The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration

The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration - With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times

An English gentleman, versed in prehistoric archology, visited me in the summer of 1894, and during our conversation asked if we had the Swastika in America. I answered, Yes, and showed him two or three specimens of it. He demanded if we had any literature on the subject. I cited him De Mortillet, De Morgan, and Zmigrodzki, and he said, No, I mean English or American. I began a search which proved almost futile, as even the word Swastika did not appear in such works as Worcesters or Websters dictionaries, the Encyclopdic Dictionary, the Encyclopdia Britannica, Johnsons Universal Cyclopdia, the Peoples Cyclopdia, nor Smiths Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, his Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, or his Classical Dictionary. I also searched, with the same results, Molletts Dictionary of Art and Archology, Fairholts Dictionary of Terms in Art, LArt Gothique, by Gonza, Perrot and Chipiezs extensive histories of Art in Egypt, in Chaldea and Assyria, and in Phenicia; also The Cross, Ancient and Modern, by W. W. Blake, The History of the Cross, by John Ashton; and a reprint of a Dutch work by Wildener. In the American Encyclopdia the description is erroneous, while all the Century Dictionary says is, Same as fylfot, and Compare Crux Ansata and Gammadion. I thereupon concluded that this would be a good subject for presentation to the Smithsonian Institution for diffusion of knowledge among men. The principal object of this paper has been to gather and put in a compact form such information as is obtainable concerning the Swastika, leaving to others the task of adjustment of these facts and their[Pg 764] arrangement into an harmonious theory. The only conclusion sought to be deduced from the facts stated is as to the possible migration in prehistoric times of the Swastika and similar objects. No conclusion is attempted as to the time or place of origin, or the primitive meaning of the Swastika, because these are considered to be lost in antiquity. The straight line, the circle, the cross, the triangle, are simple forms, easily made, and might have been invented and re-invented in every age of primitive man and in every quarter of the globe, each time being an independent invention, meaning much or little, meaning different things among different peoples or at different times among the same people; or they may have had no settled or definite meaning. But the Swastika was probably the first to be made with a definite intention and a continuous or consecutive meaning, the knowledge of which passed from person to person, from tribe to tribe, from people to people, and from nation to nation, until, with possibly changed meanings, it has finally circled the globe. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 40812
Author: Wilson, Thomas
Release Date: Sep 21, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English