

THE ORIGIN OF THE SWASTIKA 203 



three human legs to the simple lines, we should have an 

 example of the opposed tendency, namely, that of con- 

 verting drawings of natural objects — by a degenerative or 

 reducing process — to the simplest lines representative of 

 them. This tendency, which we call " grammatizing " 

 (from gramma, the Greek for a line), is far commoner 

 in early art than the naturalizing tendency which sets 

 in when the artist is exuberant, self-confident, and 

 imaginative. We see a "naturalizing" tendency in the 

 flamboyant and arabesque decorative work of the re- 

 nascence, but it is also found among the happy Minoan, 

 or iEgaean, island folk 

 who decorated great 

 pots and basins in 

 Cyprus and Crete with 

 forms suggested by a B 



birds, sea - Creatures, FlG - SO-— Diagrams of the "triskelion" or 



and Climbing plants, ^re formed by the division of a circle 



, , into three equal bent cones as in A. B is 



and worshipped the the rec tangular form derived from it. C 



great mother Nature is a " naturalized " form derived from it, 



as Aphrodite the sea- namely, the three conjoined legs used as 



1 1 , the badge of Sicily and of the Isle of Man. 



born goddess. s J 



The triangular island of Sicily (called also Trinacria) 

 had in ancient times (even as far back as 300 B.C.) the 

 conjoined three legs (shown in Fig. 50, C) as its badge or 

 armorial emblem. An ancient Greek vase found at 

 Girgenti has this badge painted on it. Ancient Lycia 

 had a triskelion formed by three conjoined cocks' heads 

 stamped on its coins. Though it has no direct connection 

 with the Swastika, the introduction of the " three legs " 

 as the armorial emblem of the Isle of Man is worth 

 relating, as it is not known to most of those who are 

 familiar with the device, with its motto, " Quocunque 

 jeceris stabit" on the copper pence minted for that island 

 up to as late a date as 1864, and current in Great Britain. 



