II.—Dispersion of the Swastika. (continued 1)
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Wilson, Thomas
Fig. 152. DETAIL OF CYPRIAN VASE. Sunhawk, lotus, solar disk, and Swastikas. Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1886, pl. 8; Reinach, Revue Archæologique, 1885, II, p. 360; Perrot and Chipiez, “History of Art in Phenicia 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. ½ natural size.
Fig. 155. GREEK VASE, OINOCHOË, WITH TWO PAINTED SWASTIKAS. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1244. ¼ natural size.
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.
Figs. 133 and 134, from Naukratis, afford palpable evidence of the different origin of the Swastika and the Greek fret. Evidently Grecian vases, though found in Egypt, these specimens bear side by side examples of the fret and the Swastika, used contemporaneously, and both of them complete and perfect. If one had been parent of the other, they would have belonged to different generations and would not have appeared simultaneously on the same specimen. Another illustration of simultaneous use is in fig. 194, which represents an Etruscan vase[174] ornamented with bronze nail heads in the form of Swastikas, but associated with it is the design of the Greek fret, showing them to be of contemporaneous use, and therefore not, as Professor Goodyear believes, an evolution of one from the other. The specimen is in the Museum at Este, Italy.
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.
The Greek fret has been in common use in all ages and all countries adopting the Grecian civilization. Equally in all ages and countries has appeared the crossed lines which have been employed by every architect and decorator, most or many of whom had no knowledge of the Swastika, either as an ornament or as a symbol.[175]
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, “Mycenæ,” fig. 385.
Swastika in panels.—Professor Goodyear, in another place,[176] argues in a manner which tacitly admits the foregoing proposition, where, in his endeavor to establish the true home of the Swastika to be in the Greek geometric style, he says we should seek it where it appears in “the largest dimension” and in “the most prominent way.” In verification of this declaration, he says that in this style the Swastika systematically appears in panels exclusively assigned to it. But he gives only two illustrations of the Swastika in panels. These have been copied, and are shown in figs. 140 and 142. The author has added other specimens, figs. 141 to 148, from Dennis’s “Etruria,” from Waring’s “Ceramic Art,” and from Cesnola and Ohnefalsch-Richter. It might be too much to say that these are the only Swastikas in Greece appearing in panels, but it is certain that the great majority of them do not thus appear. Therefore, Professor Goodyear’s theory is not sustained, for no one will pretend that four specimens found in panels will form a rule for the great number which did not thus appear. This argument of Professor Goodyear is destructive of his other proposition that the Swastika sign originated by evolution from the meander or Greek fret, for we have seen that the latter was always used in a band and never in panels.
Although the Swastika and the Greek fret have a certain similarity of appearance in that they consist of straight lines bent at right angles, and this continued many times, yet the similarity is more apparent than real; for an analysis of the motifs of both show them to have been essentially different in their use, and so in their foundation and origin.
Fig. 162. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE WITH FIGURE OF GOOSE, HONEYSUCKLE (ANTHEMION), AND SPIRAL SWASTIKA. Thera. “Monumenti Inedite,” LXV, p. 2, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 46, fig. 7.
Fig. 163. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE. Sphinx with spiral scrolls, and two meander Swastikas (right). Melos. Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1887, XII, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 34, fig. 8.
Fig. 164. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE. Ibex, scroll, and meander Swastika (right). Melos. Böhlau, Jahrbuch, 1887, XII, p. 121, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 39, fig. 2.
Fig. 165. DETAIL OF A GREEK VASE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Ram, meander Swastika (left), circles, dots, and crosses. Salzmann, “Necropole de Camire,” LI, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 28, fig. 7.
Swastikas with four arms, crossing at right angles, with ends bent to the right.—The author has called this the normal Swastika. He has been at some trouble to gather such Swastikas from Greek vases as was possible, and has divided them according to forms and peculiarities. The first group (figs. 140, 143, 146, 147, 148, and 150) shows the normal Swastika with four arms, all bent at right angles and to the right. In the aforesaid division no distinction has been made between specimens from different parts of Greece and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and these, with such specimens as have been found in Smyrna, have for this purpose all been treated as Greek.
Fig. 166. CYPRIAN VASE WITH SWASTIKAS AND FIGURES OF BIRDS. Perrot and Chipiez, “History of Art in Phenicia and Cyprus,” II, p. 300, fig. 237; Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 48, figs. 6, 12; Cesnola, “Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples,” Appendix by Murray, p. 412, pl. 44, fig. 34.
Fig. 167. CYPRIAN VASE WITH LOTUS, BOSSES, BUDS, SEPALS, AND DIFFERENT SWASTIKAS. Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 48, fig. 3.
Swastikas with four arms crossing at right angles, ends bent to the left.—Figs. 141, 142, 144, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 156, and 157 represent the normal Swastika with four arms, all bending at right angles, but to the left. The vases on which they have been found are not described as to color or form. It would be difficult to do so correctly; besides, these descriptions are not important in our study of the Swastika. Fig. 155 represents a vase or pitcher (oinochoë, Greek—οῖνος, wine, and χέω, to pour) with painted Swastika, ends turned to the left. It is in the Museum of St. Germain, and is figured by M. De Mortillet in “Musée Préhistorique.” Fig. 156 represents a Cyprian vase from Ormidia, in the New York Museum. It is described by Cesnola[177] and by Perrot and Chipiez.[178] Fig. 157 is taken from a fragment of archaic Greek pottery found in Santorin (Ancient Thera), an island in the Greek Archipelago. This island was first inhabited by the Phenicians, afterwards by the Greeks, a colony of whom founded Cyrene in Africa. This specimen is cited by Rochette and figured by Waring.[179]
Fig. 168. CYPRIAN VASE WITH LOTUS, BOSSES, LOTUS BUDS, AND DIFFERENT SWASTIKAS. Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 48, fig. 15.
Swastikas with four arms crossing at other than right angles, the ends ogee and to the left.—Figs. 158, 159, and 160 show Swastikas with four arms crossing at other than right angles, many of them ogee, but turned to the left. Fig. 161 is a representation of a wooden button or clasp, much resembling the later gold brooch of Sweden, classified by Montelius (p. 867), covered with plates of gold, from Sepulcher IV, Mycenæ (Schliemann, Mycenæ, fig. 385, p. 259). The ornament in its center is one of the ogee Swastikas with four arms (tetraskelion) curved to the left. It shows a dot in each of the four angles of the cross similar to the Suavastika of Max Müller and the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki, which Burnouf attributed to the four nails which fastened the cross Arani (the female principle), while the Pramantha (the male), produced, by rotation, the holy fire from the sacred cross. An almost exact reproduction of this Swastika will be found on the shield of the Pima Indians of New Mexico (fig. 258).
Fig. 169. DETAIL OF EARLY BŒOTIAN VASE. Figure of horse, solar diagram, Artemis with geese, and Swastikas (normal and meander, right and left). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 61, fig. 12.
Dr. Schliemann reports that the Swastika in its spiral form is represented innumerable times in the sculptured ceiling of the Thalamos in the treasury at Orchomenos. (See figs. 21 and 25.)
He also reports[180] that Swastikas (turned both ways) may be seen in the Royal Museum at Berlin incised on a balustrade relief of the hall which surrounded the temple of Athene at Pergamos. Fig. 162 represents a spiral Swastika with four arms crossing at right angles, the ends all turned to the left and each one forming a spiral.
Waring[181] figures and describes a Grecian oinochoë from Camirus, Rhodes, dating, as he says, from 700 to 500 B. C., on which is a band of decoration similar to fig. 130. It is about 10 inches high, of cream color, with ornamentation of dark brown. Two ibexes follow each other with an ogee spiral Swastika between the forelegs of one.
Meander pattern, with ends bent to right and left.—Figs. 163, 164, and 165 show the Swastika in meander pattern. Fig. 163 shows two Swastikas, the arms of both bent to the right, one six, the other nine times. The Swastika shown in fig. 164 is bent to the right eight times. That shown in fig. 165 bends to the left eight times.
Swastikas of different kinds on the same object.—The next group (figs. 167 to 176) is of importance in that it represents objects which, bearing the normal Swastika, also show on the same object other styles of Swastika, those turned to the left at right angles, those at other than right angles, and those which are spiral or meander. The presence on a single object of different forms of Swastika is considered as evidence of their chronologic identity and their consequent relation to each other, showing them to be all the same sign—that is, they were all Swastikas, whether the arms were bent to the right or to the left, ogee or in curves, at right angles or at other than right angles, in spirals or meanders.
Fig. 170. DETAIL OF RHODIAN VASE. Figures of geese, circles and dots, and Swastikas (right and left). British Museum. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 27, fig. 9.
Fig. 171. DETAIL OF RHODIAN VASE. Geese, lotus circles, and two Swastikas (right and left). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” p. 271, fig. 145.
Many examples of vases similar to fig. 172 are shown in the London, Paris, and New York museums, and in other collections. (See figs. 149, 159.) Fig. 174 shows an Attic painted vase (Lebes) of the Archaic period, from Athens. It is a pale yellowish ground, probably the natural color, with figures in maroon. It belongs to the British Museum. It bears on the front side five Swastikas, all of different styles; three turn to the right, two to the left. The main arms cross at right angles, but the ends of four are bent at right angles, while one is curved (ogee). Three have the ends bent (at right angles) four times, making a meander form, while two make only one bend. They seem not to be placed with any reference to each other, or to any other object, and are scattered over the field as chance or luck might determine. A specimen of Swastika interesting to prehistoric archæologists is that on a vase from Cyprus (Musée St. Germain, No. 21537), on which is represented an arrowhead, stemmed, barbed, and suspended by its points between the Swastika.[182]
Fig. 172. GREEK VASE OF TYPICAL RHODIAN STYLE. Ibex, lotus, geese, and six Swastikas (normal, meander, and ogee, all left). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” p. 251, pl. 39.[183]
Fig. 173. DETAIL OF GREEK VASE. Deer, solar diagrams, and three Swastikas (single, double, and meander, right). Melos. Conze, “Meliosche Thongefässe,” and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 60, fig. 8.
Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter presented a paper before the Société d’Anthropologie in Paris, December 6, 1888, reported in the Bulletin of that year (pp. 668-681). It was entitled “La Croix gammée et la Croix cantonnée en Chypre.” (The Croix gammée is the Swastika, while the Croix cantonnée is the cross with dots, the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki.) In this paper the author describes his finding the Swastika during his excavations into prehistoric Cyprus. On the first page of his paper the following statement appears:
The Swastika comes from India as an ornament in form of a cone (conique) of metal, gold, silver, or bronze gilt, worn on the ears (see G. Perrot: “Histoire de l’Art,” III, p. 562 et fig. 384), and nose-rings (see S. Reinach: “Chronique d’Orient,” 3e série, t. IV, 1886). I was the first to make known the nose-ring worn by the goddess Aphrodite-Astarte, even at Cyprus. In the Indies the women still wear these ornaments in their nostrils and ears. The fellahin of Egypt also wear similar jewelry; but as Egyptian art gives us no example of the usage of these ornaments in antiquity, it is only from the Indies that the Phenicians could have borrowed them. The nose-ring is unknown in the antiquity of all countries which surrounded the island of Cyprus.
Fig. 174. ARCHAIC GREEK VASE WITH FIVE SWASTIKAS OF FOUR DIFFERENT FORMS. Athens. Birch, “History of Ancient Pottery,” quoted by Waring in “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 41, fig. 15; Dennis, “The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,” I, p. 91.
Fig. 175. DETAIL OF ARCHAIC BŒOTIAN VASE. Serpents, crosses, and Swastikas (normal, right, left, and meander). Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 60, fig. 9.
The first pages of his memoir are employed in demonstrating that the specimens of the Swastika found in Cyprus, the most of which are set forth in this paper (figs. 177-182), show a Phenician influence; and according to his theory demonstrate their migration or importation. He does not specify the evidence on which he bases his assertion of Phenician influence in Cyprus, except in one or two particulars. Speaking of the specimen shown in fig. 177 of the present paper, he says: