Fig. 138.
BRONZE INGOTS BEARING SWASTIKAS.
Coomassee, Ashantee.
Mr. R. B. Æneas McLeod, of Invergordon Castle, Ross-shire, Scotland, reported[169] that, on looking over some curious bronze ingots captured at Coomassee in 1874, during the late Ashantee war, by Captain Eden, in whose possession they were at Inverness, he had found some marked with the Swastika sign ([fig. 138]). These specimens were claimed to be aboriginal, but whether the marks were cast or stamped in the ingot is not stated.
CLASSICAL OCCIDENT—MEDITERRANEAN.
GREECE AND THE ISLANDS OF CYPRUS, RHODES, MELOS, AND THERA.
The Swastika has been discovered in Greece and in the islands of the Archipelago on objects of bronze and gold, but the principal vehicle was pottery; and of these the greatest number were the painted vases. It is remarkable that the vases on which the Swastika appears in the largest proportion should be the oldest, those belonging to the Archaic period. Those already shown as having been found at Naukratis, in Egypt, are assigned by Mr. Flinders Petrie to the sixth and fifth centuries B. C., and their presence is accounted for by migrations from Greece.
| Fig. 139. VARIATION OF THE GREEK FRET. Continuous lines crossing each other at right angles forming figures resembling the Swastikas. | Fig. 140. GREEK GEOMETRIC VASE IN THE LEYDEN MUSEUM, WITH FIGURES OF GEESE AND SWASTIKA IN PANEL.[170] Smyrna. Conze, “Anfänge,” etc., Vienna, 1870, and Goodyear, “Grammar of the Lotus,” pl. 56, fig. 4. |