The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its...

Fig. 50 represents one of the biconical spindle-whorls with various decorations on the two sides, longitudinal lines interspersed with dots, arcs of concentric circles arranged in three parallels, etc. On one of these sides is a normal Swastika, the arms crossing at right angles, the ends bent at right angles to the left. The specimen shown in fig. 51 contains four perfect Swastikas and two inchoate and uncertain. Both of the latter have been damaged by breaking the surface. The four Swastikas all have their arms bent to the right; some are greater than at right angles, and one arm is curved. Several ends are tapered to a point. Fig. 52 shows a whorl of biconical form. It contains two Swastikas, the main arms of which are ogee forms, crossing each other at the center at nearly right angles, the ogee ends curving to the right. In fig. 53 the entire field of the upper surface is filled with, or occupied by, a Greek cross, in the center of which is the central hole of the whorl, while on each of the four arms is represented a Swastika, the main arms all crossing at right angles, the ends all bent to the right at a slightly obtuse angle. Each of these bent ends tapers to a point, some with slight curves and a small flourish. (See figs. 33 and 34 for reference to this flourish.) The specimen shown in fig. 54 has a center field in its upper part, of which the decoration consists of incised parallel lines forming segments of circles, repeated in each one of the four quarters of the field. The center hole is surrounded by two concentric rings of incised lines.

We find among the successors of the burnt city the same triangular idols; the same primitive bronze battle-axes; the same terra-cotta vases, with or without tripod feet; the same double-handled goblets (σέπα ὰμφικύπελλα); the same battle-axes of jade, porphyry, and diorite; the same rude stone hammers, and saddle querns of trachyte. * * * The number of rude stone hammers and polished stone axes are fully thrice as large as in the third city, while the masses of shells and cockles accumulated in the débris of the houses are so stupendous that they baffle all description. The pottery is coarser and of a ruder fabric than in the third city. * * * There were also found in the fourth city many needles of bone for female handiwork, boar tusks, spit rests of mica schist, whetstones of slate, porphyry, etc., of the usual form, hundreds of small silex saws, and some knives of obsidian. Stone whorls, which are so abundant at Mycenæ, are but rarely found here; all of those which occur are, according to Mr. Davis, of steatite. On the other hand, terra-cotta whorls, with or without incised ornamentation, are found by thousands; their forms hardly vary from those in the third (the burnt) city, and the same may be generally said of their incised ornamentation. * * * The same representation of specimens of whorls are given as in the third city, and the same observations apply.

Fig. 55 shows a simple cone, the upper surface being flat and without other decoration than three Swastikas equidistant from the hole and from each other, all made by the two crossed ogee lines with ends curved to the right. This specimen is much like that of Fig. 71 (Madam Schliemann collection in the U. S. National Museum, Cat. No. 149704). Fig. 56 shows a remarkable spindle-whorl. Its marks greatly excited the interest of Dr. Schliemann, and he devoted much space to the discussion of these and similar characters. The whorl is in the form of a cone. It bears upon its conical surface four Swastikas, the ends of three of which bend to the right and one to the left. There are but two of these ends which bend at right angles. Most of them are at an obtuse angle, while the ends of two are curved. Some taper to a point and finish with a slight flourish. The other marks which so interested Dr. Schliemann were the chevron ornament (zigzag), drawn in parallel lines, which, he strongly argued, and fortified with many authorities, represented lightning. The second series of marks he called a “burning altar.”

This assertion he also fortified with authorities and with illustrations of a similar sign from different countries. (See fig. 101.) The third series of marks represented an animal, name and character unknown, with a head or tusks with two large branching horns or ears, a straight back, a stiff but drooping tail, four legs, and two rows of the remarkable dots—seven in one, six in the other—placed over the back of the animal. (See figs. 99 and 100.) Fig. 57 represents another cone-shaped whorl, the flat surface of which is engraved with one perfect Swastika, the two arms crossing each other at right angles and the two ends bending at right angles to the right; the other two are curved, also to the right. Two of the other figures Dr. Schliemann calls Swastikas, although they are uncertain in some of their arms and angles. The fourth character he imagined to be an inchoate or attempted Swastika. Fig. 58 shows a biconical whorl with curious and inexplicable characters. One of them forms a crude Swastika, which, while the main arms cross at right angles the ends are bent at uncertain angles, three to the left and one to the right. These characters are so undetermined that it is doubtful if they could have had any signification, either ornamental or otherwise. Fig. 59 is almost conical, the flat surface thereof being only slightly raised at the center. It is much the same form as the whorls shown in figs. 55 and 71.

The nearly flat surface is the top, and on it, equidistant from the center hole and from each other, are three ogee Swastikas of double lines, with their ends all curved to the right. In the alternate spaces are small incised circles, with dots in the centers. In fig. 60 a biconical whorl is shown. It has three of the circle segments marked in equilateral positions, with three or four parallel lines, after the style shown in Fig. 54. In the spaces are two Swastikas, in both of which the two main arms cross at right angles. Some of the ends bend at a right, and others at an obtuse, angle. In one of the Swastikas the bent ends turn toward each other, forming a rude figure 8. The specimen shown in fig. 61 is biconical, but much flattened; it contains five ogee Swastikas, of which the ends of four bend to the right and one to the left. In an interval between them is one of the burning altars. Fig. 62 shows three Swastikas with double parallel lines. The main arms cross each other at right angles; the ends are bent at nearly right angles, one to the left, one to the right, and the other both ways. Fig. 63 represents a spindle-whorl with a cup-shaped depression around the central hole, which is surrounded by three lines in concentric circles, while on the field, at 90 degrees from each other, are four ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions), the arms all turning to the left and spirally each upon itself. The specimen shown in fig. 64 is biconical, though, as usual, the upper cone is the smallest.

There are parallel lines, three in a set, forming the segments of three circles, in one space of which appears a Swastika of a curious and unique form, similar to that shown in fig. 60. The two main arms cross each other at very nearly right angles and the ends also bend at right angles toward and approaching each other, so that if continued slightly farther they would close and form a decorative figure 8. The specimen shown in fig. 65 is decorated with parallel lines, three in number, arranged in segments of three circles, the periphery of which is toward the center, as in figs. 60 and 64. In one of the spaces is a Swastika of curious form; the main arms cross each other at right angles, but the four ends represent different styles—two are bent square to the left, one square to the right, and the fourth curves to the left at no angle. Fig. 66 shows a biconical whorl, and its top is decorated to represent three Swastikas and three burning altars. The ends of the arms of the Swastikas all bend to the left, some are at right angles and some at obtuse angles, while two or three are curved; two of them show corrections, the marks at the ends having been changed in one case at a different angle and in another from a straight line to a curve. Fig. 67 shows four specimens of Swastika, the main arms of all of which cross at right angles. The ends all bend to the right, at nearly right angles, tapering to a point and finishing with the slight flourish noted in the Jain Swastika (fig. 34c). They are alternated with a chevron decoration.

Fig. 68 shows three Swastikas, the ends of the arms of which are all bent to the left. One Swastika is composed of two ogee lines. Two arms of another are curved, but all others are bent at right angles, some of them tapering to points, finishing with a little flourish (figs. 67 and 34c). One of these ends, like that in fig. 66, has been corrected by the maker. Fig. 69 represents one Swastika in which the main arms cross at nearly right angles. Both ends of one arm turn to the left and those of the other arm turn to the right in figure 8 style. One of the ends is curved, the others bent at different angles. Fig. 70 shows the parallel lines representing segments of a circle similar to figs. 60, 64, 65, and 69, except that it has four instead of three. It has one Swastika; the main arms (of double lines) cross at right angles, the ends all curving to the left with a slight ogee.

The 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 13½ 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 rude stone hammers found in enormous quantities in the fourth city are no longer found in this stratum, nor did the stone axes, which are so very abundant there, occur again here. Instead of the hundreds of axes I gathered in the fourth city, I collected in all only two here. * * * The forms of the terra-cotta whorls, too, are in innumerable instances different here. These objects are of a much inferior fabric, and become elongated and pointed. Forms of whorls like Nos. 1801, 1802, and 1803 [see figs. 72, 73, and 74], which were never found before, are here plentiful.

The Sixth and Seventh Cities.—The sixth city is described 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 and .