1890.] Pimcli-marTceil coins of Ilindmtan, ^c. 201 
but this is not material. The last symbol is crossed by the ordinary 
‘sceptre,’ which in this case ends in a ‘ trisul' at one end identical 
with the ‘ trisuls ’ which by thousands ornament the temples of ‘ MaJia- 
dev ’ in India to-day. See fig. 275. Another variant of this ‘ twin 
sphere’ symbol is seen on a stone at G-lenfurness, Nairn, (S. S. S. Vol. 
I, PI. XXIV, fig. 1.) In this, the ‘spectacle’ mark is composed of two 
circles, enclosing seven spheres differing only from symbol fig. 149 of 
this paper, in the spheres being within a circle is one case, and within 
an hexagonal ai'ea in the other, the essential element, the mystical seven 
spheres of Chaldean astronomy being the same in both. The ‘ sceptre ’ 
in the symbol is of the ordinary character, a bent ‘ trisul ’ of ‘ Mahadev,’ 
one end representing the male and the other end the female principle in 
nature. The slight difference in the ornamentation of the two ends of 
the ‘sceptre’ is specially well seen in Plate No. XXV, (S. S. S. Vol. I,) 
where the two distinct ideas of the male and female principle are clearly 
conveyed by one end terminating in the ‘ ’ of Mahadev (y)assf?n) 
and the other is a ‘ crescent moon,’ the emblem of the female energy in 
nature, and this slight difference is universally observable, under various 
guises, in all these so-called ‘sceptres,’ but which are in reality ‘ trisuls ’ 
of ‘Mahadev’ and the emblem of his ‘sahti’ combined. See figs. 275, 
276,) in this stene, the ‘ sceptre ’ is united to the ‘ crescent ’ symbol instead 
of the ‘ spectacle mark ’ and in the basal angle of the ‘ sceptre,’ a pretty 
little ‘ triskelis ’ is introduced, seemingly formed of three snakes with 
heads turned outwards. 
5 — G. The Triskelis, eevolvinq from left to right. Fig. 130. 
This symbol, though not mentioned by Thomas in connection 
with these coins, occurs on the reverse of a coin in my possession in its 
simplest and most archaic form, of three equal and quasi-somicircular 
limbs, united at a single point and revolving from left to right (fig. 130). 
On another coin (fig. 131), the solar significance of this symbol is em- 
phasized, and a stop made in the direction of later developments, by 
the three limbs being made to emerge from a central and well defined 
disc. This symbol revolves from right to left. This is something of 
the same typo as that figured on a coin of Lycia about B. C. 450. 
(^Numismatic Chronicle, 1886, PI. I, fig. 7), which is merely one of the 
many proofs of the vast antiquity and wide geographical range of 
this well known solar emblem. 
This simple form of the ‘ triskelis ’ occurs not unfrequently on 
sculptured stones in Scotland, both alone, and in combination with 
other designs. It occurs (S. S. S. Vol. I, PI. II, fig. 2,) toward the base 
of the Maiden stone, Aberdeen, where it forms the central ornament, a 
