In the Catacombs at Rome it is well known on the tunic of the Good Shepherd, and on the garments of the Fossores, a class of men employed in the offices of Christian sepulture, and in opening fresh graves and catacombs. The Triskelia, or Three Legs of the Isle of Man, and some Syracuse coins in the reign of Agathocles, 317-289 B.C., and other towns in Sicily, are only variants of the Swastica. Dr. Albert Churchward, in _The Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man_ (London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., 1910), supplies a mint of valuable information scattered throughout this learned work. On page 44 he states that this Swastica was also the most sacred sign amongst the British Druids. Page 115 (figure 49) shows the Mexican Kalendar in form of a Swastica Cross. On page 261 the Swastica is said to be frequently found on stones in Devonshire, and a good specimen is in the museum at Torquay. "It is a fact that prehistoric man of the two hemispheres had the knowledge to spin fibre and thread, to wind it on bobbins (see spindle wheels found in museums) having the same sign on them wherever found, viz. the Swastika [swastika sign]" (p. 44). "This symbol has probably a wider range than any other that has been preserved from prehistoric times" (p. 352). Dr. Churchward states, in _Primordial Man_, p. 187, that the recent discoveries of Flinders Petrie at Abydos tend to show that the Druids derived the Swastika from Egypt more than 20,000 years ago!!! On April 16, 1912, a few poor specimens of Roman bronze coins struck at Gaza were brought to me in that city, but the local finds seem to have become nearly exhausted. A representation of the temple Tychæon erected to the Fortune of the City occurs on a coin of Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius (shortly before A.D. 161), which shows a tetrastyle temple. (Most of the temples depicted on the Gaza coins are distyle.) The goddess of the town, as well as the heifer, also appear on this coin. FOOTNOTES: [16] On some coins the word ΜΕΙΝΩ occurs. It refers to Minoa, the legendary name of Gaza, with reference to its foundation by Minos of Crete.--_Meyer._ [17] Hadrianus, A.D. 117-138, favoured Gaza with several visits from A.D. 123-135. This probably accounts for De Saulcy (_Numismatique de la Terre Sainte_, Paris, 1874) being able to describe, on pp. 215-18, twenty-two Gaza coins of this reign. [18] _Historia Numorum_, Head, p. 680. [19] _Encyclopædia Britannica_, "Philistines," pp. 755-6, vol. xviii, ninth edition. CHAPTER V THE JEWS AT GAZA[20] There is no record to show that the Jews obtained any stronghold in Gaza during Pagan times. Pompey liberated Gaza _c._ 65 B.C., which had been subjected to the Jews since the times of the Maccabees, and restored the city to its freedom. With the institutions of Pompey, the freedom of the Jewish people, after having existed for scarcely eighty years, if we reckon it as beginning in 142 B.C., was completely overthrown.