1 68 fcOMAN PAVEMENTS AND INTRECCl. 



in examples from London and Pompeii,* and in all these cases, 

 the feet of the symbol rest on the empanelling, Illustration IV., 

 figs. 2, 3. 



It is not going too far, then, to say that the fylfot exists in a 

 cryptic form on the Dorchester pavement, Illustration III., fig. 3. 



In what parts of Europe was the fylfot in favour at the time of 

 Hadrian ? In Greece and Spain, in the north of Italy, among 

 the Celts and Gauls and Germans ; with all the peoples, in fact, 

 who were brought hither to garrison Britain. In the Belgo- 

 Roman cemetery of Juslenville, it is carved on memorial stones, 

 in association with the lotus. But though it occurs on a medal 

 of Alexander Severus, it is remarkable that in Rome itself it is 

 not to be seen on any monument prior to the fourth century of 

 this era; and the only tombstone outside the catacombs on 

 which a fylfot appears is that of a Syrian. Was it then a cisal- 

 pine, or was it rather an alien taste that was considered by the 

 makers of these Britanno- Roman mosaics ? 



Let us take another point in the argument. Fretted fylfots 

 occur on pre-Christian Cretan coins, and in their centre is placed 

 sometimes a lunar crescent, and sometimes that rosette which 

 represents the solar disc.f Illustration I., fig. 3. 



We have already noticed a normal curvilinear fylfot in the 

 mosaic at Newton St. Loe. In a neighbouring panel of the 

 same pavement, Illustration I., fig. i, is a fylfot of the fretted but 

 free type : its feet are not in contact with the panelling : and its 

 centre is occupied by what we must take to be the sun, although 

 it is quadrangular as befits a fret ; whilst a tetraskele at Caerwent, 

 Illustration V., fig. i, has a solar disc for its centre and a solar 

 glory for its circumference. 



But now another symbol must be noticed as occupying the 

 centre of a fylfot. 



The axis of the normal curvilinear swastika at Newton St. Loe, 

 Illustration I., fig. 2, where Apollo adorns the mosaic, and at 



* Bolton's Mosaic Pavings, PL v,, viii. 

 t D'Alviella, Migration of Symbols, pp. 57, 150. 



