The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric TimesWilson, Thomas
Religion
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times
Wilson, Thomas
Industries, Primitive; Swastikas; Symbolism
Zmigrodzki continues his classification by adding those which have
relation to the Swastika thus: Eighty-two representing stars; 70
representing suns; 42 representing branches of trees or palms; 15 animals
non-ferocious, deer, antelope, hare, swan, etc.; total, 209 objects. Many
of these were spindle whorls.
Dr. Schliemann, in his works, "Troja" and "Ilios," describes at length his
excavations of these cities and his discoveries of the Swastika on many
objects. His reports are grouped under titles of the various cities,
first, second, third, etc., up to the seventh city, counting always from
the bottom, the first being deepest and oldest. The same system will be
here pursued. The first and second cities were 45 to 52 feet (13 to 16
meters) deep; the third, 23 to 33 feet (7 to 10 meters) deep; the fourth
city, 13 to 17.6 feet (4 to 5-1/2 meters) deep; the fifth city, 7 to 13
feet (2 to 4 meters) deep; the sixth was the Lydian city of Troy, and the
seventh city, the Greek Ilium, approached the surface.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. FRAGMENT OF LUSTROUS BLACK POTTERY. Swastika,
right. Depth, 23 feet. Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 247.]
_First and Second Cities._--But few whorls were found in the first and
second cities[139] and none of these bore the Swastika mark, while
thousands were found in the third, fourth, and fifth cities, many of which
bore the Swastika mark. Those of the first city, if unornamented, have a
uniform lustrous black color and are the shape of a cone (fig. 55) or of
two cones joined at the base (figs. 52 and 71). Both kinds were found at
33 feet and deeper. Others from the same city were ornamented by incised
lines rubbed in with white chalk, in which case they were flat.[140] In
the second city the whorls were smaller than in the first. They were all
of a black color and their incised ornamentation was practically the same
as those from the upper cities.[141]
Zmigrodzki congratulated himself on having discovered among Schliemann's
finds what he believed to be the oldest representation of the Swastika of
which we had reliable knowledge. It was a fragment of a vase (fig. 42) of
the lustrous black pottery peculiar to the whorls of the first and second
cities. But Zmigrodzki was compelled to recede, which he did regretfully,
when Schliemann, in a later edition, inserted the footnote (p. 350)
saying, that while he had found this (with a companion piece) at a great
depth in his excavations, and had attributed them to the first city, yet,
on subsequent examination, he had become convinced that they belonged to
the third city.
The Swastika, turned both ways [S] and [Z], was frequent in the third,
fourth, and fifth cities.
The following specimens bearing the Swastika mark are chosen, out of the
many specimens in Schliemann's great album, in order to make a fair
representation of the various kinds, both of whorls and of Swastikas.
They are arranged in the order of cities, the depth being indicated in
feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account