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
[Illustration: Fig. 43. SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS AND TWO CROSSES.
Depth, 23 feet. Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1858.]
[Illustration: Fig. 44. SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1874.]
[Illustration: Fig. 45. SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS. Depth, 23 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1919.]
[Illustration: Fig. 46. SPINDLE-WHORL WITH TWO SWASTIKAS. Depth, 28 feet.
Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1826.]
[Illustration: Fig. 47. SPINDLE-WHORL WITH THREE SWASTIKAS. Depth, 23
feet. Schliemann, "Ilios," fig. 1851.]
_The Third, or Burnt, City_ (23 to 33 feet deep).--The spindle-whorl shown
in fig. 43 contains two Swastikas and two crosses.[142] Of the one
Swastika, two arms are bent to the right at right angles, while the other
two are bent to the right in curves. The other Swastika has but two bends,
one at right angles, the other curved, both to the right. The specimen
shown in fig. 44 has two Swastikas, in one of which the four arms are bent
at right angles to the left. The entire figure is traced in double lines,
one heavy and one light, as though to represent edges or shadows. The
second Swastika has its ends bent at an obtuse angle to the left, and at
the extremities the lines taper to a point. The whorl shown in fig. 45 is
nearly spherical, with two Swastikas in the upper part. The ends of the
four arms in both are bent at right angles, one to the right, the other to
the left. Fig. 46 represents a spindle-whorl with two irregular Swastikas;
but one arm is bent at right angles and all the arms and points are
uncertain and of unequal lengths. The rest of the field is covered with
indefinite and inexplicable marks, of which the only ones noteworthy are
points or dots, seven in number. In fig. 47 the top is surrounded by a
line of zigzag or dog-tooth ornaments. Within this field, on the upper
part and equidistant from the central hole, are three Swastikas, the ends
of all of which turn to the left, and but one at right angles. All three
have one or more ends bent, not at any angle, but in a curve or hook,
making an ogee. Fig. 48 shows a large whorl with two or three Swastikas on
its upper surface in connection with several indefinite marks apparently
without meaning. The dots are interspersed over the field, the Swastikas
all bent to the right, but with uncertain lines and at indefinite angles.
In one of them the main line forming the cross is curved toward the
central hole; in another, the ends are both bent in the same
direction--that is, pointing to the periphery of the whorl. Fig. 49 shows
a sphere or globe (see figs. 75, 88) divided by longitudinal lines into
four segments, which are again divided by an equatorial line. These
segments contain marks or dots and circles, while one segment contains a
normal Swastika turned to the left. This terra-cotta ball has figured in a
peculiar degree in the symbolic representation of the Swastika. Greg says
of it:[143]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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