II.—Dispersion of the Swastika. (continued 1)
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Wilson, Thomas
Fig. 187. GOLD FIBULA WITH SWASTIKAS (LEFT). Etruscan Museum, Vatican. Catalogue of the Etruscan Museum, part 1, pl. 26, fig. 6. ½ natural size.
Fig. 188. ETRUSCAN GOLD BULLA WITH SWASTIKA ON BOTTOM. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 4a.
Fig. 189. ORNAMENTAL SWASTIKA ON ETRUSCAN SILVER BOWL. Cervetri (Cære), Etruria. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 41, fig. 13.
An ornamental Swastika (fig. 189) is found on a silver bowl from Cervetri (Cære), Etruria. It is furnished by Grifi, and reproduced by Waring. This specimen is to be remarked as having a small outward flourish from the extreme end of each arm, somewhat similar to that made by the Jains (fig. 33), or on the “Tablet of honor” of Chinese porcelain (fig. 31). Fig. 190 shows an Etruscan bronze fibula with two Swastikas and two Maltese crosses in the pin shield. It is in the Museum of Copenhagen, and is taken from the report of the Congrés Internationale d’Anthropologie et d’Archæologie Préhistorique, Copenhagen, 1875, page 486. This specimen, by its rays or crotchets around the junction of the pin with the shield, furnishes the basis of the argument by Goblet d’Alviella[197] that the Swastika was evolved from the circle and was a symbol of the sun or sun-god. (See p. 785.)
Fig. 190. BRONZE FIBULA WITH TWO SWASTIKAS AND SUPPOSED RAYS Of SUN.[198] Etruria. Copenhagen Museum. Goblet d’Alviella, fig. 19a, De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1263. ¼ natural size.
Bologna was the site of the Roman city Bononia, and is supposed to have been that of Etruscan Felsina. Its Etruscan cemetery is extensive. Different names have been given to the excavations, sometimes from the owner of the land and at other times from the names of excavators. The first cemetery opened was called Villanova. The culture was different from that of the other parts of Etruria. By some it is believed to be older, by others younger, than the rest of Etruria. The Swastika is found throughout the entire Villanova epoch. Fig. 191 shows a pottery vase from the excavation Arnoaldi. It is peculiar in shape and decoration, but is typical of that epoch. The decoration was by stamps in the clay (intaglio) of a given subject repeated in the narrow bands around the body of the vase. Two of these bands were of small Swastikas with the ends all turned to the right. Fig. 192 shows a fragment of pottery from the Felsina necropolis, Bologna, ornamented with a row of Swastikas stamped into the clay in a manner peculiar to the locality.
Fig. 191. POTTERY URN ORNAMENTED WITH SUCCESSIVE BANDS IN INTAGLIO, TWO OF WHICH ARE COMPOSED OF SWASTIKAS. Necropolis Arnoaldi, Bologna. Museum of Bologna. Gozzadini, “Scavi Archæologici,” etc., pl. 4, fig. 8.
Fig. 192. FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITH ROW OF SWASTIKAS IN INTAGLIO. Necropole Felsinea, Italy. Museo Bologna. Gozzadini, “Due Sepolcri,” etc., p. 7. ½ natural size.
Fig. 193. SWASTIKA SIGN ON CLAY BOBBIN. Type Villanova, Bologna. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1239.
Fig. 193 shows the end view of one of the bobbins from Bologna, Italy, in the possession of Count Gozzadini by whom it was collected. The decoration on the end, as shown by the figure, is the Swastika. The main arms are made up of three parallel lines, which intersect each other at right angles, and which all turn to the right at right angles. The lines are not incised, as is usual, but, like much of the decoration belonging to this culture, are made by little points consecutively placed, so as to give the appearance of a continuous line.
Swastikas turning both ways are on one or both extremities of many terra-cotta cylinders found in the terramare at Coazze, province of Verona, deposited in the National (Kircheriano) Museum at Rome. (See figs. 380 and 381 for similar bobbins.)
The museum at Este, Italy, contains an elegant pottery vase of large dimensions, represented in fig. 194, the decoration of which is the Greek fret around the neck and the Swastika around the body, done with small nail heads or similar disks inserted in the clay in the forms indicated. This association of the Swastika and the Greek fret on the same object is satisfactory evidence of their contemporaneous existence, and is thus far evidence that the one was not derived from the other, especially as the authorities who claim this derivation are at variance as to which was parent and which, child. (See fig. 133.)
A Swastika of the curious half-spiral form turned to the left, such as has been found in Scandinavia and also among the Pueblo Indians of the United States, is in the museum at Este.
When in the early centuries of the Christian era the Huns made their irruption into Europe, they apparently possessed a knowledge of the Swastika. They settled in certain towns of northern Italy, drove off the inhabitants, and occupied the territory for themselves. On the death of Attila and the repulse of the Huns and their general return to their native country, many small tribes remained and gradually became assimilated with the population. They have remained in northern Italy under the title of Longobards. In this Longobardian civilization or barbarism, whichever we may call it, and in their style of architecture and ornament, the Swastika found a prominent place, and is spoken of as Longobardian.
It is needless to multiply citations of the Swastika in Roman and Christian times. It would appear as though the sign had descended from the Etruscans and Samnites along the coast and had continued in use during Roman times. Schliemann says[199] that it is found frequently in the wall paintings at Pompeii; even more than a hundred times in a house in the recently excavated street of Vesuvius. It may have contested with the Latin cross for the honor of being the Christian cross, for we know that the St. Andrew’s cross in connection with the Greek letter P (fig. 6) did so, and for a long time stood as the monogram of Christ and was the Labarum of Constantine. All three of these are on the base of the Archiepiscopal chair in the cathedral at Milan.[200]
Fig. 194. POTTERY VASE ORNAMENTED WITH BRONZED NAIL HEADS IN FORM OF SWASTIKA. Este, Italy. Matériaux pour l’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de l’Homme, 1884, p. 14.
Fig. 195. FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITH SWASTIKA STAMPED IN RELIEF.
Fig. 196. STAMP FOR MAKING SWASTIKA SIGN ON POTTERY. Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget, Savoy. Musée de Chambéry. Chantre, “Age du Bronze,” figs. 53, 55, and Keller, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” pl. 161, fig. 3.
Swiss lake dwellings.—Figs. 195 and 196 are interesting as giving an insight into the method of making the sign of the Swastika. Fig. 195 shows a fragment of pottery bearing a stamped intaglio Swastika (right), while fig. 196 represents the stamp, also in pottery, with which the imprint was made. They are figured by Keller,[201] and are described on page 339, and by Chantre.[202] They were found in the Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget (Savoy) by the Duc de Chaulnes, and are credited to his Museum of Chambéry.
Fig. 197. FRAGMENT OF CEINTURE FROM A TUMULUS IN ALSACE. Thin bronze repoussé with Swastikas of various kinds. Bronze Age, Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1255.
Fig. 198. FRAGMENT OF A CEINTURE FROM THE TUMULUS OF METZSTETTEN, WÜRTEMBERG. Thin bronze open-work with intricate Swastikas. Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1257, and Chantre, “Le Caucase,” II, p. 50, fig. 25.
Fig. 199. BRONZE FIBULA, THE BODY OF WHICH FORMS A SWASTIKA. Museum of Mayence. De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1266.
Fig. 200. SEPULCHRAL URN WITH SWASTIKA. North Germany. Waring, “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 7, fig. 94.
Germany and Austria.—Fig. 197 represents a fragment of a ceinture of thin bronze of the Halstattien epoch of the Bronze Age from a tumulus in Alsace. It is made after the style common to that period; the work is repoussé and the design is laid off by diagonal lines which divide the field into lozenges, wherein the Swastika is represented in various forms, some turned square to the right, others to the left, while one is in spiral and is turned to the left. Other forms of the cross also appear with dots in or about the corners, which Burnouf associates with the myth of Agni and fire making, and which Zmigrodzki calls the Croix swasticale. This specimen is in the collection Nessel at Haguenau. Another ceinture was found at the same place and is displayed with it. It bears representations of the cross of different forms, one of which might be a Swastika with dotted cross lines, with the arms turned spirally to the left. Fig. 198 represents another fragment of a bronze ceinture from the same country and belonging to the same epoch. It is from the tumulus of Metzstetten, Würtemberg, and is in the Museum of Stuttgart. It is not repoussé, but is cut in openwork of intricate pattern in which the Swastika is the principal motif. A bronze fibula (fig. 199) is in the museum at Mayence, the body of which has the form of the normal Swastika. The arms are turned to the right and the lower one is broken off. The hinge for the pin was attached at one side or arm of the Swastika and the retaining clasp for the point at the other.
Fig. 200 represents a prehistoric sepulchral urn with a large Swastika, the arms being indicated by three parallel lines, after the same manner as the Swastika on the clay bobbin from Bologna (fig. 193). It is reported by Lisch and Schröter, though the locality is not given. It is figured by Waring. The form, appearance, and decoration are of the type Villanova, thus identifying it with northern Italy.