VARIANT SWASTIKA SUN CROSSES 307 cally identical with the Cross painted on ancient Hittite pottery from Cappadocia (see Fig. 48 b); and of a type bearing the Hitto-Sumerian name of Gurin or" The Manifold or Fructifying or Harvest Cross."1 " FIG. 48.- Gyron" Cross of British Heraldry is the "Gurin" (b after Chantre. Its truncated tops are apparently due to foreshortening on the It seems to be a form of the Hittite Swastika with multiple feet as in Fig. 46 w and J1; which is also found on Early Briton monuments (Fig. 47 U and H); and it appears to have been a solar luck-compelling talisman for fruit crops. It bears the synonym of Buru or " Fruit," i.e., "Berry," and thus discloses the Hitto-Sumer origin of our English word "Berry." The Swastika or "Revolving Cross" is now seen to have been figured in a great variety of ways. And significantly we find that all the varied Hitto-Phoenician and Trojan forms of the Swastika are reproduced on the monuments and coins of the Ancient Britons. It is figured as a rod with two feet passing through the Sun's disc (Fig. 46 11), as a disc with angular teeth like a circular saw (12), a disc with tangent rays (0), disc with curved radii in direction of rotation (v1 and N), key-pattern (x), all of which forms are found in Early Britain (Fig. 47). The "Spiral ornament" itself is also now seen to be merely a form of the revolving Swastika. The direction of movement of the revolving Sun, especially 1 Br., 5903, 5907; also called Girin and Gurun. P.S.L., 168. See Fig. 46 c, d, W for simpler forms. On "Harvest" cp. L.S.G. 275. C.M.C., Pl. 113, from Cæsarea, near the Halys R. 3 Br., 5905. of the returning or "resurrecting" Sun, is also indicated on Hittite seals, not by feet but by fishes swimming towards the East, i.e., the left (see Figs. 42 and 49). A striking instance of the identity in motive of the Hittite and Briton representations of these solar symbols is seen in Fig. 49. The details of the Catti or Hittite seal of about 2000 B.C. are seen to be substantially identical with those on the old pre-Christian Cross at Cadzow (or Cads-cu, the "Koi" or town of the Cad or Phoenicians), the modern Hamilton, an old town of the Briton kingdom of Strath-Clyde, in the province of the Gad-eni-the Brito-Phoenician Gad or Cad or Catti. FIG. 49.-Identity of Catti or Hittite Solar Monuments with those of Early Britain. a, b, Cadzow pre-Christian Cross (after Stuart'). In the Hittite seal (c) the revolving 8-rayed Sun with effluent rays is connected by bands to the setting Sun which has entered the Gates of Night or Death, figured as barred doors. A short-tailed animal (Goat) is on each side, the left-hand one followed by the Wolf of Death (see later); and the direction of the Resurrecting Sun is indicated by two fishes swimming eastwards (to the left). The 5 circles (or cups")=Taśia, the director of the Resurrecting Sun; the 4 circles Death, repeated as 4 larger concentric circles. The Briton monument (a) reproduces essentially the same scene. The central spiral on the Cross turning towards the left is the equivalent of the revolving Sun returning to the East. Above it and the curved lines, representing the = 1 S.S.S.T., 118. I have verified details on spot. W.S.C., 991. Waters of the Deep as on the Trojan amulets (Fig. 31), the fish is swimming to the East, whilst the dead fish on its back=the dead person. Below are two animals, one the horned Goat, and the other apparently the Wolf of Death. Surmounting all is Tasia with his horned head-dress overcoming the Lion adversaries (see later). In the reverse (b), is the two-footed Swastika surmounted by Tasia the Archangel. This Early Briton Cross is thus a solar invocation to Tasia for "Resurrection from Death, like the Sun." Another form of the Swastika Sun Cross, differing somewhat in shape from the usual type as carved on the Phoenician pillar at Newton and elsewhere, is found on the pre-Christian Ogam monument at Logie in the neighbourhood of the Newton pillar (Fig. 5B, p. 20), and formed part of a Stone Circle. This symbol is also found frequently on prehistoric stones in Scotland, and occurs also in the neighbourhood at Insch, Bourtie, and lower down the Don at Inverurie and Dyce with its Stone Circle, though not hitherto recognized as a Swastika or as associated with Sun-worship, and merely called by writers on antiquities" The Spectacles with broken Sceptre or Zig-zags," and of unknown meaning and symbolism. This emblem, the so-called " Spectacles," carved on the lower portion of the Logie Stone, is now seen to be a decorated Swastika, in which the duplicated disc of the Sun (the socalled "lenses" of the Spectacles) replaces two of the limbs of the ordinary Swastika Cross, to represent the morning and evening Sun and the Sun-wise direction of movement from east to west (or left to right), as we have already found in the "Cup-mark" inscriptions and Sumerian seals. This direction of movement is graphically indicated by an arrow-head (the so-called "broken sceptre " of Scottish archæologists) pointing in that direction, while the perpendicular stem is slanted to emphasize the movement and thus giving a-shape. The Hitto-Phoenician origin of this 'One of the remaining four, all of which are carved with symbols which are now found to be solar, S.S.S., I, 4, and Pl. 3, Figs. 1 and 2 and Pl. 4, I, and II, page xlviii. 2 S.S.S., and others on Pl. 14-16. Y design is evident from the Phoenician1 coin from Gaza here figured (Fig. 50) in which darts are also used to show the FIG. 50.-Swastika on Phoenician (or Philistine) Coin from Gaza darts. (After Wilson and Ward.) Note the darts show direction of the rotation. direction of revolution as in the Scottish Swastika; and in Hittite seals the return revolution of the Sun is also indicated pictorially by darts (see Fig. 37, P. 248) as well as by the direction of swimming sea-fish, back to the rising Sun (see Fig. 49). The double solar discs, connected by horizontal bands, as in the Scottish "Spectacles," are also carved in Hittite seals (see Fig. 59A, etc.); and a Swastika with a central Sun disc is given on an ancient Sumerian seal; and also occurs on prehistoric Scottish monuments. The retrograde movement of the victorious Sun through the Realms of Death is also figured on Briton monuments by darts placed at the ends of a rod-Swastika which transfixes the Serpent of Death (as in Fig. 51). Many specimens of this have survived; one of which forms "The Serpent Stone" now standing alongside the Newton Stone, and it is surmounted by the Double Sun-Disc or "Spectacles,” and depicts the Victory of the Resurrecting Sun. Thus the proofs for the Catti or Hitto-Sumerian solar origin of the prehistoric Spectacles" Swastikas in the Don Valley and elsewhere in Britain are absolute and complete. On the coins of the Ancient Catti Britons the Sun Cross is figured very freely, in addition to the circle of the Sun 'It is called a "Philistine" coin, but I find the Philistines were a branch of the Phoenicians. W.S.C,, 993. Ib., 993. It is absolutely identical with prehistoric monuments in Scotland, S.S.S., Pl. 47. For Briton example, see Fig. 68B, P. 350. S.S.S., i. 37. The Serpent is the British adder. • Ib., 1307. SACRED CROSS IN PRE-CHRISTIAN BRITAIN 311 itself noted in the previous chapter. It is figured in the form of the "short Cross" or "St. George's Cross" (see Figs. 3, 44, 47 A, W, etc.); also by pellets giving that form (Fig. 47 G, N, etc.); and as ornamental or decorated crosses and frequently by ears of corn of the "Tascio" Corn Spirit series, both perpendicularly as in the ordinary True Cross of short form (Fig. 47), and oriented or "saltire" in the style of St. Andrew's Cross, and associated with other emblems of the Sun-cult. And the "Rood screens" and "Rood lofts" in our Gothic cathedrals still attest the former prominence of the Cross or "Rood" in early and medieval Christianity in Britain, with its leading Gothic racial elements. FIG. 51.-Swastika of Resurrecting Sun transfixing the Serpent (After Stuart.)1 The True Cross, thus venerated as the emblem of Universal Victory of the One God symbolized in the Sun, was worn on the person, as we have seen, on a necklace, for adoration or as an amulet or charm. The manner of holding the portable handled or pierced form of Cross for adoration or abjuration is seen in Fig. 52 from a Hittite seal, wherein additional rays of fiery light (or limbs of a St. Andrew's Cross) are added. As the Cross was made of wood, the ancient specimens have all now perished; but the frequent references in the Gothic Eddas to " The Wood" (which was made of the red Rowan Ash or "Quicken" Tree of Life), and its ash used for banishing devils and conquering enemies 1S.S.S. ii. Ill. Pl. 25, 17. Lajard in Mém. Acad. des Inscrip. et Belles Lettres, 17, 361, from a Hittite cylinder in Bibliothèque Nat., Paris. |