The supreme goddess of the Isle of Cyprus was Aphrodite-Astarte,[188] whose presence with a preponderating Phenician influence can be traced back to the period of the age of iron, her images bearing signs of the Swastika, being, according to Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter, found in Cyprus. In [fig. 180] the statue of this goddess is shown, which he says was found by himself in 1884 at Curium. It bears four Swastikas, two on the shoulders and two on the forearms. [Fig. 181] represents a centaur found by him at the same time, on the right arm of which is a Swastika painted in black, as in the foregoing statue.
Fig. 180.
TERRA-COTTA STATUE
OF THE GODDESS
APHRODITE-ASTARTE
WITH FOUR
SWASTIKAS.[189]
Curium, Cyprus.
Ohnefalsch-Richter,
Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop.,
Paris, 1888, p. 676,
fig. 8.
Fig. 181.
CYPRIAN CENTAUR WITH
ONE SWASTIKA.
Cesnola, “Salaminia,” p. 243,
fig. 230; Ohnefalsch-Richter,
Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris,
1888, p. 676, fig. 9.
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, representing the young Adonis Kinyras in a squatting posture, with the Swastika 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 has 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.