Gloucester.
_The Broad Arrow._--I can only offer the following note on the above
subject as a conjecture, probably most of your readers will think a
very wild one.
It has sometimes occurred to me that the origin of the symbol now
generally known as the "broad arrow" might be traced back to the
mysteries of Mithras. At all events, it is known that the same figure
occurs on coins, gems, &c. as the symbol of Mithras as the _Sun_. Now,
so widely was the worship of Mithras spread throughout the Roman empire,
that I believe no one would feel any surprise at the adoption of a
Mithraic symbol even in the remotest parts of the empire; and indeed the
fact that Carausius, during his usurpation of the imperial authority in
Britain, issued coins with the inscription Ἡλίῳ Μίθρᾳ ἀνικήτῳ,
brings the worship of Mithras, as it were, home to our own
doors. Whether the symbol of the sun was ever employed for any such
purpose as our modern broad arrow, is a question on which I hope some of
your readers may be able to throw some light. Meanwhile, being quite
ignorant as to the antiquity of our Ordnance mark, the above is merely
thrown out as a conjecture. It is perhaps, to some extent, confirmed by
a statement of Grimm's (_Deutsche Mythologie_), that the symbol of the
_Moon_ was used by the ancient Germans precisely as our broad arrow,
viz. on boundary stones, &c.
I think there is more probability in another conjecture of mine, that
the same symbol occurs elsewhere, and for a very different purpose, viz.
in our churches, and as symbolical of the Sun of Righteousness. Our
painted windows and our altar-cloths contain the symbol [arrow symbol],
which I believe generally goes by the name of the "three sacred
nails,"--an explanation which I always thought ridiculous, even at a
time when I could give no other. Is it not far more in accordance with
the principles of symbolism, and the practice of the early Christians,
to believe it to be the adoption of a heathen symbol, and its
application to Christian purposes?