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
, or the
, is unknown; but Dr. Schliemann quotes with approval Professor Max Müller'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 κύκλος, Sk. Kakra, wheel; and derives jól, 'yule-tide,' the time of the winter solstice, from hjol, 'the (solar) wheel.'"
Both the