THE ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF THE ISLE OF MAN:
THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND MEANING.

BY JOHN NEWTON, M.R.C.S.E. [Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool no XXXIX pp205/226 1885]

THERE is I hope, no apology needed for bringing before you a subject drawn from the Isle of Man. No other place in Great Britain is so intimately associated with that island as Liverpool, and we have every reason to feel a special interest in all that regards it. The wild, rocky, sea beaten coasts, the picturesque mountains, glens and waterfalls, render it full of attractions to the casual tourist; for the chemist and mineralogist its richness in mines and minerals is enough: while, for the geologist, the immense variety of primitive rocks, granites, porphyrins, greenstones, trap-rocks and basalts, ever and anon displayed in splendid sea-sections, continually lures him on. For the historian and the antiquary it has peculiar attractions. It appears with the first dawn of reliable history, so far as these islands are concerned, in the Commentaries of Julius Caesar, where he says:- - "In the mid sea between Britannia and Hibernia is an island called Mona." Colonised by the ancient British tribes, it remained long, like the isle of Anglesey, a chief seat of the Druids. Then it fell in succession under various yokes, the Scoto-Irish, the Welsh, the Anglo-Saxons, who in their turn were overcome by the Danes and Norwegians; and for near four hundred years the Vikings, those terrible pirates of the North, ruled with a troubled sway over Mona. At length, in the year 1266, the island was ceded to the king of Scotland, after which event its history ceases to have any bearing on the subject of this paper. To the antiquary a thousand points of interest present themselves. Commencing with the prehistoric stone circles, barrows, and cromlechs of the primitive Celtic inhabitants, here are also to be found many remains of early British churches, founded in the fifth and following centuries by the followers of St. Patrick, whilst the Runic monuments, inscriptions, and crosses attest the long sway of the North men, their amalgamation with the natives, and their adoption of the Christian faith. Here, also, alone in Europe, is to be witnessed a perfect living example of the primitive folk-moot, or open-air assembly of the Notables, held yearly on the Tynwald Hill, when the laws of the island are publicly recited and proclaimed in Manx and in English- a wonderful survival, which our friend Mr. Gomme perfectly gloats over; for, lastly, the Manx have Home Rule, and yet are very loyal, as indeed they have good reason to be.

Those amongst you who know the island will be aware that I have scarcely touched on the innumerable points of interest that it presents; yet the average Liverpudlian knows nothing of these things, and his ideas of it are confined to its curious armorial bearings, to Manx herrings, and to Manx cats. As to the herrings, there is nothing to be said except in their praise, and as for the curious tailless cats, the native tradition is doubtless true, that they were introduced into the island in 1588 from the wreck of one of the Spanish Armada.

And now we come to the special subject of this paper, the armorial bearings of the island. In Liverpool, this strange, quaint device, the Three Legs of Man, meets one at every turn. Here it stands forth prominent at the street corner as a public house sign. We stroll down to the landing stage, and there it stares us in the face, painted and gilt, on the paddle boxes of the Manx steamers. What was the origin of a sign so remarkable ?-what its hidden meaning ?- for a significance it must have had, and a momentous one. We naturally turn to the volumes published by the Manx Society for a solution of the enigma, and the fifth, published in 1860, is specially devoted to the subject. Here then, surely, our curiosity will be satisfied! It is entitled Vesigia Insulae Manniae Antiquiora; or, a dissertation on the Armorial Bearings of the Isle of Man, etc., by H. R. Oswald, Esq., F.A.S., &c. In this volume Mr. Oswald points out that no armorial emblem in connection with the island is known to have existed before the time of the Norwegian domination; the earliest traceable is that on the flag of the Norse Vikings, which was emblazoned with a ship in full sail, apt symbol of these sea-rovers. The ship has one mast, is clinker built, and resembles closely the Manx herring boats. Amongst the Cottonian MSS. there exist two charters of Harald, King of Man, with the dates 1245-6. Their seals bear the ship on one side, and a lion rampant on the other. But after the cession of the island to Alexander III of Scotland, twenty years later, this emblem of the Norwegian kings disappears entirely, and the three legs symbol takes its place, continuing to the present day. The form we usually see is thus described in heraldry:-Gules, three legs armed, conjoined in fesse at the upper part of the thighs, flexed in triangle, garnished and spurred, or. Motto: Quocunque jeceris strabit, that is " whichever way you throw it, it will stand." But this is a later modification, as the armour does not correspond to the thirteenth century, and in the earliest examples, which are of the time of Edward I of England, the legs are covered with chain armour, and are without spurs. There is also no motto, which, indeed, is evidently the invention of a later age. The earliest example of the arms of Man, as now emblazoned given by Mr. Oswald, is not earlier than A.D. 1480, and this is without the motto. It appears then, almost certain, though we possess no literary document recording the fact, that to Alexander III of Scotland is due the introduction of the " tre cassyn " as the distinguishing arms of the Isle of Man. But whence did he get it ? He did not originate it, as Mr. Oswald points out; for every antiquary knows that this striking emblem was figured in various forms on Greek coins and Etruscan vases four or five hundred years before the Christian era. These, however, would be utterly unknown to a Scottish king in the thirteenth century, and neither Mr. Oswald nor any other writer, so far as I know, helps us to a reasonable solution of the difficulty. At first I thought it probable that Alexander might have derived it from the bracteates or gold medals, which he must have often seen worn on the breasts of Norwegian kings and chieftains. As amongst other nations, so it was the custom with the Northmen, to wear for amulets ornaments containing the sacred signs. With the Anglo-Saxons the signs were often formed of pieces of coloured glass or garnets set in gold. In the North they were formed of plain gold within a circle. The " swastika," as the figure is called in India (see fig. 8), was used as the emblem of their god Thor, the cross (fig. 9) as that of Odin, and the " triskele " (fig. 7) was the emblem of the sun-god Frey.

This latter is identical with the armorial bearing of the Isle of Man, as will be demonstrated further on. But, as will be seen, the emblem on these medals is invariably of a ruder, more primitive, and rudimentary type. It never appears on the Danish and Norwegian bracteates as three well developed male legs; and it is not likely that the Scotch of that age would at once make the transition to a more advanced and artistic form. We must, therefore, look elsewhere. Is there any nation that has employed this symbol- the three legs of man-on its coins, buildings, and banners, from before the Christian era down to our own day ? There is, and only one-Sicily. Appearing first on the lovely Sicilian Greek coins about 300 s.a. it was so frequently repeated that the Romans gave the name of " triquetrum " or three-cornered to the symbol itself, whilst the island of Sicily was called " Triquetra," the three-cornered or triangular island. Through all the reverses of the Sicilians, under the Romans, Goths, Saracens, and Normans, it was still used as part of their national arms, was embroidered on their banners, and carved on their buildings. Surely, then, from the Sicilians it must have been borrowed by the Scottish king. But how would the knowledge of it reach him ? In several ways, perhaps. To the Crusaders we owe the introduction of Heraldry, and the era of the Crusades had not yet passed by. In the first enthusiastic longings to free the Holy Land from the Infidel even Scotland was moved. As William of Malmesbury writes:-" The most distant islands and savage countries were inspired with this ardent passion. The Welshman left his hunting, the Scotchman his fellowship with vermin, the Dane his drinking party, the Norwegian his raw fish." The Crusades had a most salutary influence in diffusing a knowledge of other countries, and Sicily, which shared so largely in the fortunes of the Crusaders, was the common resting-place on their way to the Holy Land. We must also not forget that Alexander's mother, a Norman French princess, married for her second husband the son of the crusading king of Jerusalem. In this way then a Scottish king in the thirteenth century might have become acquainted with the arms of Sicily. But a far more potent influence than even the Crusades was the Norman conquests from the ninth to the fourteenth century, which placed the descendants of the Northmen on the thrones and in the high places of Church and State in nearly every country of Europe. Those hardy sea rovers who swarmed forth from the shores of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, went forth conquering and to conquer. Their very religion was fitted for a nation of warriors, since a place in the Walhalla of Odin could only be won by those who had overcome and slain in battle. The Swedish Norsemen directed their expeditions chiefly against the eastern coasts of the Baltic; they overran and subdued a large part of what is now called Russia, in the tenth century became dangerous enemies of the Byzantine empire, the coasts of which they reached by way of the Black Sea, and its capital, Constantinople, they attacked with upwards of one thousand ships, or boats, in the year 941. The Danish Norsemen ravaged and conquered nearly the whole of Germany and France, especially planting themselves in that part of the latter which was thenceforth called Normandy. These, the Normans of history, a most warlike, vigorous, and brilliant race, rapidly adopted the highly civilised form of life that prevailed in the Frankish kingdom, its religion, language, and manners, but inspired everything they borrowed with their own splendid vitality. In the year 1066 they finally overthrew the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, and William the Conqueror, the descendant of a Norse Viking, established the Norman rule in England. About the same time they obtained a footing in Southern Italy, and before the end of the eleventh century, Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger, both sons of a Norman knight, Tancred de Hauteville, were acknowledged by Pope Nicholas II as Lord of all lower Italy, and Count of Sicily. The latter and his descendants filled the Sicilian sees with Norman bishops, and many proofs might be given of the close intimacy that existed between the Normans of Sicily and those of England. Thus William II, or "the good" (died 1187), married Joan of England, sister of our Henry II, and had for his tutor, and afterwards prime minister, Walter-of-the-Mill, an Englishman, whom he appointed Archbishop of Palermo, and who built in 1169 part of the present cathedral. Frederick II (1197-1250), the most illustrious of the Norman kings of Sicily, married for his third wife Isabella, daughter of Henry III of England, by whom he had a son, Henry, who died young. After his death, Manfred, a natural son of Frederick, who inherited many of the great qualities of his father, was appointed regent in 1254. Pope Innocent IV excommunicated him, and then claimed his kingdom as forfeited to the Holy See; but Manfred maintained his rights with an army and as he was supported by the Neapolitan and Sicilian people the Pope had no chance of succeeding unless he invited some foreign host into the heart of Italy. Alexander IV looked round among the princes of Europe for help, and at length, in the year 1255, he offered the crown of Sicily to Henry III of England for his younger son Edmund, and the priest-ridden king joyfully closed with the shameful proposal, agreeing to raise an army and march into Italy, accepting first a considerable advance of money from the Pope to commence the enterprise, and proposing to raise what more might be necessary by borrowing on his own and the Pope's security. Considerable preparations were made, and the king conferred upon his son beforehand the title of " lying of Sicily." In the small circle of the English court this arrangement gave the highest satisfaction. The young Prince was paraded in public in the Italian costume, and with the state of royalty. He set his ring, though but a boy, to a deed by which the Bishop of Hereford, John d'Aigue-Blanche, received the crown of Sicily as his prom (June 22, 1259). Banners, no doubt, with the three-legged symbol of Sicily were duly prepared, and the prince quartered the Sicilian arms with the royal arms of England.

Now mark the close connection of these facts with the subject of the present paper. Alexander III of Scotland, and his queen, Margaret, the youngest daughter of Henry III, visited the English Court at that very time. The treaty between the Pope and the King of England was signed April 9, 1255, and the visit of Alexander took place in August, 1256. They were received with great pomp and state, and passed several months at the English court. Doubtless the young Scottish king would take the greatest interest in the preparations that were being made for the invasion of Sicily. Its future king was his wife's brother, and he would promise to raise a Scottish regiment to join the English army; whilst the queen and her ladies would busy themselves in preparing banners bearing the triquetra of Sicily. For several years (1255-59), the court continued occupied with this business, when Henry III, who was always in debt, finding that he could no longer make it an excuse for raising more money, allowed it to pass into the limbo of forgotten projects. A few years later occurred the invasion of Scotland by Haeo, the Norwegian king, his defeat at the battle of Largs, the destruction of his fleet in a tempest, and his death; soon after which event the Isle of Man was ceded to Alexander, that is, in 1266. What more likely than that the king, when he struck the Norwegian flag, should replace it by one bearing the picturesque and striking device of Sicily, an island having so many points of resemblance with that of Man ? He had probably a number of banners on hand of that island kingdom, so like his new acquisition, over which his wife's sister had ruled as queen, and her brother had been appointed an king. But the opportunity had been lost, and the flags were there. Surely, he did well to utilise them.*

And now we come to the most interesting question of all, the true origin and meaning of this symbol. Alexander, we have strewn, borrowed it from the Sicilians, who in their turn had employed it continuously for fifteen hundred years before his time. Doubtless he was perfectly ignorant of its primitive meaning, but it was appropriate, picturesque, and striking, and it served his turn.

From whence, then, did the Sicilians get it, and what was the idea it originally conveyed to them ? On referring to Oswald's volume we meet with nothing but vague guesses, flung out at random. Here is one that he quotes from Nisbet: " It was a device of the Sicilians, the ancient possessors of the Isle of Man," an assertion which we know to be false. There is nothing easier than to solve a difficulty by manufacturing evidence. Another says, " The three legs conjoined were used by Sicily in allusion to its three headlands or promontories, whence its name, Trinacria." But this also is set aside by the fact that the device is found on many early Greek coins of inland towns having no connection with Sicily. One antiquary suggests that Alexander adopted the three legs running, " because, as mentioned by Boethius, the Isle of Man had become the common resort of refugees, vagabonds, and runaways ! " Another, " because the island looks towards three kingdoms-England, Scotland, and Ireland "; and, he adds, " from their former connection with it, legs have crept into the bearings of many private families in England! The Earl of Derby, for instance, quarters the Manx arms among his armorial bearings because the Stanleys were for two hundred years the lords of Man." Finally, Mr. Oswald tells us, as his own conclusion, that the three legs symbol "is doubtless a chimera." But the " chimera," as described in Greek legends and represented on their coins, bears no analogy whatever to the Isle of Man arms; it is a four-legged monster, having three heads-that of a lion, a man, and a goat (see fig. 35). So we are left, for all Mr. Oswald's researches, as far off as ever; and the most recent Guide-Books to the island, by Cumming and Jenkinson, add no more. Poor food this for those ardent ever golden arms to bless the world and rescue it from the terrors of darkness, he exclaims, "Arise ! our life, our spirit has come back; the darkness is gone, the light approaches." This, the morning prayer of the Brahmin, is the most sacred verse in the Veda. We might go through all the chief natural religions in succession, and it would be seen that they are more or less forms of sun-worship. Take that of ancient Egypt. Osiris, the supreme god, was the setting sun, the sun of the under-world; and the hope of every pious Egyptian was that in that world he might be united with Osiris, sail with him through the various regions of the heavens, seated in the solar boat, to rise with him as Horns, the rising sun, overcoming the darkness; the soul triumphing over death; the conqueror of Typhon. As to the religion of the Eastern nations, Dr. Oppert says, "All the Phoenician gods were forms of Baal, the sun, and all their goddesses Astarte," that is, the moon and earth goddess. The Teutonic nations spoke of the sun as "the eye of Wodin, and they also called the sun the face of their god " (Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie). For so prominent an object in the picture-gallery of the human mind, a sign or picture symbol must have been invented at a very early period. The circle, as found in the Egyptian hieroglyphs, in the Chinese picture-writing, and in our common astronomical tables, would be the simplest possible sign. But something more was needed to indicate speed. One mode was to represent the disc as winged; thus was formed the Mihr, the most sacred emblem of divinity amongst the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians (see figs. 11 and 38). Another far simpler device, one of the commonest and most primitive of all, was formed by crossing the disc with four lines, and thus giving it the semblance of a wheel. Those early thinkers could not conceive the sun's disc as rapidly moving onward unless it revolved as well-trundled, in fact, like a wheel. And thus the wheel, usually four-spoked, became a well-recognised solar emblem (see figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5). It appears on the reverse of many early Greek coins. The Northern sun-god held it as his symbol, and the worshippers of Mithra, the Persian sun-god, at their religious feasts partook of a consecrated bread in the form of circular cakes, with a cross on each, as his emblem. But the human mind in its restless activity was not satisfied with this; it endeavoured to give the idea of motion to the spokes of the wheel, and of Notion In one direction, too. This was done ingeniously enough, by taking away part of the rim of the wheel, leaving sufficient to indicate its course; and thus was produced the " Suastika " of the Hindoos, the " Fylfot " of the Northern nations, perhaps the most characteristic and universally diffused of all the mystic emblems of sun-worship (see figs. 8, 15, and 16). It was inscribed, along with other well-known sun-emblems, on the circular amulets of terracotta found in great numbers by Dr. Schliemann amid the ruins of ancient Troy. It was borne by the warriors of Greece, Etruria and Rome, on their helmets and their shields, and was marked on their funeral urns. It is repeated on the hem of the garment of a grave-digger in the Roman catacombs, and appears constantly as the sign of Thor on the gold bracteates worn as sacred amulets on the breasts of the Northern Vikings (see figs. 18, 20, and 23).

Amongst the many remains of sun-worship which still linger in the Isle of Man, one is especially interesting in connection with the present subject. On the 5th July, that is, old Midsummer day, in each year is held the great assembly of the island, around the Tynwald Hill. On the summit sits the Lord of Man, his face to the east, and his sword held with the point upwards. The preceding evening, or Midsummer eve, fires are lighted on the hills, and the day is called in Manx, Lhaa Boaldyn, i.e., "the day of Baal's fire." A cart-wheel, tarred over and bound with straw, is taken to the top of a high hill, is then set on fire, and being started it trundles along into the valley beneath, a rude yet expressive emblem of the sun.

But a further development took place in the mind of these primitive worshippers. They conceived of the sun as a living being, resembling glorified humanity. The wheel was but the one visible wheel of his fiery chariot, drawn by four white horses. And thus the sun-god as a charioteer is a favourite device on the early Greek and Roman coins. See especially fig. 29, where a representation of the solar orb, rayed, forms the head of the charioteer. Sometimes a horse galloping, often winged to increase the idea of speed-the sun-horse-does duty for the whole (see figs. 22 and 32). The horse was counted specially sacred to the sun, because, as Herodotus explains, it is the swiftest of animals.*

In those old Pagan faiths which consecrated every pleasure, the chariot races became a joyous form of sun-worship. On the spine of the Circus Maximus the statue of Apollo stood next to the obelisk, itself a sun-emblem, and thus struck the key-note of the allegorical allusion in the chariot race. The course ran due east and west, or the sun's daily path. The twelve doors were the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The four factions, with their respective colours-green, red, blue, white-were emblematical of the four seasons; the four-yoked chariots were the sun, the two-yoked the moon, and the seven times round the course symbolised the seven days of the week, or the seven planets. On the top of the obelisk was a polished brass globe called the "pyropus," from which the sun's rays, redected, seemed to bring the god of day nearer to the race-course. " Flammasque imitante Pyropo " is the description of Ovid. And thus the sun presided over the races at Rome.

In the Book of Psalms the sun is compared to a swift runner. To the Hebrew poet the sun is " as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race " (Ps. xix, 5). Here are two very distinct ideas of the all-glorious sun, conveyed in the two pictures. First he is the generator, the fertiliser, the source of new life; second, he moves through the heavens as a racer, a swift runner. The same ideas are embodied in a Greek coin of very early type (see fig. 24), in which the sun-god Apollo appears, holding in his right hand a budding branch, emblem of fertility and new life. He strides along-it would have been infra dig. to represent him as running-but the idea is conveyed vividly by a little nude figure, like his own, on his extended left arm, having four wings, two to the arms, two to the ankles, who is both running at full speed and flying at the same time. Now it was a frequent practice to represent a complex symbol by some small portion of the same, which, BO long as it was characteristic, served to remind the devotee of the whole. Accordingly, the Greek warrior represented on an archaic vase (fig. 25) has placed on his circular shield, itself an emblem of the sun, the representation of a single leg running, and that was counted enough. The shield became thenceforth a sacred amulet, which claimed the special protection of the god.

But again, they desired to combine in one powerful symbol the two conceptions of the sun as a revolving wheel, and as a swift runner; and this was at length accomplished by the invention of the symbol we are discussing, the " triskele" of the Greeks, the " triquetrum" of the Romans, the " tre cassyn " of the Manx.

Some intermediate stages were, however, passed through testified of the Athenians, " in all things God-fearing, very religious (7'lC~TCt 7r~VTct ~EI~Oy&~TEpOUs), They strove to represent their God as infinite in his attributes, powers and manifestations, and yet endeavoured to do this by the simplest means. The principle of economy, therefore, suggested the number three as being the smallest number that would represent the indefinite plural, and therefore express the attributes and manifestations without number of the Godhead. So interesting a topic might well tempt us farther, but we must refrain.

Let us, by way of conclusion, sum up in a few words the results of our enquiry. There is not the slightest trace of the three legs symbol having been employed in connection with the Isle of Man until after the cession of the island to Alexander III of Scotland, in 1266. The only arms or emblem known to have been used before that time was the ship in full sail, the sign of the Norwegian kings; but ever since that period, down to our own day, the three legs running has been the heraldic emblem of the island. It was borrowed by the Scottish king from the Sicilians, of whose island it has been the distinguishing badge for two thousand years, his knowledge of it having been derived from and his attention called to it by the offer of the Sicilian crown to Henry III of England, and afterwards to his son, Prince Edmond, who indeed assumed the title of King of Sicily, and who were respectively Alexander's father and brother by marriage. This heraldic sign was originally a religious emblem of the most sacred character, derived from and always associated with the worship of the sun. It was invented by the ancient Chaldeans or Assyrians, and borrowed from them and humanised by the ancient Greeks who colonised Sicily. Like the " fylfot " or " suastika," it was a modification of the solar wheel by incorporating also the idea of the sun-god as the swift runner, the racer, and was reduced from four to three elements to form one emblem, yet a sacred, united triad, expressing by the lowest indefinite plural number the innumerable, the inexhaustible attributes of their Supreme God.

~ Matthew Paris, Chronicle, 1254-60; El. Gally Knight, The Normans in Sicily; C. H. Pearson, History of England during the Diddle Ages, vol. ii; E. W. Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii, A. (J. Haro Southern Italy and Sicily. * The enered horses and chariot of the Sun preceded the armies of Cyrus and Xerxee (Herodotue i, 189; vii, 55), and when Josiah destroyed the idols of alienated Judah, " he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the temple of Jehovah, and he burned

NOTE A.-It was contended by some, when this paper was read, that the Isle of Anglesey, not that of Man, was here intended. A word, therefore, may be added in confirmation of the text. Caesar expressly tells us that he took great pains to obtain accurate information as to the coasts of Britain, both by enquiry from traders and others, and by sending out a special surveying expedition; and the sketch he gives of the geography of Britain is surprisingly accurate for the time. When, therefore, he tells us that the island of Mona lies in the mid seas between Hibernia and Britannia, there can be no mistake; one island alone answers to the description. It is true that, one hundred and fifty years after, Tacitus, who never set foot in Britain, applies the name Mona to the Isle of Anglesey, which is only separated from the mainland by a mere cleft in the coastline, a space that was readily forded by the cavalry of Agricola. But this plainly could not have been the Mona of Caesar. Again, the Isle of Man alone has always borne the ancient name, and no other. From a Runic monument at Kirk Michael it appears that in the twelfth century the Northmen called it Mann. Polydore Vergil, writing in 1470, says: " There are manie iles adjacent to Britagne, and two of fame: the one called the Ile of Wight, the other, somewhat famous, is the Ile of Mona or Man."

NOTE B.-Another explanation has recently been offered by Mr. Robert Brown, Jun. (The Unicorn: a Mythological Investigation, pp. 66, 67.) After quoting from Planche's Pursuivant at Arms the remark:-" The origin of the bearing (the arms of Man) has yet to be discovered," he adds, " Behold it." In few words, Mona or Man signifies, according to Mr. Brown, the Moon Island, and the Triquetra are simply three crescent moons. An ingenious idea, certainly, which would claim consideration if there was one particle of evidence in its favour, but as there is none, we may dismiss it with the bare mention.

EXPLANATION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. Fig. 1-The Solar disc, usual form in the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Fig. 2-The Sun-wheel, as a solid disc with axis. This is the form still used to signify the Sun in Astronomy, as it was by the Astrologers.
Fig. 3.-The Sun-wheel with four spokes. This was the form of the sacred cakes used at the Mithraic Banquets.
Fig. 4.-The Sun-wheel with a central axis. This is found on the reverse of early Greek coins, filling the entire field.
Fig. 5.-The Sun-wheel with eight spokes, much less common in ancient art than four.
Fig. 6.-The Sun-snake or Serpent, within a Circle, is a sacred emblem frequent in Chinese and Japanese Art. It is an elegant morie of representing a wheel rotating, reduced to the simplest possible elements. See 8 and 14.
Fig. 7.-Here we have the idea of rotation still better given by three spokes, curved to give the idea of direction; a primitive form of the three legs symbol.
Fig. 8.-Origin of the " fylfot " or i' swastika," by leaving out part of the rim of the sun-wheel.
Fig. 9.-The spokes only of the elm-wheel forming a cross, often used alone as a solar sign.
Fig. 10.-The Sun-star, a frequent sun sign, developed from 5.
Figs. 11 and 12 are from Babylonian or Assyrian seals, figured by Lajard, Culte de Mithra. The sacred Mihr or winged sun in 11, is replaced in 12 by the " Triskele," as fig. 7, strewing their common origin and signifieanoe.
Figs. 13 and 14 are from very ancient coins of Lycia, figured by Sir (I. Fellows, and exhibit early forms of the " Triskele," still retaining the central axis of the solar-wheel. On No. 13 it appears impressed on the body of the solar-griffin. On No. 14 it is accompanied by the sun-snake, which also retains the axis.
Figs. 15 and 16 show well the origin of the " fylfot " from the solar-wheel. The first is from a coin of Lycia (about 500 B.C.), the other is from an Etrusoan ear-ring figured by Waring.
Fig. 17. -An Iron Spear-head, from Brandenburg, N. Germany, covered with sacred signs, among which sun-wheels, the `` fylfot," and the `'Triskele " are eonspienous. Waring.
Fig. 18 is from a gold medal, or braoteate, figured by Worsaae, in his Ancient arts of Denmark. It represents Thor with the he-goat, surrounded by the suastika or fylfot, the triskele, and the cross (formed by four guns) the signs for Thor, Odin and Freya.
Figs. 19 and 20 are Scandinavian ornaments, from Thorsberg, containing the same sacred signs. Worsaae.
Fig. 21.-From a very ancient Greek coin of Aspendus; it exhibits well the origin of the triskele from the sun-wheel.
Fig. 22-From a coin of the ancient Britons, represents the sun-horse with wheel underneath; above is an emblem like the primitive triskele, but with eight curved arms, modified from the eight spoke wheel, fig. 5.
Fig. 23.-Another bracteate, from Worsaae's Work, represents the Scandinavian triad: Thor in the centre, Odin with sunhorse, Freya with sword, surrounded by three cross-signs, and the triskele, which, though primitive in form, gives the idea of running.
Fig. 24.-From an early Greek coin of Caulonia. represents the sungod, nude, with his four-winged counterpart. running and flying. British Museum.
Fig. 25.-A warrior, from an ancient Greek vase, on whose shield is figured a leg running. Waring.
Fig. 26.-Three legs armed with greaves, running in a circle, borne on the shield of a warrior; from a Greek vase found at Agrigentum in Sicily. Waring.
Fig. 27.-From a very ancient Thraciari coin, representing three legs rlmning. There are wings to the heels, and three phalli or fleur-de-lis. British Museum.
Fig. 28.-The sun-chariot with the sun-lion running under; from a coin of Syracuse, about 480 B.C. British Museum.
Fig. 20.-The sun-god in his chariot; instead of a human head is the solar-dise, rayed. Roman denarius. British Museum
Fig. 30.-The three legs running, and winged, having for centre the solar-disc, rayed; from a coin of Syracuse, 80U B.C. British Museum.
Fig. 31.-The sun lion with the triskele, two sun symbols in one; from an archaic coin of Aspendus. British Museum.
Fig. 32.-The sun-horse winged, the three legs running under; from a coin of Syracuse, 300 B.C.
Fig. 33.-The sun-god winged, in his quadriga, or four-horse chariot, having the eight-rayed sun emblem above; from a coin of Syracuse.
Fig. 34.-The same, but the triskele of three legs replaces the eightrayed sun symbol; from a Syracusan coin. British Museum.
Fig. 35.-The Chimnera, from a coin of Sicyon. British Museum. See page 213.
Fig. 36.-The triple symbol formed by three winged lions, from an Assyrian signet. British Museum.
Fig. 37.-The same, formed by three cocks, with the solar-disc in the centre; from a very ancient coin of Lycia. Blitish Museum.
Fig. 38-The Mihr, or winged solar-disc, that special emblem of the Divine presence common to the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Persians, is here represented as a triple triad, three figures, three wings, and the glory or lightning is threeforked, from an Assyrian signet. British Museum.
Fig. 39.-Three flowers on one stem, each a triad; the sacred device on a Jewish shekel of Simon Maccabccus. B C. 139. British Museum.
Fig. 40.-The terminal knobs of an ancient Danish neck-ring, decorated with sacred signs. One bears a triskele with three others inserted, the second has the triskele enclosing three triangles, each made by three dots. From Worsaae.
Fig. 41.-The ship (slightly restored) on the seals of Herald, King of Man, dated A.D. 1245 and 1246. British Museum. From Oswald's Vestigia
Fig. 42.-First appearance of the Three Legs of Man; from seal of a charter, about A D. 1300. British Museum. Oswald's Vestiqia.
Fig. 43.-The later form. Oswald.