DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0375
The Lycian Symbol
301
ducks1 (fig. 232). On occasion an owl occupies the central ring2
(fig. 233). But on the Lycian series the radiating lines are never
modified into human legs. The significance of this symbol has
been frequently debated. Monsieur Babelon, after passing in
Fig. 231. Fig. 232. Fig. 233.
review the various hypotheses that have been put forward, con-
cludes in favour of the solar explanation advanced by L. Mliller
and Mr E. Thomas3. L. Miiller, comparing analogous symbols
throughout the west of Europe4, and Mr Thomas, doing the same
for India and the east5, arrived independently at substantially
similar results. Both regard the Lycian sign and its parallels as
representations of the sun. Mr Thomas sums up in the following
sentence : ' As far as I have been able to trace or connect the
various manifestations of this emblem, they one and all resolve
themselves into the primitive conception of solar motion, which
was intuitively associated with the rolling or wheel-like projection
of the sun through the upper or visible arc of the heavens, as
understood and accepted in the crude astronomy of the ancients6.'
This verdict, for Lykia at least, is confirmed by the fact that on
Lycian coinage after the time of Alexander the Great the radiate
head of Helios is a constant type7. But, when we seek to define
the deity to whom the Lycian wheel originally belonged, we are
deserted by the evidence. The conjecture of C. von Paucker8 and
E. Curtius9, that it marked the worship of a three-fold Zeus, is
disposed of by the examples with one, two, and four branches.
1 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lycia etc. pi. 44, 5, E. Babelon Les Perses Ache'me'nides Paris
1893 nos. 476, 532, pis. 12, 11, 15, 5, id. Monn. gr. rom. ii. 2. 227 f. pi. 95, 16, 235 ff.
pi. 96, 5, Head Hist, num.'1 p. 690 (' cygnets ').
2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lycia etc. p. 23 pi. 6, 6, pi. 44, 9, Babelon Monn. gr. rom.
ii. 1. 510, ii. 2. 275 ff. pi. 99, 24 ff., Head Hist, num.- p. 691.
3 E. Babelon Les Perses Achdmenides p. xc f.
4 L. Miiller La croix gavime'e Copenhagen 1877.
5 E. Thomas ' The Indian Swastika and its western Counterparts ' in the Num. Chron.
New Series 1880 xx. 18—48. See also P. Gardner 'Ares as a Sun-god' id. 1880 xx.
49—61.
6 E. Thomas id. 1880 xx. 19.
7 Babelon Monn.gr. rom. ii. 1. 482.
8 Arch. Zeit. 1851 ix. 380.
9 Lb. 1855 xiii. 11, Babelon Monn.gr. rom. ii. 1. 510 f.
301
ducks1 (fig. 232). On occasion an owl occupies the central ring2
(fig. 233). But on the Lycian series the radiating lines are never
modified into human legs. The significance of this symbol has
been frequently debated. Monsieur Babelon, after passing in
Fig. 231. Fig. 232. Fig. 233.
review the various hypotheses that have been put forward, con-
cludes in favour of the solar explanation advanced by L. Mliller
and Mr E. Thomas3. L. Miiller, comparing analogous symbols
throughout the west of Europe4, and Mr Thomas, doing the same
for India and the east5, arrived independently at substantially
similar results. Both regard the Lycian sign and its parallels as
representations of the sun. Mr Thomas sums up in the following
sentence : ' As far as I have been able to trace or connect the
various manifestations of this emblem, they one and all resolve
themselves into the primitive conception of solar motion, which
was intuitively associated with the rolling or wheel-like projection
of the sun through the upper or visible arc of the heavens, as
understood and accepted in the crude astronomy of the ancients6.'
This verdict, for Lykia at least, is confirmed by the fact that on
Lycian coinage after the time of Alexander the Great the radiate
head of Helios is a constant type7. But, when we seek to define
the deity to whom the Lycian wheel originally belonged, we are
deserted by the evidence. The conjecture of C. von Paucker8 and
E. Curtius9, that it marked the worship of a three-fold Zeus, is
disposed of by the examples with one, two, and four branches.
1 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lycia etc. pi. 44, 5, E. Babelon Les Perses Ache'me'nides Paris
1893 nos. 476, 532, pis. 12, 11, 15, 5, id. Monn. gr. rom. ii. 2. 227 f. pi. 95, 16, 235 ff.
pi. 96, 5, Head Hist, num.'1 p. 690 (' cygnets ').
2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Lycia etc. p. 23 pi. 6, 6, pi. 44, 9, Babelon Monn. gr. rom.
ii. 1. 510, ii. 2. 275 ff. pi. 99, 24 ff., Head Hist, num.- p. 691.
3 E. Babelon Les Perses Achdmenides p. xc f.
4 L. Miiller La croix gavime'e Copenhagen 1877.
5 E. Thomas ' The Indian Swastika and its western Counterparts ' in the Num. Chron.
New Series 1880 xx. 18—48. See also P. Gardner 'Ares as a Sun-god' id. 1880 xx.
49—61.
6 E. Thomas id. 1880 xx. 19.
7 Babelon Monn.gr. rom. ii. 1. 482.
8 Arch. Zeit. 1851 ix. 380.
9 Lb. 1855 xiii. 11, Babelon Monn.gr. rom. ii. 1. 510 f.