Dispersion of the Swastika

      We have found, in the course of this paper, many statues of human figures bearing the mark of the Swastika on some portion of their garments. M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, on page 677, gives the following explanation thereof:

      It appears to me that the priests and priestesses, also the boys who performed the services in the sacred places, were in the habit of burning or tattooing Swastikas upon their arms. * * * In 1885, among the votive offerings found in one of the sacred places dedicated to Aphrodite-Astoret, near Idalium, was a stone statuette tattooed or painted in red color upon his naked arm.

       And, says Richter, when, later on, the custom of tattooing had disappeared, they placed the Swastika on the sacerdotal garments. He was found in a Greek tomb in 1885, near Polistis Chrysokon, two statuettes representing female dancers in the service of Aphrodite-Ariadne, one of which (fig. 182) bore six or more Swastikas. In other cases, says he (p.678), the Croix cantonnée (the Croix swasticale of Zmigrodzki) replaced the Swastika on the garments, and he cites the statue of Hercules strangling the lion in the presence of Athena, whose robe is ornamented with the Croix cantonnée. He repeats that the two signs of the cross represent the idea of light, sun, sacrifice, rain, storm, and the seasons.

Europe.

Bronze Age.

      Prehistoric archæologists claim that bronze was introduced into Europe in prehistoric times from the extreme Orient. The tin mines of the peninsula of Burma and Siam, with their extension into China on the north, Malacea and the islands of the archipelago on the south, are known to have been worked in extremely ancient times and are believed to have furnished the tin for the first making of bronze. The latter many not be susceptible of proof, but everything is consistent therewith. After if became known that copper and tin would make bronze, the discovery of tin would be greatly extended, and in the course of time the tin mines of Spain, Britain, and Germany might be opened. A hundred and more prehistoric bronze foundries have been discovered in western Europe and tens of thousands of prehistoric bronze implements. If bronze came originally from the extreme Orient, and the Swastika belonged there also, and as objects of bronze belonging to prehistoric times and showing connection with the Orient, like the tintinuabulum (fig. 29) have been found in the Swiss lake dwellings of prehistoric times, it is a fir inference that the Swastika mark found on the same objects came also from the Orient. This inference is strengthened by the manufacture and continuous use of the Swastika on both bronze and pottery, until it practically covered, and is to be found over, all Europe wherever the culture of bronze prevailed. Nearly all varieties of the Swastika came into use during the Bronze age. The objects on which it was placed may have been different in different localities, and so also another variety of form may have prevailed in a given locality; but, subject to these exceptions, the Swastika came into general use throughout the countries wherein the Bronze Age prevailed. As we have seen, on the hill of Hissarlik the Swastika is found principally on the spindle-whorl; in Greece and Cyprus, on the pottery vases; in Germany, on the ceintures of bronze; in Scandinavia, on weapons and on toilet and dress ornaments. In Scotland and Ireland it was mostly on sculptured stones, which are many times themselves ancient Celtic crosses. In England, France, and Etruria, the Swastika appears on small bronze ornaments, principally fibulæ. Different forms of the Swastika, i.e., those to the right, left, square, ogee, curved, spiral and meander, triskelion and tetraskelion, have been found on the same object, thereby showing their inter-relationship. No distinction is apparent between the arms bent to the right or the the left. This difference, noted by Prof. Max Müller, seems to fail altogether.
      Greg says: (1)

      About 500 to 600 B. C., the fylfot, (Swastika) curiously enough begins to disappear as a favorite device of early Greek art, and is rarely, if ever, seen on the regular Etruscan vase.

      This indicates that the period of the use of the Swastika during the Bronze Age in Europe lay back of the period of its disappearance in the time of early Greek art, and that it was of higher antiquity than would otherwise be suspected.
      Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter says: (2)

      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