Fig. 130.GREEK VASE SHOWING DEER,GEESE, AND SWASTIKAS.Naukratis, Ancient Egypt.Sixth and fifth centuries, B. C.Petrie, Third Memoir, EgyptExploration Fund, part 1, pl. 4,fig. 3, and Goodyear,“Grammar of the Lotus,”pl. 60, fig. 2.
Fig. 130a.DETAIL OF VASESHOWN IN THEPRECEDING FIGURE.
Naukratis.—Figs. 130 to 135, made after illustrations in Mr. W. Flinders Petrie’s Third Memoir of the Egypt 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.
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.
Fig. 131.POTTERY FRAGMENTS WITH TWO MEANDER SWASTIKAS.Naukratis, Ancient Egypt. Petrie, Third Memoir of the EgyptianExploration Fund, part 1, pl. 5, figs. 15, 24.
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.
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, with 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 variously applied and in different sizes, sometimes inserted in borders, andsometimes adorning the corners of the tunics and togas as a large medallion, as shown in the figure.[167]
Fig. 133.FRAGMENT OF GREEK VASE DECORATED WITH FIGURES OF SACREDANIMALS AND SWASTIKAS, ASSOCIATED WITH GREEK FRET.Naukratis, Ancient Egypt. Petrie, Sixth Memoir of the EgyptExploration 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 EgyptExploration Fund, part 2, pl. 5, fig. 1.
Fig. 136.GREEK TAPESTRY.Coptos, Egypt. First and second centuries, A. D. Forrer,“Die Gräber- und Textilfunde von Achmin-Panopolis.”
ALGERIA.
Fig. 137.TORUS OF COLUMN WITH SWASTIKAS.Roman ruins, Algeria. Waring, “Ceramic Art inRemote Ages,” pl. 43, fig. 2, quoting from Delamare.
Waring, in his “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,” discoursing upon the Swastika, which he calls fylfot, shows in pl. 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]
ASHANTEE.
Fig. 138.BRONZE INGOTS BEARING SWASTIKAS.Coomassee, Ashantee.
Mr. R. B. Æneas 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.
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.
The Greek fret and Egyptian meander not the same as the Swastika.—Professor Goodyear says:[171]“There is no proposition in archæology 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.
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. No man is so poor in expedients that he may not argue. Goldsmith’s schoolmaster “e’en tho’ vanquished, he could argue still.” The Greek fret, once established, might easily be doubled or crossed in some of its members, thus forming a figure similar to the Swastika (fig. 139), which would serve as an ornament, but is without any of the characteristics of the Swastika as a symbol. The crossed lines in the Greek fret seem to have been altogether fortuitous. They gave it no symbolic character. It was simply a variation of the fret, and at best was rarely used, and like it, was employed only for ornament and not with any signification—not a sign of benediction, blessing, or good luck, as was the Swastika. The foundation principle of the Greek fret, so far as we can see its use, is its adaptability to form an extended ornamental band, consisting of doubled, bent, and sometimes crossed or interlaced lines, always continuous and never ending, and running between two parallel border lines. Two interlacing lines can be used, crossing each other at certain places, both making continuous meanders and together forming the ornamental band (fig. 139). In the Greek fret the two lines meandered between the two borders back and forth, up and down, but always forming a continuous line. This seems to be the foundation principle of the Greek fret. In all thisrequirement or foundation principle the Swastika fails. A row or band of Swastikas can not be made by continuous lines; each one is and must be separated from its fellows. The Swastika has four arms, each made by a single line which comes to an end in each quarter. This is more imperative with the meander Swastika than with the normal. If the lines be doubled on each other to be carried along to form another Swastika adjoining, in the attempt to make a band, it will be found impossible. The four lines from each of the four arms can be projected, but each will be in a different direction, and no band can be made. It is somewhat difficult to describe this, and possibly not of great need. An attempt to carry out the project of making a band of Swastikas, to be connected with each other, or to make them travel in any given direction with continuous lines, will be found impossible. Professor Goodyear attempts to show how this is done by his figure on page 96, in connection with pl. 10, fig. 9, also figs. 173 and 174 (pp. 353 and 354). These figures are given in this paper and are, respectively, Nos. 21, 25, 26, and 27. Exception is taken to the pretended line of evolution in these figures: (1) There is nothing to show any actual relationship between them. There is no evidence that they agreed either in locality or time, or that there was any unity of thought or design inthe minds of their respective artists. (2) Single specimens are no evidence of custom. This is a principle of the common law which has still a good foundation, and was as applicable in those days as it is now. The transition from the spiral to the Greek fret and from the Greek fret to the Swastika can be shown only by the existence of the custom or habit of the artist to make them both in the same or adjoining epochs of time, and this is not proved by showing a single specimen. (3) If a greater number of specimens were produced, the chain ofevidence would still be incomplete, for the meander of the Greek fret will, as has just been said, be found impossible of transition into the meander Swastika. It (the Swastika) does not extend itself into a band, but if spread at all, it spreads in each of the four directions (figs.21and25). The transition will be found much easier from the Greek meander fret to the normal Swastika and from that to the meander Swastika than to proceed in the opposite direction. Anyone who doubts this has but to try to make the Swastika in a continuous or extended band or line (fig. 26), similar to the Greek fret.
Fig. 151.DETAIL OF GREEK VASE WITH SWASTIKAS AND FIGURES OF BIRDS.Waring, “Ceramic Art In Remote Ages,” pl. 33, fig. 24, andGoodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 46, fig. 5.
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 Pheniciaand 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.
Figs.133and134, 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 infig. 194, which represents an Etruscan vase[174]ornamented with bronze nail heads in the form ofSwastikas, 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 ANDSWASTIKAS 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 Museumof 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 hasappeared 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 TERRACOTTA VASE WITHSWASTIKAS, FROMRUINS OF TEMPLEAT PALEO-PAPHOS.Depth, 40 feet.Cesnola, “Cyprus, itsAncient Cities, Tombs,and Temples,” p. 210.
Fig. 161.WOODEN BUTTON, CLASP,OR FIBULA COVERED WITHPLATES OF GOLD.Ogee Swastika, tetraskelionin 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.140and142. 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 bandand 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, andGoodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 46, fig. 7.
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 waspossible, and has divided them according to forms and peculiarities. The first group (figs.140,143,146,147,148, and150) 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, itsAncient 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 Museumof 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, and157represent 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. 155represents 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. 156represents a Cyprian vase from Ormidia, in the New York Museum. It is described by Cesnola[177]and by Perrot and Chipiez.[178]Fig. 157is taken from a fragment of archaic Greek pottery found in Santorin (Ancient Thera), an island in theGreek 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, LOTUSBUDS, AND DIFFERENT SWASTIKAS.Cesnola Collection, Metropolitan Museumof 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, and160show Swastikas with four arms crossing at other than right angles, many of them ogee, but turned to the left.Fig. 161is 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 SepulcherIV, 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 theCroix swasticaleof Zmigrodzki, which Burnouf attributed to the four nails which fastened the crossArani(the female principle), while thePramantha(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 theLotus,” 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.21and25.)
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. 162represents 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 tofig. 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, and165show the Swastika in meander pattern.Fig. 163shows two Swastikas, the arms of both bent to the right, one six, the other nine times. The Swastika shown infig. 164is bent to the right eight times. That shown infig. 165bends 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 tofig. 172are shown in the London, Paris, and New York museums, and in other collections. (See figs.149,159.)Fig. 174shows an Attic painted vase (Lebes) of the Archaic period, from Athens. It is a pale yellowish ground, probably thenatural 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 Sociétéd’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.” (TheCroix gamméeis the Swastika, while theCroix cantonnéeis the cross with dots, theCroix swasticaleof 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,” 3esérie, 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, “TheCities and Cemeteries of Etruria,”I, p. 91.
Fig. 175.DETAIL OF ARCHAICBŒOTIAN VASE.Serpents, crosses, andSwastikas (normal, right,left, and meander).Goodyear, “Grammar ofthe Lotus,” pl. 60, fig. 9.
The first pages of his memoir are employed in demonstrating thatthe 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 infig. 177of 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 Phenicians; it was not known prior to that time (p. 674).