The Swastika makes absolute default in Cyprus during all the age of
bronze and in all its separate divisions according as the vases were
decorated with intaglio or relief, or were painted.
_Etruria and Italy._--The Etruscans were a prehistoric people. The country
was occupied during the two ages of stone, Paleolithic and Neolithic, and
during the Bronze Age. The Etruscans were probably the descendants of the
Bronze Age people. The longest continued geographical discussion the world
has heard was as to _who were_ the Etruscans, and _whence_ or _by what_
route did they come to their country? It was opened by Herodotus and
Dionysius Halicarnassus in the fourth century B. C.; while Dr. Brinton and
the late President Welling have made the latest contributions thereto. The
culture of the Etruscans was somewhat similar to that of the Bronze Age
peoples, and many of the implements had great resemblance, but with
sufficient divergence to mark the difference between them. There were
different stages of culture among the Etruscans, as can be easily and
certainly determined from their tombs, modes of burial, pottery, etc.
The Swastika appears to have been employed in all these epochs or stages.
It was undoubtedly used during the Bronze Age, and in Italy it continued
throughout the Etruscan and into the Roman and Christian periods.
[Illustration: Fig. 183. HUT URN IN THE VATICAN MUSEUM. "Burning altar"
mark associated with Swastikas. Etruria (Bronze Age).]
While it may be doubtful if any specimen of Swastika can be identified as
having belonged to the Neolithic Age in Europe, there can be no doubt that
it was in common use during the Bronze Age. Professor Goodyear gives it as
his opinion, and in this he may be correct, that the earliest specimens of
Swastika of which identification can be made are on the hut urns of
central Italy. These have been considered as belonging definitely to the
Bronze Age in that country. Fig. 183 is a representation of one of these
hut urns. It shows upon its roof several specimens of Swastika, as will be
apparent from examination. There are other figures, incised and in relief.
One of them is the celebrated "burning altar" mark of Dr. Schliemann. This
specimen was found in the Via Appia near Rome, and is exhibited in the
Vatican Museum. Similar specimens have been found in other parts of
Etruria. The author saw in the Municipal Museum at Corneto many of them,
which had been excavated from the neighboring cemetery of the prehistoric
city of Corneto-Tarquinii. They were of pottery, but made as if to
represent rude huts of skin, stretched on cross poles, in general
appearance not unlike the cane and rush conical cabins used to this day by
the peasants around Rome. They belonged to the Bronze Age, and antedated
the Etruscan civilization. This was demonstrated by the finds at
Corneto-Tarquinii. Tombs to the number of about 300, containing them, were
found, mostly in 1880-81, at a lower level than, and were superseded by,
the Etruscan tombs. They contained the weapons, tools, and ornaments
peculiar to the Bronze Age--swords, hatchets, pins, fibulæ, bronze and
pottery vases, etc., the characteristics of which were different from
Etruscan objects of similar purpose, so they could be satisfactorily
identified and segregated. The hut urns were receptacles for the ashes of
the cremated dead, which, undisturbed, are to be seen in the museum. The
vases forming part of this grave furniture bore the Swastika mark; three
have two Swastikas, one three, one four, and another no less than eight.
Dennis figures a hut urn from Alba Longa,[192] and another from the Alban
Mount.[193] He says (note 1):
These remarkable urns were first found in 1817 at Montecucco, near
Marino, and at Monte Crescenzio, near the Lago de Castello, beneath a
stratum of _peperino_ (tufa) 18 inches thick. They were embedded in a
yellowish volcanic ash and rested on a lower and earlier stratum of
_peperino_.[194]
Curiously enough, the three or four pronged mark, called "burning altar"
by Dr. Schliemann, is on both hut urns in Dennis's "Cities and Cemeteries
of Etruria." Dr. Schliemann argues strongly in favor of the relationship
between Swastika and the "burning altar" sign, but assigns no other reason
than the similarity of the marks on the two objects. He appears unable, in
"Ilios," to cite any instance of the Swastika being found on the hut urns
in connection with the "burning altar" sign, but he mentions the Swastika
five times repeated on one of the hut urns in the Etruscan collection in
the museum of the Vatican at Rome.[195] The photograph of the hut urn from
the Vatican (fig. 183) supplies the missing link in Schliemann's evidence.
The roof of the hut urn bears the "burning altar" mark (if it be a burning
altar, as claimed), which is in high relief (as it is in the Dennis
specimens), and was wrought in the clay by the molder when the hut was
made. Such of the other portions of the roof as are in sight show sundry
incised lines which, being deciphered, are found to be Swastikas or parts
of them. The parallelogram in the front contains a cross and has the
appearance of a labyrinth, but it is not. The other signs or marks,
however, represent Swastikas, either in whole or in part. This specimen
completes the proof cited by Schliemann, and associates the Swastika with
the "burning altar" sign in the Etruscan country, as well as on the hill
of Hissarlik and in other localities.
Dennis supposes the earliest Etruscan vases, called by many different
names, to date from the twelfth century B. C. to 540 B. C.,[196] the
latter being the epoch of Theodoros of Samos, whose improvements marked an
epoch in the culture of the country. He says:
These vases were adorned with annular bands, zigzag, waves, meanders,
concentric circles, hatched lines, Swastikas, and other geometric
patterns.
A fragment of Archaic Greek pottery is reported by Rochette from the
necropolis of Cumæ, in the campagna of Italy, and is shown in fig. 184.
Rochette reports it as an example of a very early period, believed by him
to have been Phenician. When we consider the rarity of Phenician pottery
in Italy compared with the great amount of Greek pottery found there, and
that the Phenicians are not known to have employed the Swastika, this,
combined with the difficulty of determining the place of origin of such a
fragment, renders it more likely to have been Greek than Phenician. A
reason apparently moving Rochette to this decision was the zigzag
ornamentation, which he translated to be a Phenician sign for water; but
this pattern was used many times and in many places without having any
such meaning, and is no proof of his proposition.
[Illustration: Fig. 184. FRAGMENT OF ARCHAIC GREEK POTTERY WITH THREE
SWASTIKAS. Cumæ, Italy. Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig.
1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 185. CINERARY URN WITH SWASTIKAS IN PANELS. San
Marino, near Albano, Italy. Vatican Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 186. CINERARY URN WITH SWASTIKAS INCLOSED BY INCISED
LINES IN INTAGLIO. Cervetri, Italy. "Conestabile due Dischi in Bronzo,"
pl. 5, fig. 2. 1/6 natural size.]
Figs. 185 and 186 represent the one-handled cinerary urns peculiar to the
Bronze Age in Italy. They are believed to have been contemporaneous with
or immediately succeeding the hut urns just shown. The cinerary urn shown
in fig. 185 was found at Marino, near Albano, in the same locality and
under the same condition as the hut urns. The original is in the Vatican
Museum and was figured by Pigorini in "Archæologia," 1869. Fig. 186 shows
a one-handled urn of pottery with Swastika (left) in intaglio, placed in a
band of incised squares around the body of the vessel below the shoulder.
A small though good example of Etruscan work is shown in the gold fibula
(fig. 187). It is ornamented on the outside with the fine gold filigree
work peculiar to the best Etruscan art. On the inside are two Swastikas.
It is in the Vatican Museum of Etruscan antiquities. Fig. 188 represents
another specimen of Etruscan gold filigree work with a circle and
Swastika. It is a "bulla," an ornament said to indicate the rank of the
wearer among the Etruscan people. It is decorated with a circle and
Swastika inside. The figure is taken from "L'Art pour Tous," and is
reproduced by Waring.
[Illustration: Fig. 187. GOLD FIBULA WITH SWASTIKAS (LEFT). Etruscan
Museum, Vatican. Catalogue of the Etruscan Museum, part 1, pl. 26, fig. 6.
1/2 natural size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 188. ETRUSCAN GOLD BULLA WITH SWASTIKA ON BOTTOM.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 4_a_.]
[Illustration: Fig. 189. ORNAMENTAL SWASTIKA ON ETRUSCAN SILVER BOWL.
Cervetri (Cære), Etruria. Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41,
fig. 13.]
An ornamental Swastika (fig. 189) is found on a silver bowl from Cervetri
(Cære), Etruria. It is furnished by Grifi, and reproduced by Waring. This
specimen is to be remarked as having a small outward flourish from the
extreme end of each arm, somewhat similar to that made by the Jains (fig.
33), or on the "Tablet of honor" of Chinese porcelain (fig. 31). Fig. 190
shows an Etruscan bronze fibula with two Swastikas and two Maltese crosses
in the pin shield. It is in the Museum of Copenhagen, and is taken from
the report of the Congrés Internationale d'Anthropologie et d'Archæologie
Préhistorique, Copenhagen, 1875, page 486. This specimen, by its rays or
crotchets around the junction of the pin with the shield, furnishes the
basis of the argument by Goblet d'Alviella[197] that the Swastika was
evolved from the circle and was a symbol of the sun or sun-god. (See p.
785.)
[Illustration: Fig. 190. BRONZE FIBULA WITH TWO SWASTIKAS AND SUPPOSED
RAYS Of SUN.[198] Etruria. Copenhagen Museum. Goblet d'Alviella, fig.
19_a_, De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1263. 1/4 natural size.]
Bologna was the site of the Roman city Bononia, and is supposed to have
been that of Etruscan Felsina. Its Etruscan cemetery is extensive.
Different names have been given to the excavations, sometimes from the
owner of the land and at other times from the names of excavators. The
first cemetery opened was called Villanova. The culture was different from
that of the other parts of Etruria. By some it is believed to be older, by
others younger, than the rest of Etruria. The Swastika is found throughout
the entire Villanova epoch. Fig. 191 shows a pottery vase from the
excavation Arnoaldi. It is peculiar in shape and decoration, but is
typical of that epoch. The decoration was by stamps in the clay (intaglio)
of a given subject repeated in the narrow bands around the body of the
vase. Two of these bands were of small Swastikas with the ends all turned
to the right. Fig. 192 shows a fragment of pottery from the Felsina
necropolis, Bologna, ornamented with a row of Swastikas stamped into the
clay in a manner peculiar to the locality.
[Illustration: Fig. 191. POTTERY URN ORNAMENTED WITH SUCCESSIVE BANDS IN
INTAGLIO, TWO OF WHICH ARE COMPOSED OF SWASTIKAS. Necropolis Arnoaldi,
Bologna. Museum of Bologna. Gozzadini, "Scavi Archæologici," etc., pl. 4,
fig. 8.]
[Illustration: Fig. 192. FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITH ROW OF SWASTIKAS IN
INTAGLIO. Necropole Felsinea, Italy. Museo Bologna. Gozzadini, "Due
Sepolcri," etc., p. 7. 1/2 natural size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 193. SWASTIKA SIGN ON CLAY BOBBIN. Type Villanova,
Bologna. De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1239.]
Fig. 193 shows the end view of one of the bobbins from Bologna, Italy, in
the possession of Count Gozzadini by whom it was collected. The decoration
on the end, as shown by the figure, is the Swastika. The main arms are
made up of three parallel lines, which intersect each other at right
angles, and which all turn to the right at right angles. The lines are not
incised, as is usual, but, like much of the decoration belonging to this
culture, are made by little points consecutively placed, so as to give the
appearance of a continuous line.
Swastikas turning both ways are on one or both extremities of many
terra-cotta cylinders found in the terramare at Coazze, province of
Verona, deposited in the National (Kircheriano) Museum at Rome. (See figs.
380 and 381 for similar bobbins.)
The museum at Este, Italy, contains an elegant pottery vase of large
dimensions, represented in fig. 194, the decoration of which is the Greek
fret around the neck and the Swastika around the body, done with small
nail heads or similar disks inserted in the clay in the forms indicated.
This association of the Swastika and the Greek fret on the same object is
satisfactory evidence of their contemporaneous existence, and is thus far
evidence that the one was not derived from the other, especially as the
authorities who claim this derivation are at variance as to which was
parent and which, child. (See fig. 133.)
A Swastika of the curious half-spiral form turned to the left, such as
has been found in Scandinavia and also among the Pueblo Indians of the
United States, is in the museum at Este.
[Illustration: Fig. 194. POTTERY VASE ORNAMENTED WITH BRONZED NAIL HEADS
IN FORM OF SWASTIKA. Este, Italy. Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primitive et
Naturelle de l'Homme, 1884, p. 14.]
[Illustration: Fig. 195. FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITH SWASTIKA STAMPED IN
RELIEF.]
[Illustration: Fig. 196. STAMP FOR MAKING SWASTIKA SIGN ON POTTERY. Swiss
lake dwelling of Bourget, Savoy. Musée de Chambéry. Chantre, "Age du
Bronze," figs. 53, 55, and Keller, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," pl. 161,
fig. 3.]
When in the early centuries of the Christian era the Huns made their
irruption into Europe, they apparently possessed a knowledge of the
Swastika. They settled in certain towns of northern Italy, drove off the
inhabitants, and occupied the territory for themselves. On the death of
Attila and the repulse of the Huns and their general return to their
native country, many small tribes remained and gradually became
assimilated with the population. They have remained in northern Italy
under the title of Longobards. In this Longobardian civilization or
barbarism, whichever we may call it, and in their style of architecture
and ornament, the Swastika found a prominent place, and is spoken of as
Longobardian.
It is needless to multiply citations of the Swastika in Roman and
Christian times. It would appear as though the sign had descended from the
Etruscans and Samnites along the coast and had continued in use during
Roman times. Schliemann says[199] that it is found frequently in the wall
paintings at Pompeii; even more than a hundred times in a house in the
recently excavated street of Vesuvius. It may have contested with the
Latin cross for the honor of being the Christian cross, for we know that
the St. Andrew's cross in connection with the Greek letter P (fig. 6) did
so, and for a long time stood as the monogram of Christ and was the
Labarum of Constantine. All three of these are on the base of the
Archiepiscopal chair in the cathedral at Milan.[200]
_Swiss lake dwellings._--Figs. 195 and 196 are interesting as giving an
insight into the method of making the sign of the Swastika. Fig. 195 shows
a fragment of pottery bearing a stamped intaglio Swastika (right), while
fig. 196 represents the stamp, also in pottery, with which the imprint was
made. They are figured by Keller,[201] and are described on page 339, and
by Chantre.[202] They were found in the Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget
(Savoy) by the Duc de Chaulnes, and are credited to his Museum of
Chambéry.
[Illustration: Fig. 197. FRAGMENT OF CEINTURE FROM A TUMULUS IN ALSACE.
Thin bronze repoussé with Swastikas of various kinds. Bronze Age,
Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1255.]
[Illustration: Fig. 198. FRAGMENT OF A CEINTURE FROM THE TUMULUS OF
METZSTETTEN, WÜRTEMBERG. Thin bronze open-work with intricate Swastikas.
Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig. 1257, and
Chantre, "Le Caucase," II, p. 50, fig. 25.]
[Illustration: Fig. 199. BRONZE FIBULA, THE BODY OF WHICH FORMS A
SWASTIKA. Museum of Mayence. De Mortillet, "Musée Préhistorique," fig.
1266.]
[Illustration: Fig. 200. SEPULCHRAL URN WITH SWASTIKA. North Germany.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 7, fig. 94.]
_Germany and Austria._--Fig. 197 represents a fragment of a ceinture of
thin bronze of the Halstattien epoch of the Bronze Age from a tumulus in
Alsace. It is made after the style common to that period; the work is
repoussé and the design is laid off by diagonal lines which divide the
field into lozenges, wherein the Swastika is represented in various forms,
some turned square to the right, others to the left, while one is in
spiral and is turned to the left. Other forms of the cross also appear
with dots in or about the corners, which Burnouf associates with the myth
of Agni and fire making, and which Zmigrodzki calls the _Croix
swasticale_. This specimen is in the collection Nessel at Haguenau.
Another ceinture was found at the same place and is displayed with it. It
bears representations of the cross of different forms, one of which might
be a Swastika with dotted cross lines, with the arms turned spirally to
the left. Fig. 198 represents another fragment of a bronze ceinture from
the same country and belonging to the same epoch. It is from the tumulus
of Metzstetten, Würtemberg, and is in the Museum of Stuttgart. It is not
repoussé, but is cut in openwork of intricate pattern in which the
Swastika is the principal motif. A bronze fibula (fig. 199) is in the
museum at Mayence, the body of which has the form of the normal Swastika.
The arms are turned to the right and the lower one is broken off. The
hinge for the pin was attached at one side or arm of the Swastika and the
retaining clasp for the point at the other. Fig. 200 represents a
prehistoric sepulchral urn with a large Swastika, the arms being indicated
by three parallel lines, after the same manner as the Swastika on the clay
bobbin from Bologna (fig. 193). It is reported by Lisch and Schröter,
though the locality is not given. It is figured by Waring. The form,
appearance, and decoration are of the type Villanova, thus identifying it
with northern Italy.
[Illustration: Fig. 201. SPEARHEAD WITH SWASTIKA (CROIX SWASTICALE) AND
TRISKELION. Brandenburg, Germany. Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages,"
pl. 44, fig. 21, and "Viking Age," I, fig. 336.]
[Illustration: Fig. 202. BRONZE PIN WITH SWASTIKA, POINTILLÉ, FROM MOUND
IN BAVARIA. Chantre, Matériaux pour l'Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de
l'Homme, 1854, pp. 14, 120.]
The Swastika sign is on one of the three pottery vases found on Bishops
Island, near Königswalde, on the right bank of the Oder, and on a vase
from Reichersdorf, near Guben;[203] on a vase in the county of Lipto,
Hungary,[204] and on pottery from the Cavern of Barathegy, Hungary.[205]
Fig. 201 represents a spearhead of iron from Brandenburg, North Germany.
It bears the mark of the Swastika with the ends turned to the left, all
being at right angles, the ends ornamented with three dots recalling
Zmigrodzki's _Croix swasticale_ (figs. 12 and 13). By the side of this
Swastika is a triskelion, or three-armed ogee sign, with its ends also
decorated with the same three dots.
What relation there is between all these marks or signs and others similar
to them, but separated by great distances of both time and space, it would
be mere speculation to divine.
M. E. Chantre reports his investigations in certain Halstattien cemeteries
in Italy and Austria.[206] At San Margarethen, on the road between
Rudolfswerth and Kronau, Bavaria, he encountered a group of tumuli. Many
objects of the "bel age du bronze" were found; among others, a bronze pin
(fig. 202) with a short stem, but large, square, flat head, was found,
with a normal Swastika engraved with small dots, pointillé, such as has
been seen in Italy, Austria, and Armenia.
_Belgium._--The Museum of Namur, Belgium, possesses a small object of
bone, both points of which have been broken; its use is somewhat
indeterminable, but it is believed by the curator of that museum and
others to have been an arrowhead or spearhead. In form it belongs to Class
A of stemmed implements, is lozenge-shaped, without shoulder or barb. It
is a little more than two inches long, five-eighths of an inch wide, is
flat and thin. On one side it bears two oblique or St. Andrew's crosses
scratched in the bone; on the other, a figure resembling the Swastika. It
is not the normal Swastika, but a variation therefrom. It is a cross about
three-eighths of an inch square. The main stem lines cross each other at
right angles; the ends of each of these arms are joined by two incised
lines, which gives it the appearance of two turns to the right, but the
junction is not well made, for the lines of the cross extend in every case
slightly farther than the bent end. The variation from the normal Swastika
consists of the variation produced by this second line. This object was
lately found by M. Dupont, of Brussels, in the prehistoric cavern of
Sinsin, near Namur. Most, or many, of these caverns belong to Paleolithic
times, and one, the Grotte de Spy, has furnished the most celebrated
specimens of the skeletons of Paleolithic man. But the cavern of Sinsin
was determined, from the objects found therein, to belong to the Bronze
Age.
_Scandinavia._--The evidences of prehistoric culture have great
resemblance throughout Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; so it is believed that
during the prehistoric ages their peoples had the same culture, and the
countries have been classed together as Scandinavia.
[Illustration: Fig. 203. RUNIC INSCRIPTION CONTAINING A SWASTIKA. Inlaid
with silver on a bronze sword. Saebo, Norway.]
[Illustration: Du Chaillu, "Viking Age," I, fig. 335.
Fig. 204_a_. SWASTIKA WITH DOTS. Torcello, Italy.