the cross of different forms, one of which might be a Swastika with dotted cross lines, with the arms turned spirally to the left. Fig. 198 represents another fragment of a bronze ceinture from the same country and belonging to the same epoch. It is from the tumulus of Metzstetten, Würtemberg, and is in the Museum of Stuttgart. It is not repoussé, but is cut in openwork of intricate pattern in which the Swastika is the principal motif.


Fig. 199.
Bronze fibula, the body of which forms a Swastika.
Museum of Mayence.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1266.

A bronze fibula (fig. 199) is in the museum at Mayence, the body of which has the form of the normal Swastika. The arms are turned to the right and the lower one is broken off. The hinge for the pin was attached at one side or arm of the Swastika and the retaining clasp for the point at the other.


Fig. 200.
Sepulchral urn with Swastika. North Germany.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 7, fig. 94.

Fig. 200 represents a prehistoric sepulchral urn with a large Swastika, the arms being indicated by three parallel lines, after the same manner as the Swastika on the clay bobbin from Bologna (fig. 193). It is reported by Lisch and Schröter, though the locality is not given. It is figured by Waring. The form, appearance, and decoration are of the type Villanova, thus identifying it with northern Italy.

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


Fig. 201.
Spearhead with Swastika (Croix Swasticale) and triskelion. Brandenburg, Germany.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 44, fig. 21, and "Viking Age," I, fig. 336.

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


Fig. 202.
Bronze pin with Swastika, pointillé, from a mound in Bavaria.
Chantre, Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l'Homme, 1884, pp. 14, 120.

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

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1016).

Judge Wenchelas Fiedorowicz, of Witebsk, Russia, reports by letter, under date of April 28-May 10, 1897, that he found at Witebsk, in the deposits of the river Wit'ba (a branch of the Dwina), a prehistoric bronze ring ornamented with a swastika. A Polish writer, Piekosinski, author of "La dinastique origine de la noblesse polonaise," gives the marks on their arms, among which are the normal cross, the swastika, and others. Another Polish author, Bolsounowski, writing on "Les plombes de Drohicsyne "(the leaden [images] of Drohicsyne), reports leaden images from the deposits of the river "Boug occidentale," many of which bear the swastika mark, which causes him to suppose that it was employed by the peoples between the rivers Oder and Dwina--that is, within the limits of ancient Poland.

Mr. Charles Seidler, of 46 Eyot Gardens, Hammersmith, W., London, England, reports a swastika on a silver ring from a Frankish grave near Weissenthurm, quoted from "Alterthümer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit," Lindenschmit, vol. I, pt. II, pl. VIII, No. 1.

**

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

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


Fig. 203.
Runic inscription containing a Swastika. Inlaid with silver on a bronze sword.
Saebo, Norway.


Fig. 204a.
Swastika with dots. Torcello, Italy.

Fig. 204b.
Runic inscription on spearhead. Torcello, Italy.
Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 335.

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


Fig. 205.
Redding Comb with Swastika.
Scandinavia.


Fig. 206.
Bronze brooch or fibula with combination of Swastikas.
Scandinavia.


Fig. 207.
Bronze brooch with Swastikas. Tetraskelions (right and left), triskelion (left).
Scandinavia.


Fig. 208.
Placque for ceinture, with buckle.
Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions).

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


Fig. 209.
Scandinavian sword scabbard.
Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions), right and left.

Fig. 210.
Scandinavian sword scabbard.
Ogee Swastika.

Fig. 211.
Scandinavian sword scabbard.
Two triskelions, right and left.


Fig. 212.
Gold brooch with ogee Swastika. Island of Fyen.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 43, fig. 11.


Fig. 213.
Scandinavian horse-gear. Silver plated on bronze.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 44, fig. 16; Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 379.


Fig. 214.
Scandinavian sword scabbard with normal Swastika.
Vimose bog find.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Fig. 215.
Sculptured stone. Greek cross in circle, normal Swastika in a square, and ogee Swastika in quatrefoil. Ireland.


Fig. 216.
Fragment of thin bronze repoussé. Ogee Swastika. Ireland.
Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," pl. 124, figs. 20-22.


Fig. 217.
Fragment of thin bronze. Triskelion. Ireland.
Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 385, pl. 124, figs. 20-22.


Fig. 218.
Bronze pin with small normal Swastika on head.
Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland.
Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 417.


Fig. 219.
Carved triskelion found on fragment of ash wood.
Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland.
Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 415.

An Irish bowl showed a Swastika thus [left-facing swastika with slightly curved ends which do not extend very far]. Dr. R. Munro[217] reports from the Crannog of Lesnacroghera country, Antrim, Ireland, two pieces or disks of thin bronze, repoussés (fig. 216), bearing the sign of the Swastika and having the four arms of the spirals turned to the left. The similarity of this figure with those shown on the shields of the Pima Indians of New Mexico and Arizona (figs. 257 and 258) is to be remarked. Fig. 217 shows a triskelion of symmetric spirals turned to the right. In the Crannog of Lochlee, near Tarbolton, a bronze pin was found (fig. 218), the head of which was inclosed in a ring. On one side of the head was engraved a Greek cross, on the other was a normal Swastika turned to the right. The same crannog furnished a piece of ash wood five inches square, which had been preserved, as were all the other objects, by the peat, on which was carved a triskelion (fig. 219) after the form and style of those on the Missouri mound pottery.


[190] Archaeologica, XLVIII, pt. 2, p. 305.
[191] Bull. Soc. d'Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 679.
[196] "Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria," I, p. lxxxix.
[197] "La Migration des Symboles," p. 67.
[198] See p. 786.
[199] "Ilios," p. 352.
[200] There are bronze hatchets from Italy, with Swastikas in intaglio and in relief, in Musée St. Germain. De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," figs. 1153, 1154.
[201] "Lake Dwellings," pl. 161, figs. 3, 4.
[202] "Age du Bronze," pt. 2, figs. 53-55, p. 195.
[203] Zeitschrift für Ethnographie, Berlin, 1871 and 1876.
[204] Coll. Majlath Bela; Hampel, "Antiquités Préhistoriques de la Hongrie;" Erztergom, 1877, pl. 20, No. 3.
[205] Hampel, "Catalogue de l'Exposition des Musées des Provinces," Budapest, 1876, p. 17; Schliemann, "Ilios," p. 352.
[206] Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l'Homme, 1884, pp. 14, 120.
[207] "Old Northern Runic Monuments," pt. 3, p. 407.
[208] Proceedings of the Eighth Session, I, pp. 457-460.
[209] Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 335.
[210] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 43, fig. 11; "Viking Age," II, fig. 1311; Englehardt, "L'Ancien Age de Fer," fig. 28.
[211] Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 379.
[212] "Ogam Inscribed Monuments," p. 359, pl. xlix.
[213] Ibid., p. 358, pl. xlviii.
[214] Greg, Archaeologia, XLVIII, pt. 2, pl. 19, fig. 27.
[215] "La Migration des Symboles," p. 49.
[216] Zmigrodzki "Zur Geschichte der Suastika," taf. 6, fig. 248.
[217] "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 384, pl. 124, figs. 20-22.

*****

GALLO-ROMAN PERIOD.

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


Fig. 220.
Stone altar with Swastika on pedestal. France. Museum of Toulouse.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1267.

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


Fig. 221.
Pottery bottle of dark gray with Swastika and decoration in white barbotine. Gallo-Roman Epoch. Museum of Rouen.
De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1246.

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

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1016).

Letter from Paul du Chatelier, Chateau de Kernuz, Pont l'Abbé, Finistère, March 27, 1897, reports finding a "milirary borne" 3 kilom. from his chateau, "fin du bronze," or beginning of "age de fer," with swastika engraved on it--the most western example in Europe.

Marie De Man, of Middleburg, Netherlands, published a pamphlet in 1898,* wherein she reports the swastika sign in the field as a sort of mint mark on the coins of Pepin le Bref (quoting and copying from the Bulletin de Numismatique et d'Archaeologie, t. iii, pl. v, No. 9; t. iv, p. 149, and Catalogue des Monnaies Carlovingienness, p. II, Paris, 1896: Maurice Prou). The rest of her pamphlet is a favorable review of "The Swastika" paper.

* Tijdschrift van het Nederlandisch Genootschap voor Munt--en Penningkunde: Onuitgegeven varieteit van een denarius van Pepijn den Korte en het Swastika of hakenhruis. Amsterdam: G. Theor. Bom en Zoon, 1898, pp. 1-16.

**

[218] "L'Autel de Saintes et les triades gauloises," Revue Archaeol., 1880, XXXIX, p. 343.
[219] "Institut Archaeologique Liégeois, X, 1870, p. 106, pl. 13.
[220] "La Migration des Symboles," p. 47, fig. 13.

*****

ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

Britain.--Greg reports[222] a silver disk 1.5 inches in diameter, with a triskelion made by punched dots, in the same style as the pin heads from Armenia (figs. 35 and 36). This was from grave 95 in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sleafors, England, excavated by George W. Thomas and sold at Boston; bought by A. W. Franks and given to the British Museum. Grave 143 had a large cruciform fibula of bronze, partly gilt, similar to those from Scandinavia, with a Swastika on the central ornament thus [left-facing swastika with arms bent at angles greater than 90 degrees]. The slight curve or flourish on the outer end of the bent arm of this specimen resembles the Jain Swastika (fig. 33), though this bends to the left, while the Jain Swastikas bend to the right. Fig. 222 shows an Anglo-Saxon bronze gilt fibula with a peculiar form of Swastika leaving a square with dot and circle in its center. It was found in Long Wittenham, Berkshire, was reported in Archaeologia,[223] and is figured by Waring.[224]


Fig. 222.
Anglo-Saxon bronze gilt fibula.[221] Simulation of Swastika.
Long Wittenham, Berkshire, England.


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

A figure having great similarity to this, even in its peculiarities and called a Swastika, was found on a shell in Toco Mound, Tennessee (fig. 238). Fig. 223 represents an Anglo-Saxon urn from Shropham, Norfolk. Its decorations consist of isolated figures like crosses, etc., arranged in horizontal bands around the vessel, and separated by moldings. The lower row consists of Swastikas of small size stamped into the clay and arranged in isolated squares. There are twenty Swastikas in the band; though they all turn to the right, they are not repetitions. They were made by hand and not with the stamp. They are white on a blackish ground. The original, which is in the British Museum, is cited by Kemble and figured by Waring.[225]

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1016-1017).

Professor Haynes (letter of March 12, 1898): "It (the swastika) appears on altars of the Romano-British period, found along the line of the Roman wall in Northumberland." See Bruce's "Descriptive Catalogue of Antiquities at Alnwick Castle," p. 158. Professor Haynes' article in " Science," II, p. 137. F. Madden, F. R. S., Archaeologia, vol. 24, 1832, tells of the discovery of a set (57) of chessmen found in a sand bank on the Isle of Lewes, Scotland. On the back of the bishop's robes and on the sides of the chairs in which some of the figures sit are carved forms of the swastika, in one or two instances very clearly defined. The pieces are of early Norse workmanship and are supposed to have been washed up from an old wreck. The article is well illustrated. At the end of the volume are illustrations of Caedmon's Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase of the Bible. Forms of the swastika occur in one of the border decorations.

Mr. Charles Seidler reports (Collectionia Antiqua, 1857) a Swastika on a Roman Samian bowl found at Colchester.

**

[221] See fig. 238.
[222] Archaeologia, L, pt. 2, p. 406, pl. 23, fig. 7.
[223] Archaeologia, XXXI.
[224] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 43, fig. 10.
[225] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 3, fig. 50.

*****

THE SWASTIKA ON ANCIENT COINS

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

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


Fig. 224.[226]
Lycian coin. Triskelion with three arms representing cocks' heads and necks.


Figs. 225 and 226.[226]
Lycian coins. Triskelions with central dots and circles.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, figs. 12, 13.

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

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

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

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

In this regard Greg says:

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

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

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

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


Fig. 227.
Sicilian coin with quadriga and triskelion. British Museum.
Barclay Head, "Coins of Ancients," etc., pl. 35, fig. 28.


Fig. 228.
Warrior's shield. From a Greek vase, representing Achilles and Hector.
Agrigentum, Sicily.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 24.

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

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

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

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

Alexander III of Scotland had married Margaret, the youngest daughter of Henry III, and thus was brother-in-law to Edmund as well as to Frederick. In 1250, and while these negotiations between Henry and the Pope concerning Sicily were in progress, Alexander visited, at London, his royal father-in-law, the King of England, and his royal brother-in-law, the King of Sicily, and was received with great honors. About that time Haco, the Norse king of the Isle of Man, was defeated by Alexander III of Scotland, and killed, soon after which event (1266) the Isle of Man was ceded to the latter. The Norse coat of arms disappeared from the escutcheon of the Isle of Man, and, being replaced by the three legs of Sicily, Mr. Newton inquires:

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

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

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

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

Punch marks on Corinthian coins mistaken for Swastikas.--[...] The coinage of money began about 700 B.C. in Lydia. Lydia was a province on the western side of the peninsula of Asia Minor looking out toward Greece, while Lycia, its neighbor, was a province on the southern side looking toward the island of Rhodes. [...] Even the triskelion of the Lycian coins is within an indented square (figs. 225 and 226). A series of these punch marks is given for demonstration on pl. 9.

[...]

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


Fig. 229.
Corinthian coins. Obverse and reverse.
Punch mark resembling Swastika.

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


Fig. 230.
Ancient Hindu coin in the form of a cross with Swastika on the extremity of each arm.[237]
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, fig. 18.

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


Fig. 231. Fig. 232. Fig. 233. Fig. 234.
Ancient Hindu coins with Swastikas, normal and ogee.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, figs. 20-24.

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

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

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


Fig. 236.
Gold bracteate with Jain swastika. Denmark.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 1, fig. 9.

There are other bracteates with the Swastika mark, which belong to the Scandinavian countries.[246] Some of them bear signs referring to Christian civilization, such as raising hands in prayer; and from a determination of the dates afforded by the coins and other objects the Swastika can be identified as having continued into the Christian era. The coinage of the ancient world is not a prolific field for the discovery of the Swastika. Other specimens may possibly be found than those here given. This search is not intended to be exhaustive. Their negative information is, however, valuable. It shows, first, that some of the early stamps or designs on coins which have been claimed as Swastikas were naught but the usual punch marks; second, it shows a limited use of the Swastika on the coinage and that it came to an end in very early times. Numismatics afford great aid to archaeology from the facility and certainty with which it fixes dates. Using the dates furnished by the coinage of antiquity, it is gravely to be questioned whether the prolific use of the Swastika in Asia Minor (of which we have such notable examples on specimens of pottery from the hill of Hissarlik, in Greece) did not terminate before coinage began, or before 480 B.C., when the period of finer engraving began, and it became the custom to employ on coins the figures of gods, of tutelary deities, and of sacred animals. Thus the use of the Swastika became relegated to objects of commoner use, or those having greater relation to superstition and folklore wherein the possible value of the Swastika as an amulet or sign with power to bring good luck could be better employed; or, as suggested by Mr. Greg, that the great gods which, according to him, had the Swastika for a symbol, fell into disrepute and it became changed to represent something else.


[226] See p. 787.
[227] "History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria, and Lycia," p. 391.
[228] An unique cast of this tripod is in the U.S. National Museum, Department of Oriental Antiquities.
[229] The number of heads may have been regulated by the size of the coins in question, probably answering to different values.
[230] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," p. 85.
[231] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 13, fig. 24.
[232] Ibid., pl. 13, fig. 21.
[233] Athenaeum, No. 3385, September 10, 1892, p. 353.
[234] Debrett's "Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."
[237] See p. 788.
[238] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41, figs 20-23.
[240] "La Migration des Symboles," figs. 17, 123.
[241] Edward Thomas, Journ. Royal Asiatic Soc. (new series), I, p. 475.
[242] "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," p. 83.
[243] "Numismatic Chron.," pt I, 1880. See p. 788 of this paper.
[244] Archaeologia, XLVIII, pt. II, 1885, p. 306.
[245] Athenaeum, August 20, 1892.
[246] "Viking Age," II, figs. 1307, 1309.

*****

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PRE-COLUMBIAN TIMES

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

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

The incsed lines of this design (fig. 237) represent the Swastika turned to the left (though the description does not recognize it as such). It has small circles with dots in the center, a style of work that may become of peculiar value on further investigation, but not to be confounded with the dots or points in what M. Zmigrodzki calls the Croix swasticale. The mound from which this specimen came, and the objects associated with it, show its antiquity and its manufacture by the aborigines untainted by contact with the whites. The mound is on the east end of Fains Island. It was 10 feet in height and about 100 feet in circumference at the base. In the bed of clay 4 feet beneath the surface were found the remains of 32 human skeletons; of these, only 17 skulls could be preserved. There had been on regularity in placing the bodies.


Fig. 237.
Shell gorget with engraved Swastika, circles, and dots.
Fains Island, Tennessee.
Cat. No. 62928. U.S.N.M.


Fig. 238.
Engraved shell with Swastika, circles, and dots.
Toco Mound, Monroe County, Tenn.
Cat. No. 115624, U.S.N.M.

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

The following objects were found in the mound on Fains Island associated with the Swastika shell (fig. 237) and described, and many of them figured:[249] A gorget of the same Fulgur shell (fig. 239); a second gorget of Fulgur shell with an engraved spider (fig. 278); a pottery vase with a figure of a frog; three rude axes from four to seven inches in length, of diorite and quartzite; a pierced tablet of slate; a disk of translucent quartz 1.75 inches in diameter and three-quarters of an inch in thickness; a mass of pottery, much of it in fragments, and a number of bone implements, including needles and paddle-shaped objects. The shell objects (in addition to the disks and gorgets mentioned) were pins made from the columellae of Fulgur (Busycon perversum?) of the usual form and about four inches in length. There were also found shell beads, cylindrical in form, an inch in length and upward of an inch in diameter, with other beads of various sizes and shapes made from marine shells, and natural specimens of Io spinosa, Unio probatus.

The specimen represented in fig. 238 is a small shell from the Big Toco mound, Monroe County, Tenn., found by Mr. Emmert with skeleton No. 49 and is fig. 262, Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-91, page 383, although it is not described. This is a circular disk of Fulgur shell, much damaged around the edge, 1.5 inches in diameter, on which has been engraved a Swastika. It has a small circle and a dot in the center, around which circle the arms of the Swastika are interlaced. There are also circles and central dots at each turn of the four arms. The hatch work in the arc identifies this work with that of other crosses and a triskelion from the same general locality--figs. 302, 305, and 306, the former being part of the same find by Mr. Emmert. Fig. 222, a bronze gilt fibula from Berkshire, England, bears a Swastika of the same style as fig. 238 from Tennessee. The circles and central dots of fig. 238 have a similarity to Peruvian ornamentation. The form, and style, the broad arms, the circles and central dots, the lines of engravings, show such similarity of form and work as mark this specimen as a congener of the Swastika from Fains Island (fig. 237). The other objects found in the mound associated with this Swastika will be described farther on.

[...]

... Mr. V. R. Gandhi, in a recent letter to the author, says of this specimen (pl. 10):

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

[...]

... The excavation of Toco mound is described by Professor Thomas in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pages 379-384.

[...]

Other figures of sufficient similarity to the Swastika have been found among the aborigines of North America to show that these do not stand alone; and there are also other human figures which show a style of work so similar and such resemblance in detail of design as to establish the practical identity of their art. ...

[...]

Hopewell Mound, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio.--A later discovery of the Swastika belonging to the same period and the same general locality--that is, to the Ohio Valley--was that of Prof. Warren K. Moorehead, in the fall and winter of 1891-92, in his excavations of the Hopewell mound, seven miles northwest of Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio.[254] The locality of this mound is well shown in Squier and Davis's work on the "Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" (pl. 10, p. 20), under the name of "Clark's Works," here reproduced as pl. 11. ... The excavation contemplated the destruction of the mound by cutting it down to the surrounding level and scattering the earth of which it was made over the surface; and this was done. Preparatory to this, a survey and ground plan was made (pl. 12). ... The mound was found to be 530 feet long and 250 feet wide. ... Nothing was found until, in opening trench 3, about five feet above the base of the mound, they struck a mass of thin worked copper objects, laid flat one atop the other, in a rectangular space, say three by four feet square. These objects are unique in American prehistoric archaeology. Some of them bore a resemblance in form to the scalloped mica pieces found by Squier and Davis, and described by them in their "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" (p. 240), and also those of the same material found by Professor Putnam in the Turner group of mounds in the valley of the Little Miami. They had been apparently laid between two layers of bark, whether for preservation or mere convenience of deposit, can only be guessed.

The following list of objects is given, to the end that the reader may see what was associated with these newly found copper Swastikas: Five Swastika crosses (fig. 244); a long mass of copper covered with wood on one side and with squares and five similar designs traceable on the reverse; smaller mass of copper; eighteen single copper rings; a number of double copper rings, one set of three and one set of two; five pan lids or hat-shaped rings; ten circular disks with holes in center, represented in fig. 245, originally placed in a pile and now oxidized together; also large circular, stencil-like ornaments, one (fig. 246) 7.5 inches in diameter; another (fig. 247) somewhat in the shape of a St. Andrew's cross, the extreme length over the arms being 8.75 inches.


Fig. 241.
Swastika cross of thin copper.
Hopewell Mound, Ross County, Ohio.

About five feet below the deposit of sheet copper and 10 or 12 feet to the west, two skeletons lay together. They were covered with copper plates and fragments, copper hatchets, and pearl beads, shown in the list below, laid in rectangular form about seven feet in length and five feet in width, and so close as to frequently overlap.

[...]

Evidence was found of an extended commerce with distant localities, so that if the Swastika existed in America it might be expected here. The principal objects were as follows: A number of large seashells (Fulgur) native to the southern Atlantic Coast 600 miles distant, many of them carved; several thousand pieces of mica from the mountains of Virginia or North Carolina, 200 or more miles distant; a thousand large blades of beautifully chipped objects in obsidian, which could not have been found nearer than the Rocky Mountains, 1,000 or 1,200 miles distant; four hundred pieces of wrought copper, believed to be from the Lake Superior region, 150 miles distant; fifty-three skeletons, the copper headdress (pl. 13) made in semblance of elk horns, 16 inches high, and other wonderful things. Those not described have no relation to the Swastika.

These objects were all prehistoric. None of them bore the slightest evidence of contact with white civilization. [...]

Mounds in Arkansas.--A water jug in the collection of the U.S. National Museum (fig. 254) was obtained in 1883 by P. W. Norris, of the Bureau of Ethnology, from a mound in Poinsett County, Ark. It is of yellow ground, natural color of clay, and decorated with light red paint. The paint is represented in the cut by the darkened surfaces. The four quarters of the jug are decorated alike, one side of which is shown in the cut. The center of the design is the Swastika with the arm crossing at right angles, the ends turned to the right, the effect being produced by an enlargement on the right side of each arm until they all join the circle. A similar water jng with a Swastika mark of the same type as the foregoing decorates Major Powell's desk in the Bureau of Ethnology.

* Blogger's note: While this does appear to be an example of a "solar cross" symbol (note especially the rays surrounding the solar cross), it does not appear to be a swastika.


Fig. 254.
Water jug with figure of Swastika. Decoration, red on yellow ground.
Poinsett County, Ark.
Cat. No. 91230, U.S.N.M.

Marquis Nadaillac[255] describes and figures a grooved ax from Pemberton, N. J., on which some persons have recognized a Swastika, but which the Marquis doubts, while Dr. Abbott[256] denounces the inscription as a fraud.

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1017).

MOUNDS IN GEORGIA

Mr. Clarence B. Moore, 1321 Locust street, Philadelphia, Pa., May 28, 1897, tells of a piece of earthenware from a low mound on Ossabou island, Ga., with raised decoration, having an indefinite resemblance to swastika.

**

[247] Page 466, fig. 140.
[248] Proc. Royal Danish Acad. Sci., 5th ser., III, p. 94, fig. a; "La Migration des Symboles," p. 50, fig. 16.
[249] Third Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1881-1882, p. 464 et seq., figs. 139-141.
[251] Max Müller and Ohnefalsch-Richter agree with this. See pp. 772, 773 of this paper.
[254] These explorations were made for the Department of Ethnology at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.
[255] "Prehistoric America," p. 22, note 24, fig. 9.
[256] "Primitive Industry," p. 32.

*****

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

The Kansas.--The Rev. J. Owen Dorsey[257] describes the mourning customs of the Kansas Indians. In the course of his description he tells of a council of ceremony held among these Indians to decide if they should go on the warpath. Certain sacred songs were sung which Lad been arranged according to a chart, which Mr. Dorsey introduces as pl. 20, page 676. The outside edge of this chart bore twenty-seven ideographs, which suggest or determine the song or speech required. No. 1 was the sacred pipe; No. 2, the maker of all songs ; No. 3, song of another old man who gives success to the hunters; No. 4 (fig. 255 in the present paper) is the Swastika sign, consisting of two ogee lines intersecting each other, the ends curved to the left. Of it, Mr. Dorsey says only the following:

Fig. 4. Tadje wayun, wind songs. The winds are deities; they are Bazanta (at the pines), the east wind; Swastika sign for winds and Ak'a, the south wind; A'k'a jiñga or A'k'uya, the west wind; and Hnia (toward the cold), the north wind. The warriors used to remove the hearts of slain foes, putting them in the fire as a sacrifice to the winds.


Fig. 255.
Kansa Indian war chart. Swastika sign for winds and wind songs.
J. Owen Dorsey, American Naturalist, July, 1885, p. 670.

In the Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (p. 525) Mr. Dorsey repeats this statement concerning the names of the winds, and shows how, in their invocations, the Kansas began with the east wind and went around to the right in the order here given. His fig. 195 illustrates this, but the cross has straight arms. In response to my personal inquiry, Mr. Dorsey says the war chart[258] was drawn for him, with the Swastika as represented, by Pahanle-gaqle, the war captain, who had official charge of it and who copied it from one he had inherited from his father and his "father's fathers"; and Mr. Dorsey assured me that there can be no mistake or misapprehension about this Indian's intention to make the sign as there represented. Asked if the sign was common and to be seen in other cases or places, Mr. Dorsey replied that the Osage have a similar chart with the same and many other signs or pictographs--over a hundred --but except these, he knows of no similar signs. They are not in common use, but the chart and all it contains are sacred objects, the property of the two Kansas gentes, Black Eagle and Chicken Hawk, and not to be talked of nor shown outside of the gentes of the council lodge.[259]

The Sac Indians.--Miss Mary A. Owen, of St. Joseph, Mo., sending some specimens of beadwork of the Indians (pl. 15) from the Kansas Reservation, two of which were garters and the third a necklace 13 inches long and 1 inch wide, in which the Swastikas represented are an inch square, writes, February 2, 1895, as follows:

The Indians call it [the Swastika] the "luck," or "good luck." It is used in necklaces and garters by the sun worshippers among the Kickapoos, Sacs, Pottawatomies, Iowas, and (I have been told) by the Winnebagoes. I have never seen it on a Winnebago. The women use the real Swastika and the Greek key pattern, in the silk patchwork of which they make sashes and skirt trimmings. As for their thinking it an emblem of fire or deity, I do not believe they entertain any such ideas, as some Swastika hunters have suggested to me. They call it "luck," and say it is the same thing as two other patterns which I send in the mail with this. They say they "always" made that pattern. They must have made it for a long time, for you can not get such beads as compose it, in the stores of a city or in the supplies of the traders who import French beads for the red folk. Another thing. Beadwork is very strong, and this is beginning to look tattered, a sure sign that it has seen long service.

These sun worshippers--or, if you please, Swastika wearers--believe in the Great Spirit, who lives in the sun, who creates all things, and is the source of all power and beneficence. The ancestors are a sort of company of animal saints, who intercede for the people. There are many malicious little demons who thwart the ancestors and lead away the people at times and fill them with diseases, but no head devil. Black Wolf and certain ghosts of the unburied are the worst. Everybody has a secret fetish or "medicine," besides such general "lucks" as Swastikas, bear skins, and otter and squirrel tails.

Of the other cult of the peoples I have mentioned, those who worship the sun as the deity and not the habitation, I know nothing. They are secret, suspicious, and gloomy, and do not wear the "luck." I have never seen old people wear the "luck."

Now, I have told you all I know, except that it [the Swastika] used in ancient times to be made in quill embroidery on herb bags.

Miss Owen spoke of other garters with Swastikas on them, but she said they were sacred, were used only during certain ceremonies, and she knew not if she could be able to get or even see them. During the prolongation of the preparation of this paper she wrote two or three times, telling of the promises made to her by the two Sac women who were the owners of these sacred garters, and how each time they had failed. Yet she did not give up hope. Accordingly, in the winter of 1896, the little box containing the sacred garters arrived. Miss Owen says the husbands of these two Sac women are Pottawatomies on the Cook County (Kans.) Reservation. They are sun worshippers. These garters have been sketched and figured in pl. 16.


Plate 15.
Ceremonial bead necklace with Swastika ornamentation.
Sac Indians, Cook County (Kansas) Reservation.


Plate 16.
Ceremonial bead garters with Swastikas.
Sac Indians, Cook County (Kansas) Reservation.

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1017).

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, KICKAPOOS

Letter from Miss Owen, St. Joseph, Mo., January 2, 1897:

There is an old Kickapoo Indian, named Squash, on the Jackson reservation (Kansas) who has a silver brooch almost as large as a soup plate with the swastika cut on it.

**

The Pueblos.--The Pueblo country in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, as is well known, is inhabited by various tribes of Indians speaking different languages, separated from one another and from all other tribes by differences of language, customs, and habit, but somewhat akin to each other in culture, and many things different from other tribes are peculiar to them. These have been called the "Pueblo Indians" because they live in pueblos or towns. Their present country includes the regions of the ancient cliff dwellers, of whom they are supposed to be the descendants. In these manifestations of culture wherein they are peculiar and different from other tribes they have come to be considered something superior. Any search for the Swastika in America which omitted these Indians would be fatally defective, and so here it is found. Without speculating how the knowledge of the Swastika came to them, whether by independent invention or brought from distant lands, it will be enough to show its knowledge among and its use by the peoples of this country.

In the Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for the year 1880-81 (p. 394, fig. 562) is described a dance rattle made from a small gourd, ornamented in black, white, and red (fig. 256). The gourd has a Swastika on each side, with the ends bent, not square, but ogee (the tetraskelion). The U.S. National Museum possesses a large number of these dance rattles with Swastikas on their sides, obtained from the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona. Some of them have the natural neck for a handle, as shown in the cut; others are without neck, and have a wooden stick inserted and passed through for a handle. Beans, pebbles, or similar objects are inside, and the shaking of the machine makes a rattling noise which marks time for the dance.


Fig. 256.
Dance rattle made of a small gourd decorated in black, white, and red. Ogee Swastika on each side.
Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 526.
Cat. No. 42042, U.S.N.M.

The Museum possesses a large series of pottery from the various pueblos of the Southwest; these are of the painted and decorated kind common to that civilization and country. Some of these pieces bear the Swastika mark; occasionally it is found outside, occasionally inside. It is more frequently of the ogee form, similar to that on the rattle from the same country (fig. 256). The larger proportion of these specimens comes from the Pueblos of Santa Clara and St. Ildefonso.

Dr. Schliemann reports:[260]

We also see the Swastika (turned to the left) scratched on two terra cotta bowls of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, preserved in the ethnological section of the Royal Museum at Berlin.

G. Nordenskiöld,[261] in the report of his excavations among the ruined pueblos of the Mesa Verde, made in southwestern Colorada during the summer of 1891, tells of the finding of numerous specimens of the Swastika. In pl. 23, fig. 1, he represents a large, shallow bowl in the refuse heap at the "Step House." It was 50 centimeters in diameter, of rough execution, gray in color, and different in form and design from other vessels from the cliff houses. The Swastika sign (to the right) was in its center, and made by lines of small dots. His pl. 27, fig. 6, represents a bowl found in a grave (g on the plan) at "Step House." Its decoration inside was of the usual type, but the only decoration on the outside consisted of a Swastika, with arms crossing at right angles and ends bent at the right, similar to fig. 9. His pl. 18, fig. 1, represented a large bowl found in Mug House. Its decoration consisted in part of a Swastika similar in form and style to the Etruscan gold "bulla," fig. 188 in this paper. Certain specimens of pottery from the pueblos of Santa Clara and St. Ildefonso, deposited in the U.S. National Museum (Department of Ethnology), bear Swastika marks, chiefly of the ogee form.[262]

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1017).

Mr. Will C. Ferril, curator State Historical and Natural History Society, Denver, Colo. (September 7, 1897), writes:

Among the most interesting vessels in this collection of Cliff-Dweller pottery is a bowl ornamented with fourteen swastikas.

**

Dr. Matthews describes at length the myth which is the foundation of this ceremony, which must be read to be appreciated, but may be summarized thus: An Indian family, consisting of father, mother, two sons, and two daughters, dwelt in ancient times near the Carrizo Mountains. They lived by hunting and trapping; but the place was desert, game scarce, and they moved up the river farther into the mountains. The father made incantations to enable his two sons to capture and kill game; he sent them hunting each day, directing them to go to the east, west, or north, but with the injunction not to the south. The elder son disobeyed this injunction, went to the south, was captured by a war party of Utes and taken to their home far to the south. He escaped by the aid of Yàybichy (Qastcèëlçi) and divers supernatural beings.

His adventures in returning home form the body of the ceremony wherein these adventures are, in some degree, reproduced. Extensive preparations are made for the performance of the ceremony. Lodges are built and corrals made for the use of the performers and the convenience of their audience. The fête being organized, stories are told, speeches made, and sacred songs are sung (the latter are given by Dr. Matthews as "songs of sequence," because they must be sung in a progressive series on four certain days of the ceremony). Mythological charts of dry sand of divers colors are made on the earth within the corrals after the manner of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians. These dry sand paintings are made after a given formula and intended to be repeated from year to year, although no copy is preserved, the artists depending only upon the memory of their shaman.

One of these pictures or charts represents the fugitive's escape from the Utes, his captors, down a precipice into a den or cave in which burnt a fire "on which was no wood." Four pebbles lay on the ground together--a black pebble in the east, a blue one in the south, a yellow one in the west, and a white one in the north. From these flames issued. Around the fire lay four bears, colored and placed to correspond with the pebbles. When the strangers (Qastcèëlçi and the Navajo) approached the fire the bears asked them for tobacco, and when they replied they had none, the bears became angry and thrice more demanded it. When the Navajo fled from the Ute camp, he had furtively helped himself from one of the four bags of tobacco which the council was using. These, with a pipe, he had tied up in his skin robe; so when the fourth demand was made he filled the pipe and lighted it at the fire. He handed the pipe to the black bear, who, taking but one whiff, passed it to the blue bear and immediately fell senseless. The blue bear took two whiffs and passed the pipe, when he too fell over unconscious. The yellow bear succumbed after the third whiff, and the white bear in the north after the fourth whiff.

Now the Navajo knocked the ashes and tobacco out of his pipe and rubbed the latter on the feet, legs, abdomen, chest, shoulders, forehead, and mouth of each of the bears in turn, and they were at once resuscitated. He replaced the pipe in the corner of his robe. When the bears recovered, they assigned to the Navajo a place on the east side of the fire where he might lie all night, and they brought out their stores of corn meal, tciltcin, and other berries, offering them to him to eat; but Qastcèëlçi warned him not to touch the food, and disappeared. So, hungry as he was, the Indian lay down supperless to sleep. When he awoke in the morning, the bears again offered food, which he again declined, saying he was not hungry. Then they showed him how to make the bear kethàwns, or sticks, to be sacrificed to the bear gods, and they drew from one corner of the cave a great sheet of cloud, which they unrolled, and on it were painted the forms of the "yays" of the cultivated plants.

In Dr. Matthews's memoir (marked third, but described on p. 447 as the second picture), is a representation of the painting which the prophet was believed to have seen at the home of the bears in the Carrizo Mountains. This is here reproduced as pl. 17. In the center of the figure is a bowl of water covered with black powder; the edge of the bowl is garnished with sunbeams, while outside of it and forming a rectangle are the four ca'bitlol of sunbeam rafts on which seem to stand four gods, or "yays," with the plants under their special protection, which are painted the same color as the gods to which they belong.


Plate 17.
Navajo dry painting containing Swastikas.
Dr. Washington Matthews, "The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony," Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1883-84, Pl. XVII.


Detail of swastikas in above image.

These plants are represented on their left hand, the hand being open and extended toward them. The body of the eastern god is white, so is the stalk of corn at his left in the southeast; the body of the southern god is blue, so is the beanstalk beside him in the southwest; the body of the western god is yellow, so is his pumpkin vine in the northwest; the body of the north god is black, so is the tobacco plant in the northeast. Each of the sacred plants grows from five white roots in the central waters and spreads outward to the periphery of the picture. The figures of the gods form a cross, the arms of which are directed to the four cardinal points; the plants form another cross, having a common center with the first, the arms extending to the intermediate points of the compass.

The gods are shaped alike, but colored differently; they lie with their feet to the center and heads extended outward, one to each of the four cardinal points of the compass, the faces look forward, the arms half extended on either side, the hands raised to a level with the shoulders. They wear around their loins skirts of red sunlight adorned with sunbeams. They have ear pendants, bracelets, and armlets, blue and red, representing turquoise and coral, the prehistoric and emblematic jewels of the Navajo Indians. Their forearms and legs are black, showing in each a zigzag mark representing lightning on the black rain clouds. In the north god these colors are, for artistic reasons, reversed.

The gods have, respectively, a rattle, a charm, and a basket, each attached to his right hand by strings. This basket, represented by concentric lines with a Greek cross in the center, all of the proper color corresponding with the god to whom each belongs, has extending from each of its quarters, arranged perpendicularly at right angles to each other, in the form of a cross, four white plumes of equal length, which at equal distances from the center are bent, all to the left, and all of the same length. Thus are formed in this chart four specimens of the Swastika, with the cross and circle at the intersection of the arms. The plumes have a small black spot at the tip end of each.

Dr. Matthews informs me that ho has no knowledge of any peculiar meaning attributed by these Indians to this Swastika symbol, and we know not whether it is intended as a religious symbol, a charm of blessing, or good luck, or whether it is only an ornament. We do not know whether it has any hidden, mysterious, or symbolic meaning; but there it is, a prehistoric or Oriental Swastika in all its purity and simplicity, appearing in one of the mystic ceremonies of the aborigines in the great American desert in the interior of the North American Continent.

The Pimas.--The U.S. National Museum possesses a shield (Cat. No. 27829) of bull hide, made by the Pima Indians. It is about 20 inches in diameter, and bears upon its face an ogee Swastika (tetraskelion), the ends bent to the right. The body and each arm is divided longitudinally into three stripes or bands indicated by colors, blue, red, and white, arranged alternately. The exterior part of the shield has a white ground, while the interior or center has a blue ground. This shield (fig. 257) is almost an exact reproduction of the Swastika from Mycenae (fig. 161), from Ireland (fig. 216), and from Scandinavia (figs. 209 and 210). Fig. 258 shows another Pima shield of the same type. Its Swastika, however, painted with a single color or possibly a mixture of two, red and white. It is ogee, and the ends bend to the left. This shield is the property of Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Bureau of Ethnology. He obtained it from a Pima Indian in Arizona, who assured him that the hole at the end of the lower arm of the Swastika was made by an arrow shot at him by an Indian enemy.


Fig. 257.
War shield used by the Pima Indians.
Ogee Swastika (tetraskelion) in three colors: (1) blue, (2) red, (3) white.
Cat. No. 27829, U.S.N.M.


Colored version.


Fig. 258.
War shield with ogee Swastika in center. Pima Indians.
The hole near the lower arm of the Swastika was made by an arrow.
Property of Mr. F. W. Hodge.

[...]


[257] American Naturalist, XIX, July, 1885, p. 670.
[258] Ibid., pl. 20.
[259] This was the last time I ever saw Mr. Dorsey. He died within a month, beloved and regretted by all who knew him.
[260] "Troja," p. 123.
[261] "The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, Southwestern Colorado," P. A. Norstedt & Son, Chicago, 1893.
[262] From letter of Mr. Walter Hough, Winslow, Ariz. "I send you two pieces of pottery [bearing many ogee Swastikas] from the ruins near here formerly inhabited by the Moki. Many of the bowls which we have found in this ruin had the Swastika as a major motif in the decoration." See also The Archaeologist, III, No. 7, p. 248.

*****

CENTRAL AMERICA

**

Additional information from the Appendix to the second edition (1898). (Page 1017-1018).

MEXICO

Mons. E. Boban, 18 rue Thibaud, Paris, sends pp. 65-72 of his Catalogue raisonniée of the Collection Goupil, showing existence of swastika in Mexico. Small vase or bowl (caxitl) with three feet (ecuelle monté sur trois pied). Height, 45 mm.; diam., 9 cm.; color, red brick designs on rouge brique sur fond blanc rosé (Coll. Goupil). The interior is ornamented with concentric lines, between which are four swastikas, alternated with four hieroglyphs.

Prof. H. J. Gosse, director of the Archaeological Museum of Geneva, Switzerland, calls attention to a Mexican MS., by Boulier, shown him by Madam Zelia Nuttal, wherein the swastika appears in peculiar forms. One similar to figs. 237, 238, and 222, reported by Boulier (pp. 24, 43, 356), as the conventional sign of gold; another (p. 34), similar to my fig. 260 (p. 902), is reported as the sign of the four winds; still another (pp. 49 and 50), a cross similar to the Maltese, is reported as a symbol of the god of winds; again, in the cycle of fifty-two years, the sun is said to be represented, by a pseudo swastika, not a true cross, or if a swastika, with very short bent arms.

**
*****

NICARAGUA

The specimen shown in fig. 260 (Cat. No. 23726, U.S.N.M.) is a fragment, the foot of a large stone metate from Zapatero, Granada, Nicaragua. The metate was chiseled or pecked out of the solid. A sunken panel is surrounded by moldings, in the center of which appears, from its outline, also by raised moldings, a figure, the outline of which is a Greek cross, but whose exterior is a Swastika. Its form as such is perfect, except that one bent arm is separated from its stem by a shallow groove.

"The Cross, Ancient and Modern," by W. W. Blake, shows, in its fig. 57, a Swastika pure and simple, and is cited by its author as representing a cross found by Squier in Central America. The Mexican enthusiast, Orozco y Perra, claims at first glance that it shows Buddhist origin, but I have not been able as yet to verify the quotation.


Fig. 260.
Fragment of the foot of a stone metate with figure of a Swastika. Nicaragua.
Cat. No. 23726, U.S.N.M.

*Blogger's note: There is a typo on the catalog number. There is a metate fragment found at Granada, Nicaragua with catalog number A23276-0. 23726 is a Sioux staff. Furthermore, this is not a swastika but a symbol called a "Solomon's knot".

Catalog number can be searched in the following database: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology Collections.
https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/anth/

*****

YUCATAN

Dr. Schliemann reports, in the Ethnological Museum at Berlin, a pottery bowl from Yucatan ornamented with a Swastika, the two main arms crossing at right angles, and he adds,[263] citing Le Plongeon, "Fouilles au Yucatan," that "during the last excavations in Yucatan this sign was found several times on ancient pottery."

Le Plongeon discovered a fragment of a stone slab in the ancient Maya city of Mayapan, of which he published a description in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. It contains an ogee Swastika (tetraskelion), with ends curved to the left and an inverted U with a wheel (fig. 261). Le Plongeon believed it to be an Egyptian inscription, which he translated thus: The character, inverted U, stood for Ch or K; the wheel for the sun, Aa or Ra, and the Swastika for Ch or K, making the whole to be Chach or Kak, which, he says, is the word fire in the Maya language.[264]


Fig. 261.
Fragment of stone slab from the ancient Maya city of Mayapan. Ogee Swastika (tetraskelion).
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April 21, 1881.


[263] "Troja," p. 122.
[264] The presence of the Swastika is the only purpose of this citation. The correctness of the translation is not yet involved and is not vouched for.

*****

COSTA RICA

A fragment of a metate (Cat. No. 9693, U.S.N.M.) found on Lempa River, Costa Rica, by Capt. J. M. Dow, has on its bottom a Swastika similar to that on the metate from Nicaragua. Specimen No. 59182, U.S.M.N., is a fragment of a pottery vase from Las Huacas, Costa Rica, collected by Dr. J. F. Bransford. It is natural maroon body color, decorated with black paint. A band two inches wide is around the belly of the vase divided into panels of solid black alternated with fanciful geometric figures, crosses, circles, etc. One of these panels contains a partial Swastika figure. The two main arms cross at right angles in Greek form. It is a partial Swastika in that, while the two perpendicular arms bend at right angles, turning six times to the right; the two horizontal arms are solid black in color, as though the lines and spaces had run together.

*****

SOUTH AMERICA

BRAZIL

[...]

The aboriginal women of Brazil wore a triangular shield or plaque over their private parts. These shields are made of terra cotta, quite thin, the edges rounded, and the whole piece rubbed smooth and polished. It is supported in place by cords around the body, which are attached by small holes in each angle of the triangle. The US National Museum possesses several of these plaques from Brazil, and several were shown at the Chicago Exposition.

[...]

The specimen shown in the lower figure of the same plate, from the Caneotires River, Brazil, was collected by Prof. J. B. Steere. The body color, clay, and the decoration paint are much the same as the former. The ornamentation is principally by two light lines laid parallel and close so as to form a single line, and is of the same geometric character as the incised decoration ornament on other pieces from Marajo Island. Midway from the top to the bottom, near the outside edges, are two Swastikas. They are about five-eights of an inch in size, are turned at right angles, one to the right and the other to the left. These may have been a charm signifying good fortune in bearing children. (See pp. 830-832).

These specimens were submitted by the author to the Brazilian minister, Senor Mendonca, himself an archaeologist and philologist of no small capacity, who recognized these objects as in use in ancient times among the aborigines of his country. The name by which they are known in the aboriginal language is Tambeao or Tamatiatang, according to the dialects of different provinces. ...

[...]

* Blogger's note: The figure is not very clear from the image in the book. The bottom figure may be the artifact linked below. Overlaying the patterns they appear remarkably similar, if not identical. There are no swastikas. I suspect Wilson may have only had access to the low resolution photographic plate, rather than actually seeing the artifact in person if he mistook the symbol as a swastika.
https://www.si.edu/object/ornament-earthernware-triangular-shaped-three-perforations-and-painted-linear-designsworn-women:siris_arc_75128

Smithsonian cat. number for the bottom image in Wilson's book is A36542-0. The link above is an illustration of what I believe may be this artifact. The record ID of the illustration above is siris_arc_75128.
https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/anth/

*****

PARAGUAY

Dr. Schliemann reports that a traveler of the Berlin Ethnological Museum obtained a pumpkin bottle from the tribe of Lenguas in Paraguay which bore the imprint of the Swastika scratched upon its surface, and that he had recently sent it to the Royal Museum at Berlin.

*****

III.--FORMS ALLIED TO THE SWASTIKA

MEANDERS, OGEES, AND SPIRALS, BENT TO THE LEFT AS WELL AS TO THE RIGHT

There are certain forms related to the normal Swastika and greatly resembling it--meanders, ogees, the triskelion, tetraskelion, and five and six armed spirals or volutes. This has been mentioned above (page 768), and some of the varieties are shown in fig. 13. These related forms have been found in considerable numbers in America, and this investigation would be incomplete if they were omitted. It has been argued (p. 839) that the Swastika was not evolved from the meander, and this need not be reargued.

The cross with the arms bent or twisted in a spiral is one of these related forms. It is certain that in ancient, if not prehistoric, times the cross with extended spiral arms was frequently employed. This form appeared in intimate association with the square Swastikas which were turned indifferently to the right and left. This association of different yet related forms was so intimate, and they were used so indiscriminately as to justify the contention that the maker or designer recognized or admitted no perceptible or substantial difference between the square and spiral forms, whether they turned to the right or left, or whether they made a single or many turns, and that he classed them as the same sign or its equivalent. A Greek vase (fig. 174) shows five Swastikas, four of which are of different form (fig. 262). Curiously enough, the design of this Greek vase is painted maroon on a yellow ground, the style generally adopted in the vases from the mounds of Missouri and Arkansas, which mostly represent the spiral Swastika.


Fig. 262.
Different forms of Swastika for comparison.

In Ireland a standing stone (fig. 215) has two forms of Swastika side by side. In one the arms are bent square at the corners, the other has curved or spiral arms, both turned to the right. These examples are so numerous that they would seem convincing in the absence of any other evidence (figs. 166 to 176).

*****

ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ENGRAVINGS AND PAINTINGS

These allied forms of Swastika appear on prehistoric objects from mounds and Indian graves in different parts of the country and in times of high antiquity as well as among modern tribes. This paper contains the results of the investigations in this direction.

[In the first part of this section, Wilson gives examples of artifacts with the "looped square" (⌘) symbol.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looped_square

[...]

The triskele, triskelion, or triquetrum.--These are Greek and Latin terms for the spiral volute with three branches or arms. The coins of Lycia were in this form, made originally by the junction of three cocks' heads and necks. The armorial bearings of the island of Sicily, in ancient times, consisted of three human legs joined at the thigh and flexed, sometimes booted and spurred (p. 873).

Aboriginal shell gorgets have been found in the mounds of Tennessee and the adjoining country, which were engraved with this design, though always in spiral form. There seems to have been no distinction in the direction of the volutes, they turning indifferently to the right or to the left. Because of their possible relation to the Swastika it has been deemed proper to introduce them.

Fig. 267[268] shows a Fulgur shell specimen obtained by Major Powell from a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It was found near the head of a skeleton. Its substance is well preserved; the surface was once highly polished, but now is pitted by erosion and discolored by age. The design is engraved on the concave surface as usual, and the lines are accurately drawn and clearly cut. The central circle is three-eighths of an inch in diameter and is surrounded by a zone one-half an inch in width, which contains a triskelion or triquetrum of three voluted lines beginning near the center of the shell on the circumference of the inner circle of three small equidistant perforations, and sweeping outward spirally to the left as shown in the figure, making upward of half a revolution. These lines are somewhat wider and more deeply engraved than the other lines of the design. In some specimens they are so deeply cut as to penetrate the disk, producing crescent-shaped perforations. Two medium-sized perforations for suspension have been made near the inner margin of one of the bosses next the dotted zone; these show abrasion by the cord of suspension. These perforations, as well as the three near the center, have been bored mainly from the convex side of the disk.


Fig. 267.
Scalloped shell disk (Fulgar) from a mound near Nashville, Tenn.
Three spiral volutes (triskelion).


Fig. 268.
Scalloped shell disk from a mound near Nashville Tenn.
Circles and dots and four spiral volutes (tetraskelion).


Fig. 269.
Shell disk from Brakebill Mound, near Knoxville, Tenn.
Dot in circle in center and ogee Swastika (tetraskelion) marked but not completed.


Figs. 270 and 271.
Engraved shell disk. Obverse and reverse.
Three-armed volute (triskelion).

Fig. 268[269] represents a well-preserved disk with four volute arms forming the tetraskelion, and thus allied to the Swastika. The volutes (to the right) are deeply cut and for about one-third their length penetrate the shell, producing four crescent-shaped perforations which show on the opposite side. This specimen is from a stone grave near Nashville, Tenn., and the original is in the Peabody Museum. Fig. 269[270] shows a specimen from the Brakebill mound, near Knoxville, Tenn. It has a dot in the center, with a circle five-eighths of an inch in diameter. There are four volute arms which start from the opposite sides of this circle, and in their spiral form extend to the right across the field, increasing in size as they approach the periphery. This is an interesting specimen of the tetraskelion or spiral Swastika, in that it is unfinished, the outline having been cut in the shell sufficient to indicate the form, but not perfected. Figs. 270 and 271 show obverse and reverse sides of the same shell. It comes from one of the stone graves of Tennessee, and is thus described by Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans,[271] as a specimen of the deposit and original condition of these objects:

In a carefully constructed stone sarcophagus in which the face of the skeleton was looking toward the setting sun, a beautiful shell ornament was found resting upon the breastbone of the skeleton. This shell ornament is 4.4 inches in diameter, and it is ornamented on its concave surface with a small circle in the center and four concentric bands, differently figured, in relief. The first band is filled up by a triple volute; the second is plain, while the third is dotted and has nine small round bosses carved at unequal distances upon it. The outer band is made up of fourteen small elliptical bosses, the outer edges of which give to the object a scalloped rim. This ornament, on its concave figured surface, has been covered with red paint, much of which is still visible. The convex smooth surface is highly polished and plain, with the exception of the three concentric marks. The material out of which it is formed was evidently derived from a large flat seashell. * * * The form of the circles or "suns" carved upon the concave surface is similar to that of the paintings on the high rocky cliffs on the banks of the Cumberland and Harpeth rivers. * * * This ornament when found lay upon the breastbone with the concave surface uppermost, as if it had been worn in this position suspended around the neck, as the two holes for the thong or string were in that portion of the border which pointed directly to the chin or central portion of the jaw of the skeleton. The marks of the thong by which it was suspended are manifest upon both the anterior and posterior surfaces, and, in addition to this, the paint is worn off from the circular space bounded below by the two holes.

Fig. 271 represents the back or convex side of the disk shown in fig. 270. The long curved lines indicate the laminations of the shell, and the three crescent-shaped figures near the center are perforations resulting from the deep engraving of the three lines of the volute on the concave side. The stone grave in which this ornament was found occupied the summit of a mound on the banks of the Cumberland River, opposite Nashville, Tenn.


Fig. 272.
Engraved shell disk. Tennessee.
Three-armed volute (triskelion).


Fig. 273.
Engraved shell disk. Tennessee.
Three-armed volute (triskelion).


Fig. 274.
Engraved shell disk. Tennessee.
Three-armed volute (triskelion).

Figs. 272, 273, and 274 are other representations of shell carved in spirals, and may have greater or less relation to the Swastika.[272] They are inserted for comparison and without any expression of opinion. They are drawn in outline, and the spiral form is thus more easily seen.

Mr. Holmes[273] makes some observations upon these designs and gives his theory concerning their use:

I do not assume to interpret these designs; they are not to be interpreted. All I desire is to elevate these works from the category of trinkets to what I believe is their rightful place--the serious art of a people with great capacity for loftier works. What the gorgets themselves were, or of what particular value to their possessor, aside from simple ornaments, must be, in a measure, a matter of conjecture. They were hardly less than the totems of clans, the insignia of rulers, or the potent charms of the priesthood.

[...]


[268] Second Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, p. 273, pl. 54.
[269] Second Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, pl. 55, fig. 1.
[270] Ibid., pl. 55, fig. 2.
[271] Second Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, p. 276, pl. 56, figs. 1, 2.
[272] Op. cit., p. 276, pl. 56, figs. 3, 5, 6.
[273] Op. cit., p. 281.

*****

DESIGNS ON POTTERY

Spiral-volute designs resembling the Swastika in general effect are found on aboriginal mound pottery from the Mississippi Valley. The Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1882-83,[276] shows many of these. Fig. 289 represents a teapot-shaped vessel from Arkansas, on the side of which, in incised lines, is shown the small circle which we saw on the shell disks, and springing from the four opposite sides are three incised lines, twisting spirally to the right, forming the four volutes of the Swastika (tetraskelion) and covering the entire side of the vessel. The same spiral form of the Swastika is given in fig. 290, a vessel of eccentric shape from Pecan Point, Ark. The decoration is in the form of two lines crossing each other and each arm then twisting to the right, forming volutes, the incised lines of which, though drawn close together and at equal distances, gradually expand until the ornament covers the entire side of the vase. It is questionable whether this or any of its kindred were ever intended to represent either the Swastika or any other specific form of the cross. One evidence of this is that these ornaments shade off indefinitely until they arrive at a form which was surely not intended to represent any form of the cross, whether Swastika or not. The line of separation is not now suggested by the author. An elaboration of the preceding forms, both of the vessel and its ornamentation, is shown by the vessel represented in fig. 291, which is fashioned to represent some grotesque beast with horns, expanding nostrils, and grinning mouth, yet which might serve as a teapot as well as the former two vessels. The decoration upon its side has six incised lines crossing each other in the center and expanding in volutes until they cover the entire side of the vessel, as in the other specimens. Fig. 292 shows a pot from Arkansas. Its body is decorated with incised lines arranged in much the same form as fig. 291, except that the lines make no attempt to form a cross. There are nine arms which spring from the central point and twist spirally about as volutes until they cover the field, which is one-third the body of the bowl. Two other designs of the same kind complete the circuit of the pot and form the decoration all around. Fig. 293[277] represents these volutes in incised lines of considerable fineness, close together, and in great numbers, forming a decoration on each of the sides of the vase, separated by three nearly perpendicular lines.


Fig. 289.
Pottery vessel. Four-armed volute, ogee Swastika (tetraskelion).
Arkansas.


Fig. 290.
Pottery vessel. Four volutes resembling Swastika.
Pecan Point, Ark.


Fig. 291.
Pottery vessel made in the form of an animal. Spiral volutes, nine arms.
Pecan Point, Ark.


Fig. 292.
Pottery bowl ornamented with many-armed volutes.
Arkansas.


Fig. 294.
Tripod pottery vase. Four-armed volutes marking spiral Swastika.
Arkansas.


Fig. 295.
Pottery bowl with five-armed spiral Swastika on the bottom.
Poinsett County, Ark.
Cat. No. 114035, U.S.N.M.

The spiral Swastika form appears painted upon the pottery from Arkansas. The specimen shown in fig. 294[278] is a tripod bottle. The decoration upon the side of the body consists of two lines forming the cross, and the four arms expand in volutes until the ornament covers one-third of the vessel, which, with the other two similar ornaments, extend around the circumference. This decoration is painted in red and white colors on a gray or yellowish ground. Fig. 295 shows a bowl from mound No. 2, Thorn's farm, Taylor Shanty group, Mark Tree, Poinsett County, Ark. It is ten inches wide and six inches high. The clay of which it is made forms the body color--light gray. It has been painted red or maroon on the outside without any decoration, while on the inside is painted with the same color a five-armed cross, spirally arranged in volutes turning to the right. The center of the cross is at the bottom of the bowl, and the painted spiral lines extend over the bottom and up the sides to the rim of the bowl, the interior being entirely covered with the design. Another example of the same style of decoration is seen on the upper surface of an ancient vase from the province of Cibola.[279]

The specimen shown in fig. 296 is from the mound at Arkansas Post, in the county and State of Arkansas.[280] It represents a vase of black ware, painted a yellowish ground, with a red spiral scroll. Its diameter is 5.5 inches. These spiral figures are not uncommon in the localities heretofore indicated as showing the normal Swastika. Figs. 297 and 298[281] show parallel incised lines of the same style as those forming the square in the bird gorgets already noted (figs. 263-267). Fig. 297 shows a bowl nine inches in diameter; its rim is ornamented with the heart and tail of a conventional bird, which probably served as handles. On the outside, just below the rim, are the four incised parallel lines mentioned. In the center of the side is represented a rolling under or twisting of the lines, as though it represented a ribbon. There are three on each quarter of the bowl, that next the head being plain. Fig. 298 represents a bottle 6.5 inches in diameter, with parallel incised lines, three in number, with the same twisting or folding of the ribbon-like decoration. This twists to the left, while that of fig. 297 twists in the opposite direction. Both specimens are from the vicinity of Charleston, Mo.

[...]


[276] Figs. 402, 413, 415, 416.
[277] Third Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 157.
[278] Fourth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1882-83, fig. 442.
[279] Fourth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1882-83, p. 343, fig. 331.
[280] Third Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1881-82, fig. 165.
[281] Ibid., pp. 502, 503, figs. 186, 189.

*****

IV--THE CROSS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS

[...]

THE CROSS ON OBJECTS OF SHELL AND COPPER

[...]

Pl. 19 represents a recapitulation of specimens of crosses, thirteen in number, "most of which have been obtained from the mounds or from ancient graves within the district occupied by the mound-builders. Eight are engraved upon shell gorgets, one is cut in stone, three are painted upon pottery, and four are executed upon copper. With two exceptions, they are inclosed in circles, and hence are symmetrical Greek crosses, the ends being rounded to conform to a circle."[283] Figs. 7 and 9 of pl. 19 represent forms of the Latin cross, and are modern, having doubtless been introduced by European priests. Figs. 10 to 13 are representatives of the Swastika in some of its forms.


Plate 19. Figs. 10-13.
10-11: Swastika on shell. 12-13: Swastika on pottery.

[...]


[283] Second Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, pp. 272, 273.

*****

V.--SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SWASTIKA

The origin and early history of the Swastika are lost in antiquity. All the author has been able to find on these subjects is set forth in the preceding chapters.

It is proposed to examine the possible uses of the Swastika in an endeavor to discover something of its significance. The Swastika might have served:

    I. As a symbol--
      1, of a religion,
      2, of a nation or people,
      3, of a sect with peculiar tenets;
    II. As an amulet or charm--
      1, of good luck, or fortune, or long life,
      2, of benediction, or blessing,
      3, against the evil eye;
    III. As an ornament or decoration.

It may have been (1) originally discovered or invented by a given people in a given country, and transmitted from one generation to the next, passing by migration from one country to another, and it may have been transmitted by communication to widely separated countries and among differently cultured peoples; or (2) it may have appeared in these latter countries by duplicate invention or by accident, and without contact or communication.

Positive evidence concerning its origin and earliest migration is not obtainable, and in its absence we are driven to secondary and circumstantial evidence. ...

[...]

Upon the evidence submitted, we must accept the Swastika first as a symbol of that sect of Jains within the Buddhist Church originally in Tibet, which spread itself in the Asiatic country under the names of Tao-sse, Tirthankara, Ter, Musteg, and Pon or Pon-po, the last signifying purity (ante, p. 774). This sect, or these sects, adopted the Swastika as their symbol, giving it the translation su "well," asti, "it is," the whole word meaning "it is well," or "so be it," implying resignation under all circumstances, the sect holding, in accordance with the meaning given to their symbol, that contentment and peace of mind were the chief objects of human life. In so far as it concerns this sect, the Swastika was a symbol of both kinds. It represented a religious or at least a moral and philosophic idea, and also the sect which held to this idea.

Among the Buddhists proper, the Swastika seems to have been employed as a holy or sacred symbol; its occurrence as one of the signs in the footprint of Buddha, their founder, with some relation either to the mystery of his appearance as a leader, a missionary, or of the holy and sacred object of his mission, causes this to be inferred. Their use of it on the bronze statues of Buddha, and associating it with solemn inscriptions in the caves of India, leaves no doubt as to its use as a symbol more or less of this character.

Again, the use in the early Christian times of different forms of the cross, coupled with the extensive use by the Christians of the "monogram of Christ" (fig. 6), shows how naturally there may have been a conflict of opinion in the selection of a cross which should be a representative, while we know from history that there was such discussion, and that different forms of the cross were suggested. Among other forms was the Swastika, but to what extent or with what idea the author is not informed. The Swastika was used, Burnouf says, a thousand times on Christians' tombs in the catacombs at Rome. This is evidence of its use to a certain extent in a sacred or solemn and funereal character, which would signify its use as the symbol of a religious idea.

[...]

The author declines to discuss the possible relation of the Swastika to the sun or sun god, to the rain or rain god, the lightning, to Dyaus, Zeus or Agni, to Phebus or Apollo, or other of the mythological deities. This question would be interesting if it could be determined with certainty, or if the determination would be accepted by any considerable number of persons. But this is left for some one more competent and more interested than the author.

[...]

*****

VI.--THE MIGRATION OF SYMBOLS

MIGRATION OF THE SWASTIKA

[...]

It is argued by Zmigrodzki that the Swastika on so many specimens, especially the Trojan spindle-whorls, having been made regularly, sometimes turning one way, sometimes another, sometimes square, other times curved, goes to show the rapidity with which the sign was made, that it did not require an artist, that its use was so common that it had become a habit and was executed in a rapid and sketchy manner, as evidenced by the appearance of the marks themselves upon the whorls. He likens this to the easy and unconsidered way which men have of signing their names, which they are able to do without attention. He likens it also to the sign of the cross made by Roman Catholics so rapidly as to be unnoticed by those who are unaware of its significance. With this line of argument, Zmigrodzki reasons that the Swastika was in its time confined to common use and thus he accounts for the number of ill-formed specimens. This only accounts for the comparatively few ill-formed specimens, but not for the great number, the mass of those well formed and well drawn. Instead of the Swastika being a sign easily made, the experience of the writer is the contrary. A simple cross like the Latin, Greek, St. Andrew’s, and other common forms may be very easy to make, but a really good specimen of the Swastika is difficult to make. Any one who doubts this has only to make the experiment for himself, and make correctly such a specimen as fig. 9. While it may be easy enough to make the Greek cross with two lines of equal length intersecting each other at right angles, and while this forms a large proportion of the Swastikas, it is at its conclusion that the trouble of making a perfect Swastika begins. It will be found difficult, requiring care and attention, to make the projecting arms of equal length, to see that they are all at the same angle; and if it is bent again and again, two or three turns upon each other, the difficulty increases. If a person thinks that the Swastika, either in the square or the ogee curves or the spiral volutes, is easy to make, he has but to try it with paper and pencil, and, if that is his first attempt, he will soon be convinced of his error. The artist who drew the spirals for this paper pronounces them to be the most difficult of all; the curves are parabolic, no two portions of any one are in the same circle, the circle continually widens, and no two circles nor any two portions of the same circle have the same center. To keep these lines true and parallel, the curve regular, the distances the same, and at the same time sweeping outward in the spiral form, the artist pronounces a most difficult work, requiring care, time, and attention (fig. 295). Even the square and meander Swastikas (figs. 10, 11) require a rule and angle to make them exact. All this goes to show the intention of the artist to have been more or less deliberate; and that the object he made was for a special purpose, with a particular idea, either as a symbol, charm, or ornament, and not a meaningless figure to fill a vacant space.

Yet it is practically this difficult form of the cross which appears to have spread itself through the widest culture areas, extending almost to the uttermost parts of the earth. [...] It is not used by European peoples in modern times, except in Lapland and Finland. The National Museum has lately received a collection of modern household and domestic utensils from Lapland, some of which bear the marks of the cross and one a churn, the lid of which bears a possible Swastika mark. Through the kindness of Professor Mason and Mr. Cushing, I have received a drawing of this (fig. 344). Theodor Schvindt, in "Suomalaisia koristeita,"[309] a book of standard national Finnish patterns for the embroideries of the country, gives the Swastika among others; but it is classed among "oblique designs" and no mention is made of it as a Swastika or of any character corresponding to it. Its lines are always at angles of 45 degrees, and are continually referred to as "oblique designs."


Fig. 344.
Modern churn lid with design resembling Swastika. Lapland.
U.S. National Museum.

The Swastika ornaments Danish baptismal fonts, and according to Mr. J. A. Hjaltalin it "was used [in Iceland] a few years since as a magic sign, but with an obscured or corrupted meaning." It arrived in that island in the ninth century A.D.[310]

The Swastika mark appears both in its normal and ogee form in the Persian carpets and rugs.[311] While writing this memoir, I have found in the Persian rug in my own bedchamber sixteen figures of the Swastika. In the large rug in the chief clerk’s office of the National Museum there are no less than twenty-seven figures of the Swastika. On a piece of imitation Persian carpet, with a heavy pile, made probably in London, I found also figures of the Swastika. All the foregoing figures have been of the normal Swastika, the arms crossing each other and the ends turning at right angles, the lines being of equal thickness throughout. Some of them were bent to the right and some to the left. At the entrance of the Grand Opera House in Washington I saw a large India rug containing a number of ogee Swastikas; while the arms crossed each other at right angles, they curved, some to the right and some to the left, but all the lines increased in size, swelling in the middle of the curve, but finishing in a point. The modern Japanese wisteria workbaskets for ladies have one or more Swastikas woven in their sides or covers.

[...]


[309] Finnische Ornamente. 1. Stichornamente. Heft 1-4. Soumalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura Helsingissä, 1894.
[310] Karl Blind, "Discovery of Odinic songs in Shetland," Ninteenth Century, June, 1879, p. 1098, cited by Alfred C. Haddon in "Evolution in Art," London, 1895, p. 285.
[311] Miss Fanny D. Bergen, in Scribner's Magazine, September 1894.


END OF BOOK.

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APPENDIX I - Additional information about publication date of The Swastika, The Earliest Known Symbol.


To clear up some confusion on the publication date--Wilson's treatise is labelled as being from the Report of the National Museum from 1894, but this Report was actually published in 1896.


Below is a copy of the full original publication of the Annual Report of the US National Museum for 1894 (which was published a few years after 1894, once the work principally completed in that year had been finalized). Wilson's work is pages 759-1011 of this Report, which also contains writings by others published in the same volume.

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1894. Report of the U.S. National Museum, under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institution, for the Year Ending June 30, 1894. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1896.
https://archive.org/details/annualreportofb1893smit_0/page/n5/mode/2up

In the Preface to his work, Wilson notes that his interest in this project began in the summer of 1894. In his work, there are some footnotes from 1895, further demonstrating it was not actually published in 1894. (e.g. On page 809, footnote 3 is from August 1895.)

Digging around in some Smithsonian archives, it seems annual department reports from this decade coincided with the academic fiscal year, and thus there is an Annual Report for 1893-1894 (for the period of July 1, 1893 to June 30, 1894) and 1894-1895 (July 1, 1894 to June 30, 1895).

From what I can gather, the work was essentially finished by the end of the 1894 fiscal year, it was finalized by the end of the 1895 fiscal year, and published and distributed during the second half 1896.

On page 9 (pdf numbering) of the 1893-1894 Department of Prehistoric Anthropology report, Wilson writes "Considerable work was done during the year upon a paper on the Swastika, which has been practically completed since the expiration of the fiscal year." The cover page of the report is stamped with "Report for 1894".
https://collections.si.edu/search/slideshow_embedded?xml=http://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/viewers/csc/viewer_fa_000158_B04_F26.xml

On page 9 of his Department of Prehistoric Anthropology: Annual Report 1894 - 1895, Wilson lists "Prehistoric Swastika" as a special investigation completed during the year of this report. The cover page of the report is stamped with "Report for 1895".
https://collections.si.edu/search/slideshow_embedded?xml=http://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/viewers/csc/viewer_fa_000158_B04_F27.xml

From the report for the 1895-1896 fiscal year, Wilson writes on page 6 (34 of the pdf), "The conclusion, proof-reading and corrections, list of illustrations, etc., etc. of the Swastika paper belonged to the last fiscal year."

On page 13 the report questionaire states "Give a list of papers published during the year ... Each notice for the bibliography should be accompanied by a full and complete citation..., and also by a brief abstract of the paper."

On page 14, Wilson writes:

--- The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol; with Observations upon its Migration and that of Human Industries in Prehistoric Times.
Rep. Smithsonian Inst. (U.S. Nat. Mus.) 1894 (1895) pp. 759-1011, Pls. 1-25, figs. 1-374. Maps, 1, Chart 1

On page 13 (64 of pdf) of the 1896-1897 report, Wilson writes "The completion of the proof-reading, the receipt and distribution of my paper on the Swastika, came within this fiscal year."
https://collections.si.edu/search/slideshow_embedded?xml=http://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/viewers/csc/viewer_fa_000158_B04_F28.xml

The Department's Annual Reports after 1897 are not digitized, so I can't find information on the second (1898) edition of The Swastika.


Citation:
Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Record Unit 158. United States National Museum. Curators' Annual Reports, 1881-1964.
https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216750


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