The reason why it assumed a phallic character in the locality which gives it its name, is not perhaps clear, but the study of Assyrian antiquities has revealed the meaning attached to it in the palmy days of Nineveh and Babylon; it referred to the four great gods of the Assyrian pantheon—Ra, and the first triad—Ana, Belus, and Hea; and when inserted in a roundlet, as may be seen in the British Museum, it signified Sansi, or the sun ruling the earth as well as the heavens. It was therefore the symbol of royalty and dominion, which accounts for its presence on the breasts of kings.
On the Etruscan and Pompeian monuments generally, this cross is as gross and offensive in form as in ancient Malta, but it is found in a character as unobjectionable as in Assyria, on the official garments of the Etruscan priesthood. It has been found in Asia Minor, Cyprus, and Sicily; and Dr. Schliemann discovered many examples of it (with other crosses) on the vases which he dug from the seat of ancient Troy. It was also found in what was described as a “magnificent cruciform mosaic pavement, discovered about thirty years ago in the ruins of a Gallo-Roman villa at Pont d’Oli (Pons Aulæ), near Pau, in the Basses-Pyrenees, accompanied by several other varieties of the cross, including the St. George and the St. Andrew, all glowing in colours richly dight, and surrounding a colossal bust of Proteus, settled in the midst of his sea monsters.”
The cross generally regarded as the most notable type of that emblem, because it is said to have figured in the religious systems of more peoples than any other, is that known as “Thor’s hammer,” or “Thor’s battle-axe.” It may, perhaps, also be set down as the most ancient of the crosses—how many years back it dates we cannot say, several thousands evidently. It consisted of the last letter of the Samaritan alphabet, the tau or tav in its decussated or most primitive form, and may be described, as it has been sometimes, as a cruciform hammer.
It derived its name from being borne in the hand of Thor, as the all-powerful instrument by means of which his deeds recorded in the Eddas were accomplished. “It was venerated by the heroes of the north as the magical sign which thwarted the power of death over those who bore it; and the Scandinavian devotee placed it upon his horn of mead before raising it to his lips, no doubt for the purpose of imparting to it the life-giving virtues.” To this hour it is employed by the women of India and of the north-eastern parts of Africa as a mark of possession or taboo, which they generally impress upon the vessels containing their stores of grain, &c.
A writer in the Edinburgh Review of January, 1870, hazards the opinion that this was the mark which the prophet was commanded to impress upon the foreheads of the faithful in Judah, as recorded in Ezekiel ix. 4. He gives no reason or authority for this statement, but probably derived it from St. Jerome and others of his time, who said that the letter tau was that which was ordered to be placed on the foreheads of those mourners. Jerome says that the Hebrew letter tau was formerly written like a cross.
As to the name of this cross, the popular designation is clearly a mistake, since its origin dates back centuries before the mythology of the north was developed. In India it was known as the swastika of the Buddhists, and served as the monograms of Vishnu and Siva. Such are its associations and uses at the present day, and, no doubt, they have been the same from the very advent of the religions of these respective deities. The enquirer has, however, not even here measured the limit of its antiquity, for in China it was known as the Leo-tsen long before the Sakya-Buddha era, and was portrayed upon the walls of their pagodas and upon the lanterns used to illumine their most sacred precints. It has ever been the symbol of their heaven. In the great temple of Rameses II., at Thebes, it is represented frequently with such associations as conclusively prove that its significance was the same in the land of the Nile as in China. All over the East it is the magic symbol of the Buddhist heaven; the chief ornament on the sceptres and crowns of the Bompa deities of Thibet, who dispute the palm of antiquity with all other divinities; and is beautifully pressed in the Artee, or musical bell, borne by the figure of Balgovina, the herald or messenger of heaven. The universality of the use of this symbol is proved by its prevalence as well in Europe as in Asia and Africa. Among the Etruscans it was used as a religious sign, as is shown by its appearance on urns exhumed from ancient lake-beds situated between Parma and Pacenza. Those taken from the Lacustrine cemeteries are thought to date back to 1000 B.C. On the terra-cotta vases of Alba Longa the same sign is impressed, and served as the symbol of Persephone, the awful queen of the shades, the arbiter of mortal fate; while on the roll of the Roman soldier it was the sign of life. On the old Runic monuments it is ever present. Even in Scotland it is found on sculptured stones of unknown age. The most numerous examples of this form, however, are found in the sculptures of Khorsabad, and in the ivories from Nimroud; here occur almost all the known varieties. It has been observed, too, in Persia; and is used to this day in Northern India to mark the jars of sacred water taken from the Indus and Ganges. It is especially esteemed by the inhabitants of Southern India as the emblem of disembodied Jaina saints. Very remarkable illustrations of it, carved in the most durable rock, and inserted in the exterior walls of temples and other edifices of Mexico and Central America, also occur, which may be seen in Lord Kingsborough’s Mexican Antiquities. It is found on innumerable coins and medals of all times and of all peoples; from the rude mintages of Ægina and Sicily, as well as from the more skilful hands of the Bactrian and Continental Greeks. It is noteworthy, too, in reference to its extreme popularity, or superstitious veneration in which it has been almost universally held, that the cross-patée, or cruciform hammer, was one of the very last of purely pagan symbols which were religiously preserved in Europe long after the establishment of Christianity. To the close of the Middle Ages the stole, or Isian mantle, of the Cistercian monk was usually adorned with it; and men wore it suspended from their necklaces in precisely the same manner as did the vestal-virgins of pagan Rome. It may be seen upon the bells of many of our parish churches in the northern, midland, and eastern counties, as at Appleby, Mexborough, Hathersage, Waddington, Bishop’s Norton, West Barkwith, and other places, where it was placed as a magical sign to subdue the vicious spirit of the tempest. It is said to be still used for the like purpose, during storms of wind and rain, by the peasantry in Iceland and in the southern parts of Germany.[2]
This cross is also known as the “Fylfot,” or “Fytfot” (four-footed cross), or “Gammadion”—“the dissembled cross under the discipline of the secret.” Jewitt, who has written in an interesting manner upon the subject, supports what we have already stated in the foregoing pages with the observation that this is one of the most singular, most ancient, and most interesting of the whole series of crosses. Some say it is composed of four gammas, conjoined in the centre, which as numerals expressed the Holy Trinity, and by its rectangular form symbolised the chief corner-stone of the Church. We mentioned that it was known in India as the swastika of the Buddhists; we note further that it is said to be formed of the two words “su” (well) and “asti” (it is), meaning “it is,” or “it is well;” equal to “so be it,” and implying complete resignation. “From this the Swastikas, the opponents of the Brahmins, who denied the immortality of the soul, and affirmed that its existence was finite and connected only with the body upon earth, received their name; their monogrammatic enblem, or symbol, being the mystic cross formed by the combination of two syllables, su + ti = suti, or swasti.”[3]
The connection of this cross with Thor, the Thunderer, is not without its signification and importance, in considering the forms and origin of these emblems and their transmission from the Pagan to the Christian world. Thor was said to be the bravest of the sons of Odin, or Woden, and Fria, or Friga, the goddess of earth. (From Thor, of course, we get our Thursday; from Woden, Wednesday; and from Friga, Friday). “He was believed to be of the most marvellous power and might; yea, and that there were no people throughout the whole world that were not subjected unto him, and did not owe him divine honour and service; and that there was no puissance comparable to his. His dominion of all others most farthest extending itself, both in heaven and earth. That, in the aire he governed the winds and the clouds; and being displeased did cause lightning, thunder, and tempest, with excessive raine, haile, and all ill weather. But being well pleased by the adoration, sacrifice, and service of his suppliants, he then bestowed upon them most faire and seasonable weather; and caused corne abundantly to grow, as all sorts of fruits, &c., and kept away the plague and all other evil and infectious diseases.”
Thor’s emblem was a hammer of gold, represented as a fylfot, and with it he destroyed his enemies the Jotuns, crushed the head of the great Mitgard serpent, killed numbers of giants, restored the dead goats to life that drew his car, and consecrated the pyre of Baldur. This hammer, boomerang like, had the property, when thrown, of striking the object aimed at and then returning to the thrower’s hand. Mr. Jewitt thinks we have, in this, a curious insight into the origin of the form of the emblem itself. He says:—“I have remarked that the fylfot is sometimes described as being formed of four gammas conjoined in the centre. When the form of the boomerang—a missile instrument of barbaric nations, much the shape of the letter V with a rounded instead of acute bottom, which, on being thrown, slowly ascends in the air, whirling round and round, till it reaches a considerable height, and then returns until it finally sweeps over the head of the thrower and strikes the ground behind him—is taken into consideration, and the traditional returning power of the hammer is remembered in connection with it, the fylfot may surely be not inappropriately described as a figure composed of four boomerangs, conjoined in the centre. This form of fylfot is not uncommon in early examples, and even on a very ancient specimen of Chinese porcelain it occurs at the angles of the pattern—it is the ordinary fylfot, with the angles curved or rounded.
Ancient literature abounds in curious and sensational stories about the wonders accomplished by Thor with the assistance of this hammer. Once he lost his weapon, or tool, and with it his power, by stratagem however he regained both.