[Illustration: Fig. 205. REDDING COMB WITH SWASTIKA. Scandinavia.]
A bronze sword is reported by Mr. George Stephens[207] as having been
found at Sæbo, Norway, with runes and a Swastika inlaid with silver. This
specimen (fig. 203) was the subject of discussion before the International
Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archæology,[208] at Budapest,
1876. Its runes were translated by Stephens, and being read from right to
left, "OH THURMUTH," or "owns me Thurmuth." But on the same page he gives
another sign for Thu and renders [S] as Odin or (W)oden. In the discussion
before the congress it seems to have been agreed that the sign [S] stood
for "blessing," "good luck," or some beneficent charm or benediction. A
spearhead has been for years displayed in the museum at Torcello, near
Venice, Italy, with a Swastika sign (fig. 204_a_) prominent as an engraved
sign.[209] Associated with it, but not a part of it, was an inscription
(fig. 204_b_), which has always been attributed to the Etruscans. Mr. I.
Undset, an archæologist in the museum of Christiania, made an extended
visit through Italy in 1883, and on seeing this spearhead recognized the
inscription as runic and belonging to Scandinavia. The arms of the
Swastika turned to the left, and the ends were finished with three dots of
the same style as those described employed in the _Croix swasticale_ (fig.
12). Figs. 205 and 206 represent articles of dress or toilet, and bear the
Swastika. The first shows a redding comb, the Swastika on which turns to
the right. It was probably of bone or horn, as are those of modern times.
Fig. 206 shows a brooch, the interior decoration of which is a combination
of Swastikas more or less interlaced. It is of bronze and was used as a
dress ornament. Fig. 207 shows a large brooch, the bodies and bar of which
are almost covered with the tetraskelion style of Swastika. There are six
of the four-armed Swastikas, four of which turn to the left and two to the
right. Another is a triskelion, the arms of which turn to the right.
[Illustration: Fig. 206. BRONZE BROOCH OR FIBULA WITH COMBINATION OF
SWASTIKAS. Scandinavia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 207. BRONZE BROOCH WITH SWASTIKAS. Tetraskelions
(right and left), triskelion (left). Scandinavia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 208. PLACQUE FOR CEINTURE, WITH BUCKLE. Two ogee
Swastikas (tetraskelions).]
[Illustration: Fig. 209. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Two ogee Swastikas
(tetraskelions), right and left.]
[Illustration: Fig. 210. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Ogee Swastika.]
[Illustration: Fig. 211. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD. Two triskelions,
right and left.]
In Scandinavia more than in other countries the Swastika took the form of
a rectangular body with arms projecting from each corner and bending in a
spiral form, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. These are
found more frequently on fibulæ or brooches and on swords and scabbards.
In fig. 208 is shown a placque for a ceinture or belt, with a buckle to
receive the thong. It contains two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions). In this
and fig. 207 the border and accessory decoration consist largely of ogee
curves, which, here represented separate, would, if placed together as a
cross, form the same style of Swastika as those mentioned. Figs. 209 and
210 show sword scabbards, with Swastikas turned both ways. Fig. 211 shows
two triskelions. Fig. 212 represents a gold brooch from a grave at Fyen,
reported by Worsaae and figured by Waring.[210] The brooch with ogee
Swastika bears internal evidence of Scandinavian workmanship. There are
other Swastikas of the same general form and style in distant localities,
and this specimen serves to emphasize the extent of possible communication
between distant peoples in prehistoric times. Fig. 213 represents a piece
of horse-gear of bronze, silver plated and ornamented with Swastikas. Two
of these are normal, the ends bent at right angles to the left, while the
other is fancifully made, the only specimen yet found of that
pattern.[211] It is not seen that these fanciful additions serve any
purpose other than decoration. They do not appear to have changed the
symbolic meaning of the Swastika. Fig. 214 represents a sword scabbard
belonging to the Vimose find, with a normal Swastika. Ludwig Müller
reproduces a Swastika cross from a runic stone in Sweden. In an ancient
church in Denmark, the baptismal font is decorated with Swastikas, showing
its use in early Christian times. (See p. 878 for continuation of Swastika
on Scandinavian or Danish gold bracteates.)
[Illustration: Fig. 212. GOLD BROOCH WITH OGEE SWASTIKA. Island of Fyen.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 43, fig. 11.]
[Illustration: Fig. 213. SCANDINAVIAN HORSE-GEAR. Silver plated on bronze.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 44, fig. 16; Du Chaillu, "Viking
Age," I, fig. 379.]
Mr. Paul du Chaillu, in his "Viking Age," mentions many specimens of
Scandinavian and Norse antiquities bearing Swastika marks of divers
styles: Bronze vessels (vol. 1, p. 100, note 1); iron spear point with
runes and Swastika inlaid with silver, discovered in a tumulus with burnt
bones, Muncheburg, fig. 336; another of the same, Volhynia, Russia, fig.
337; pottery vessel containing burnt bones, pointed iron knife, bronze
needle, and melted glass beads, Bornholm, fig. 210; iron spearhead, Vimose
bog find, (p. 207); border of finely woven silk cloth with gold and silver
threads, from a mound (vol. 2, p. 289, fig. 1150).
_Scotland and Ireland._--Specimens of the Swastika have been found on the
Ogam stones in Scotland and Ireland (p. 797). In the churchyard of Aglish,
county Kerry, Ireland, stand two stones bearing Ogam inscriptions. At the
top of one is an ancient Celtic cross inclosed in a circle similar to fig.
7; immediately under it are two Swastika marks of four arms crossing at
right angles, each arm bent to the right also at right angles. On two
corners of the stone are inscriptions of the usual Ogam characters. The
translation may be given, but seems to be unimportant and without apparent
bearing upon this question. They are somewhat obliterated and their
reading difficult. So far as made out, they are as follows: Maqimaqa and
Apiloggo.
[Illustration: Fig. 214. SCANDINAVIAN SWORD SCABBARD WITH NORMAL SWASTIKA.
Vimose bog find.]
In Scotland, the Newton stone, in the grounds of the Newton House, bears
an Ogam inscription, the meaning of which has no bearing upon the
subject. But on the upper part of one of its faces appears an inscription,
boldly and deeply incised, of forty-four characters arranged horizontally
in six lines. These are of so remarkable a type as to have puzzled every
philologist and paleographer who has attempted their decipherment. The
late Alexander Thomson, esq., of Banchory, Scotland, circulated a
photograph and description of this monument among antiquarians with a
request for their decipherment of it. Various readings have been given by
the learned gentlemen, who have reported it to be Hebrew, Phenician,
Greek, Latin, Aryan, Irish, and Anglo-Saxon respectively. Brash[212] gives
his opinion that the inscription is in debased Roman letters of a type
frequently found in ancient inscriptions, its peculiarities being much
influenced by the hardness of the stone at the time of cutting and of the
subsequent weather wear of ages. The interest of this monument to us is
that the third character in the fourth line is a Swastika. It is
indifferently made, the lines do not cross at right angles, two of the
ends are curved, and the two others bent at a wider than right angle.
There are four characters in the line closely following each other, (see
p. 797.)
[Illustration: Fig. 215. SCULPTURED STONE. Greek cross in circle, normal
Swastika in square, and ogee Swastika in quatrefoil. Ireland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 216. FRAGMENT OF THIN BRONZE REPOUSSÉ. Ogee Swastika.
Ireland. Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," pl. 124, figs. 20-22.]
[Illustration: Fig. 217. FRAGMENT OF THIN BRONZE. Triskelion. Ireland.
Munro, "Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 384, pl. 124, figs. 20-22.]
[Illustration: Fig. 218. BRONZE PIN WITH SMALL NORMAL SWASTIKA ON HEAD.
Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland. Munro, "Lake Dwellings of
Europe," p. 417.]
The Logie stone, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, bearing Ogam characters,
contains a figure or mark reported by George M. Atkinson as a
Swastika.[213]
On the Celtic crosses of Scotland certain marks appear which are elsewhere
found associated with Swastika, and consequently have some relation
therewith. The "Annam Stone" bears the mark of a Swastika (left) within
three concentric circles, around the outside of which is a circle of
dots.[214]
Ludwig Müller reports the Swastika in Scotland and Ireland on Christian
tombs, associated with Latin crosses.[215]
A sculptured stone in Ireland (fig. 215) shows on the face three varieties
of the cross, a Greek cross in a circle, a Swastika with square ends
turned to the right, within a rectangle, and an ogee (tetraskelion) turned
to the right, inclosed in a quatrefoil.[216]
[Illustration: Fig. 219. CARVED TRISKELION FOUND ON FRAGMENT OF ASH WOOD.
Crannog of Lochlee, Tarbolton, Scotland. Munro, "Lake Dwellings of
Europe," p. 415.]
An Irish bowl showed a Swastika thus [symbol]. Dr. R. Munro[217] reports
from the Crannog of Lesnacroghera country, Antrim, Ireland, two pieces or
disks of thin bronze, repoussés (fig. 216), bearing the sign of the
Swastika and having the four arms of the spirals turned to the left. The
similarity of this figure with those shown on the shields of the Pima
Indians of New Mexico and Arizona (figs. 257 and 258) is to be remarked.
Fig. 217 shows a triskelion of symmetric spirals turned to the right. In
the Crannog of Lochlee, near Tarbolton, a bronze pin was found (fig. 218),
the head of which was inclosed in a ring. On one side of the head was
engraved a Greek cross, on the other was a normal Swastika turned to the
right. The same crannog furnished a piece of ash wood five inches square,
which had been preserved, as were all the other objects, by the peat, on
which was carved a triskelion (fig. 219) after the form and style of those
on the Missouri mound pottery.