The Swastika Part 14

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 203. RUNIC INSCRIPTION CONTAINING A SWASTIKA. Inlaid with silver on a bronze sword. Saebo, Norway.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 335.

Fig. 204_a_. SWASTIKA WITH DOTS. Torcello, Italy.

Fig. 204_b_. RUNIC INSCRIPTION ON SPEARHEAD. Torcello, Italy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 205. REDDING COMB WITH SWASTIKA. Scandinavia.]

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 International 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 [S] as Odin or (W)oden. In the discussion before the congress it seems to have been agreed that the sign [S] 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. 204_a_) prominent as an engraved sign.[209] a.s.sociated with it, but not a part of it, was an inscription (fig. 204_b_), 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 206. BRONZE BROOCH OR FIBULA WITH COMBINATION OF SWASTIKAS. Scandinavia.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 207. BRONZE BROOCH WITH SWASTIKAS. Tetraskelions (right and left), triskelion (left). Scandinavia.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 208. PLACQUE FOR CEINTURE, WITH BUCKLE. Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 209. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions), right and left.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 210. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Ogee Swastika.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 211. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Two triskelions, right and left.]

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 Muller 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.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 212. GOLD BROOCH WITH OGEE SWASTIKA. Island of Fyen.

Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 43, fig. 11.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 213. SCANDINAVIAN HORSE-GEAR. Silver plated on bronze.

Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 44, fig. 16; Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 379.]

Mr. Paul du Chaillu, in his "Viking Age," mentions many specimens of Scandinavian and Norse antiquities bearing Swastika marks of divers styles: Bronze vessels (vol. 1, p. 100, note 1); iron spear point with runes and Swastika inlaid with silver, discovered in a tumulus with burnt bones, Muncheburg, fig. 336; another of the same, Volhynia, Russia, fig.

337; pottery vessel containing burnt bones, pointed iron knife, bronze needle, and melted gla.s.s beads, Bornholm, fig. 210; iron spearhead, Vimose bog find, (p. 207); border of finely woven silk cloth with gold and silver threads, from a mound (vol. 2, p. 289, fig. 1150).

_Scotland and Ireland._--Specimens of the Swastika have been found on the Ogam stones in Scotland and Ireland (p. 797). In the churchyard of Aglish, county Kerry, Ireland, stand two stones bearing Ogam inscriptions. At the top of one is an ancient Celtic cross inclosed in a circle similar to fig.

7; immediately under it are two Swastika marks of four arms crossing at right angles, each arm bent to the right also at right angles. On two corners of the stone are inscriptions of the usual Ogam characters. The translation may be given, but seems to be unimportant and without apparent bearing upon this question. They are somewhat obliterated and their reading difficult. So far as made out, they are as follows: Maqimaqa and Apiloggo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 214. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD WITH NORMAL SWASTIKA.

Vimose bog find.]

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

There are four characters in the line closely following each other, (see p. 797.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 215. SCULPTURED STONE. Greek cross in circle, normal Swastika in square, and ogee Swastika in quatrefoil. Ireland.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 216. FRAGMENT OF THIN BRONZE REPOUSSe. Ogee Swastika.

Ireland. Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," pl. 124, figs. 20-22.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 217. FRAGMENT OF THIN BRONZE. Triskelion. Ireland.

Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 384, pl. 124, figs. 20-22.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 218. BRONZE PIN WITH SMALL NORMAL SWASTIKA ON HEAD.

Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland. Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 417.]

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

On the Celtic crosses of Scotland certain marks appear which are elsewhere found a.s.sociated 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 Muller reports the Swastika in Scotland and Ireland on Christian tombs, a.s.sociated 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]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 [symbol]. Dr. R. Munro[217] reports from the Crannog of Lesnacroghera country, Antrim, Ireland, two pieces or disks of thin bronze, repousses (fig. 216), bearing the sign of the Swastika and having the four arms of the spirals turned to the left. The similarity of this figure with those shown on the shields of the Pima Indians of New Mexico and Arizona (figs. 257 and 258) is to be remarked.

Fig. 217 shows a triskelion of symmetric spirals turned to the right. In the Crannog of Lochlee, near Tarbolton, a bronze pin was found (fig. 218), the head of which was inclosed in a ring. On one side of the head was engraved a Greek cross, on the other was a normal Swastika turned to the right. The same crannog furnished a piece of ash wood five inches square, which had been preserved, as were all the other objects, by the peat, on which was carved a triskelion (fig. 219) after the form and style of those on the Missouri mound pottery.

GALLO ROMAN PERIOD.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 220. STONE ALTAR WITH SWASTIKA ON PEDESTAL. France.

Museum of Toulouse. De Mortillet, "Musee Prehistorique," 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).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 221. POTTERY BOTTLE OF DARK GRAY WITH SWASTIKA AND DECORATION IN WHITE BARBOTINE. Gallo-Roman Epoch. Museum of Rouen. De Mortillet, "Musee Prehistorique," fig. 1246.]

M. Alexander Bertrand[218] speaks of the discovery at Velaux, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhone, 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 Anthee, Namur, Belgium, on pieces of Roman tile; also on a tombstone in the Roman or Belgo-Roman cemetery of Juslenville near Pepinster.[219] This is a Pagan tomb, as evidenced by the inscriptions commenced "D. M." (_Diis Manibus_).[220]

ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 223. POTTERY URN. Band of twenty hand-made Swastikas, white, on blackish ground. Shropham, Norfolk, England. British Museum.

Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 3, fig. 50.]

_Britain._--Greg reports[222] a silver disk 1-1/2 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 [symbol]. 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] A figure having great similarity to this, even in its peculiarities and called a Swastika, was found on a sh.e.l.l 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 repet.i.tions. They were made by hand and not with the stamp. They are white on a blackish ground. The original, which is in the British Museum, is cited by Kemble and figured by Waring.[225]

THE SWASTIKA ON ANCIENT COINS.