Dennis supposes the earliest Etruscan vases, called by many different names, to date from the twelfth century B. C. to 540 B. C.,[196] the latter being the epoch of Theodoros of Samos, whose improvements marked an epoch in the culture of the country. He says:
These vases were adorned with annular bands, zigzag, waves, meanders, concentric circles, hatched lines, Swastikas, and other geometric patterns.
Fig. 184.
FRAGMENT OF ARCHAIC GREEK
POTTERY WITH THREE SWASTIKAS.
Cumæ, Italy. Waring, “Ceramic Art
in Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 1.
A fragment of Archaic Greek pottery is reported by Rochette from the necropolis of Cumæ, in the campagna of Italy, and is shown in [fig. 184]. Rochette reports it as an example of a very early period, believed by him to have been Phenician. When we consider the rarity of Phenician pottery in Italy compared with the great amount of Greek pottery found there, and that the Phenicians are not known to have employed the Swastika, this, combined with the difficulty of determining the place of origin of such a fragment, renders it more likely to have been Greek than Phenician. A reason apparently moving Rochette to this decision was the zigzag ornamentation, which he translated to be a Phenician sign for water; but this pattern was used many times and in many places without having any such meaning, and is no proof of his proposition.
Fig. 185.
CINERARY URN WITH
SWASTIKAS IN PANELS.
San Marino, near Albano,
Italy. Vatican Museum.