EVIDENCE OF TROY.
Dr. Schliemann has told us that in his researches upon the site of Troy
he found that in pre-Christian if not indeed pre-historic times the
cross was, in that classic locality as elsewhere, a phallic emblem and
the symbol of life; as well as a solar emblem and the symbol of the
holy fire with which life was more or less identified. For instance on
page 337 of his _Ilios_ (1880 edition) Dr. Schliemann describes a
leaden idol discovered by him and of great antiquity. He tells us that
it was female in character and had the vulva marked with the triangle,
a symbol of the Feminine Principle. And he points out that within the
triangle was the Svastika cross.
On page 521 Dr. Schliemann describes an ancient terra cotta vase, with
the characteristics of a woman upon it, and on the vulva a St. Andrew's
cross.
Upon page 523 is a reference to another vase of similar design. Here
also a cross appears to mark the vulva.
On page 353 Dr. Schliemann admits that the Svastika cross drawn within
the triangle marking the vulva, shows that this cross was a sign of
generation in ancient and pre-historic times. This remark should
evidently have been applied by him to the St. Andrew's cross as well,
for he shows that also to have been used as a sign of the organ of
generation, as has been shown above.
We are here reminded of the fact, already noted, that the Egyptians
represented their God of Generation, Khem, or Amen-Ra Generator, as
wearing a conspicuous St. Andrew's cross. And as Khem was the Egyptian
Priapus it ought also to be pointed out that it was in ancient times
the practice to erect wooden crosses to this conception of the Sun-God.
An illustration of one example of the crosses erected to Priapus can be
seen in figure XI. of plate XXIX. of that well-known work, _Antique
Gems and Rings_.[67] And the phallic nature of such crosses cannot be
denied.
Returning, however, to the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann upon the site
of Troy, we find on page 350 of _Ilios_ that both varieties of the
Svastika cross are extraordinarily common upon the articles he
discovered.
As an Indian symbol the Svastika cross can only be traced back as far
as the fourth or fifth century B.C.; and its occurrence upon these and
other relics of earlier ages and other lands, shows us that it is
inaccurate and misleading to speak of it as "Indian."
The origin of the Svastika cross, whether the {image "svastika1.gif"},
or the {image "svastika2.gif"}, is unknown; but Dr. Schliemann quotes
with approval Professor Max Muller's remarks to the effect that Mr.
Thomas our distinguished Oriental numismatist
"Has clearly proved that on some of the Andra coins and
likewise on some punched coins depicted on Sir W.
Elliot's plate ix. _Madras Jour. Lit. and Science_, vol.
III., the place of the more definite figure of the sun
is often taken by the Svastika, and that the Svastika
has been inserted within the rings or normal circles
representing the four suns of the Ujjain pattern on
coins. He has also called attention to the fact that in
the long list of the recognised devices of the
twenty-four Jaina Tirthankaras the sun is absent; but
that while the eighth Tirthankara has the sign of the
half-moon the seventh Tirthankara is marked with the
_Svastika, i.e._, the sun. Here then, I think, we have
very clear indications that the Svastika, with the hands
pointing in the right direction, was originally a symbol
of the Sun, perhaps of the vernal sun as opposed to the
autumnal sun, the _Sauvastika_, and therefore a natural
symbol of light, life, health, and wealth. That in
ancient mythology the sun was frequently represented as
a wheel is well known. Grimm identifies the Old Norse
_hjol_ or hvel, the A.-S. _hvehol_, English 'wheel,'
with {kappa|upsilon with
tonos|kappa|lambda|omicron|rho}, Sk. Kakra, wheel; and
derives jol, 'yule-tide,' the time of the winter
solstice, from hjol, 'the (solar) wheel.'"
Both the {image "svastika1.gif"} and the {image "svastika2.gif"} occur
upon the famous footprints of Buddha carved upon the Amaravati Tope,
and Dr. Schliemann remarks that we find the Svastika or Sauvastika
cross
"In Ezekiel ix. 4, 6, where--in the form of the old
Hebrew letter Tau--it is written as the sign of life on
the forehead, like the corresponding Indian symbol. We
find it twice on a large piece of ornamental leather
contained in the celebrated Corneto treasure preserved
in the Royal Museum at Berlin; also on ancient pottery
found at Konigsberg in the Neumark and preserved in the
Markisches Museum in Berlin; and on a Bowl from Yucatan
in the Berlin Ethnological Museum. We also see it on
coins of Gaza, as well as on an Imperial coin of Asido;
also on the drums of the Lapland priests."
It is noteworthy that in the neighbourhood of Troy, as in Cyprus and
other places, a cross of four equal arms, like our sign of addition, in
days of old shared with the Svastika crosses the veneration of the
people and was evidently more or less akin to those crosses in
signification. Dr. Schliemann tells us that this cross of four equal
arms "occurs innumerable times on the whorls of the three upper
pre-historic cities of Hissarlik," and that if, as Burnouf and others
suggest, the {image "svastika2.gif"} and {image "svastika1.gif"}
represented primitive fire machines, this other cross "might also claim
the honour of representing the two pieces of wood for producing the
holy fire by friction."
Elsewhere in the same work Dr. Schliemann quotes with approval the
opinion of Professor Sayce that the Svastika cross, {image
"svastika2.gif"} or {image "svastika1.gif"}, "was a symbol of
generation."
As phallic worship and Sun-God worship were admittedly always closely
connected, it is not surprising to find that Dr. Schliemann also very
highly commends a dissertation on the {image "svastika2.gif"} and
{image "svastika1.gif"} by Mr. Edward Thomas, whose conclusion is that
"As far as I have been able to trace or connect the
various manifestations of this emblem, they one and all
resolve themselves into the primitive conception of
solar motion, which was intuitively associated with the
rolling or wheel-like projection of the sun through the
upper or visible arc of the heavens."
It may therefore be considered proven that the inhabitants of classic
Troy like those of the Land of the Nile and other countries, recognised
a close affinity between the productive forces and the sun, and were
one in accepting a cross of some description as the natural symbol
whether of Life or of the Giver of Life.