"Always remember to draw the swastika turning to the right": Some thoughts on swastika directionality in Early Medieval Irish Art
Swastikas are, for a
number of reasons, endlessly fascinating symbols. Like all symbols, they are
only invested with the meanings we give them. Otherwise they are just little
shapes and drawings that mean nothing in and of themselves. Owing to its long
history and brief (if traumatic) association with Nazism, the swastika probably
has a stronger resonance than most. You won’t spend long on the internet attempting to discuss the
swastika before someone, trying to be helpful, notes that the Nazi version
rotated counter-clockwise (elbows pointing left) and was bad, but the good
Buddhist/Hindu version rotated clockwise. They may be trying to be helpful, but
they are invariably wrong. It’s true that the version Adolf Hitler designed for
the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei only went one direction:
counter-clockwise. What’s wrong is that not all other (i.e. non-Nazi) swastikas turn the opposite direction (elbows
pointing right).
Rather than dutifully
plod through a debunking of this easily-researched falsehood, I want to look at
directionality in Irish swastikas, a topic that has not been previously
discussed. According to my research, there are 34 ‘items’ in, or of Irish
manufacture, that bear some form of swastika. I use the term ‘items’
as it encompasses everything from small artefacts up to large pieces such as
high crosses and one megalithic orthostat. Some of these are decorated with a
single swastika, while others have up to 37. For the purposes of this post, I’m
going to confine myself to the 17 Early Medieval items, in or of Ireland, that
are, in one form or another, adorned with swastikas.
 |
| Aglish, Co. Kerry. (Source: Left | Right) |
The largest single
group within this corpus are eight cross-inscribed pillars, half of which are
found in Kerry. Arguably the most famous of these is the Aglish pillar stone.
It has a distinctive equal-armed cross with expanded terminals, set within a
circle, at its head and a line of ogham script running down each side. The late
Etienne Rynne dated this example to the 5th or 6th centuries, but more recent
work by Swift suggests a date in the 6th to 7th centuries. Just below the cross
there are two swastikas, one on either side of a gnomon or spear. Both are
anti-clockwise versions.
 |
| Inishvickillane, Co. Kerry (Source) |
 |
| Inishvickillane, Co. Kerry (Cuppage 1986) |
The next pillar stone
is from Inishvickillane, Co. Kerry, and
similarly dates from the 6th to 7th centuries. Three faces of the stone
are decorated with variants of the Latin cross. Two are composed of simple,
incised lines, while the third has terminals decorate with equilateral
triangles and a square at the junction of the shaft and cross-beam. The fourth
side bears the swastika (rotating anticlockwise), composed of simple incised
lines with an open square at the junction of the shaft and cross-beam. It is
clear from the context that this should not be viewed as a symbol apart from
the three crosses, but as another form of christian cross, no different to the
others. The central point here is that swastikas appearing in christian art
cannot be seen as anything other than christian in inspiration and intent. In
the same way that saltires, taus, along with Greek and Latin varieties are all
variations on the cross theme, so too is the swastika in these contexts.
 |
| Cloon West, Co. Kerry (Rynne 1990) |
 |
| Cloon West, Co. Kerry (Source) |
 |
| Cloon West, Co. Kerry (Source) |
 |
| Cloon West, Co. Kerry (Source: O'Sullivan & Sheehan 1996) |
At Cloon West in Co
Kerry there are two pillar stones standing near each other that, between them bear
five swastikas. The first of these has two swastikas on one side and one on the
other. All three swastikas, though differing in form, are clearly anticlockwise.
One side has a Latin cross with triangular terminals and a pelta above a
curving, sinuous swastika. The other side has a similar swastika at the bottom,
enhanced by an incised outline. Above this is rectilinear swastika, composed of
incised lines and, again, enhanced by an incised, square outline. This latter
symbol is connected by a single vertical line to a Greek cross with expanded
terminals, inside a decorative border. The second tone has plain Latin crosses
on each of its wider faces, both with expanded terminals. One of these crosses
sits on circular design, reminiscent of the circle of decoration on the
previous slab, and the ornamental patterns on each of its sides. On this
example, the swastikas are placed one on each of the narrower sides.
Stylistically, they are the same as the one on the previous stone – simple
incised rectilinear lines inside a squared outline. The major difference here
is that both swastikas are of the clockwise variety.
 |
| Fuerty, Co. Roscommon (Source: |
 |
| Fuerty, Co. Roscommon (Source: |
Next, we come to the
partial swastika from Fuerty, Co Roscommon. It is thought to date to the 9th to
11th centuries and is executed in false relied. Although only partially
preserved, it is clear that the swastika here was conceived as quite similar to
the previous example, with an incised outline running around a central swastika
figure. It is also clear that the swastika is of the anticlockwise type.
 |
| Cliffoney, Co. Sligo (Source: Left | Right) |
At Cliffoney, Co.
Sligo, a slab at Brigid’s Well is decorated with a long Latin cross. The lower
shaft of the cross and arms are decorated with a series of saltires. The head
of the cross is roughly square and contains an anticlockwise rotating swastika.
The junction of the arms and head is taken up with a series of concentric
circles while the top of the cross is covered with a curly-ended pelta shape.
 |
| Termons, Church Island, Co. Cork (Source) |
There are two more stones to add to this collection. The first is from Termons, Church Island, Co. Cork. It is described as incorporating a debased form of the swastika at the junction of the shaft and arms. I’ve never been particularly convinced by this example as a true swastika, and the only image I can find doesn’t give any clear impression of directionality. The other stone is from Killaraght, Co. Sligo. The only description I have of it is the following: “A piece of Old Red Sandstone, probably of Early Christian date, can be seen in the old section of the graveyard. It has four D-shaped projections, the top of each is decorated with a swastika” (M B Timony: Killaraght Early Christian Cross Slab). Unfortunately, I do not possess a photograph or drawing of this stone and do not know any more about it.
 |
| Kilkieran, Co. Kilkenny (Source) |
 |
| Kilkieran, Co. Kilkenny (Source: Photograph of drawing on information board by Chris McClintock) |
While the symbol is
relatively popular in the cross-inscribed stone tradition, it is almost
completely absent from the corpus of High Crosses. That is, except for the
example from Kilkieran, Co. Kilkenny. The cross is
part of the ‘Ahenny Group’ and dates to the 8th or 9th centuries, making
it contemporary with some of the examples mentioned above and among the earlier
High Crosses. What I can make out from the available imagery is that the arms
of the cross were each decorated with a rectilinear, if slightly disjointed,
swastika, one going in each direction. The head of the cross appears to have
had a form of swastika composed of curvilinear lines, going in a clockwise
direction. There are two further areas of decoration that – in the right light
– might be interpreted as swastikas, but are just too indistinct to be sure.
For the purposes of this research, I’m reluctant to even include them as ‘possibles’.
 |
| Lindisfarne, England (Source) |
Although Lindisfarne is on the east coast of England, it is considered to have been an Irish monastery, having been founded by Irish monks from Iona. The illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels is in the Insular style and dates to around 700 AD. Folio 210v is a ‘carpet page’, a characteristic feature of the Insular manuscript tradition where the page is given over to elaborate ornamentation. In this example, prefacing the Gospel of John, the central decorative item is an equal-armed Greek cross. At the cardinal points, there are T-shaped or ‘Tau’ crosses, and the four angles are decorated with L-shaped pieces. In each of four gaps between the ends of the L-shaped pieces and the tau crosses there is a square block, each of which contains a swastika. The top two turn to the left (anticlockwise), while the lower pair turn clockwise.
 |
| Cathedral Hill, Co Armagh (Source: Top: Gaskell-Brown & Harper 1984 | Bottom: Edwards 1990) |
At Cathedral Hill, Co
Armagh, excavation by Cynthia Gaskell Brown and A.E.T. Harper in 1968 recovered a bone knife handle from a dump of
material, pushed into a ditch. Judging by the associated material, it would
appear to date to the broad period from the 5th to 10th centuries. It is also
decorated with four swastikas, each one composed of simple, incised lines,
enhanced by an incised outline, giving the whole the form of a small square. As
far as I can ascertain from both the published drawing and photograph, two
swastikas turn anticlockwise, while one turns the opposite direction.
Unfortunately, I cannot be sure of the direction of the other example and while
I suspect that it would turn clockwise (giving two of each type), I cannot be
certain and have assigned this to my ‘Unclear’ category.
 |
| Oseberg, Norway (Source: Paul Parker via Flickr. Reproduced by kind permission) |
The final group are all
of metal, and represent both religious and secular prestige goods. The first of
these is the so-called ‘buddha bucket’ from Oseberg, Norway. The bucket is
thought to have been created in the late 7th century, making it quite the
heirloom by the time it was deposited as part of the funeral offerings in the
mid-9th century. The bucket is composed of yew wood staves, bound together with
copper strips. The junction between the rim and the handle is decorated with a
small figure in copper alloy, notable for his crossed legs position. He also
has a centre-parted hairstyle that can be paralleled on the figure of St
Matthew from the Book of Durrow, itself dating to the period from 650-700 AD.
The figure’s chest bears a large Greek cross with millefiori decoration in the
form of multiple small saltire crosses (50, by my count). Each of the angles of
the Greek cross are filled by a four interlocking tau crosses in yellow enamel,
composed in such a way as to create a swastika from the linear voids between
them. However, the artist arranged the taus in such a way as to have the top
left and bottom right swastikas rotate anticlockwise, while the remainder move
in the opposite direction.
 |
| Løland, Norway (Source: Bruce-Mitford 2005) |
At Løland,
Norway, a hanging bowl escutcheon of possible Irish manufacture was recovered
from a burial and is thought to date to the 8th or early 9th centuries. Here
two human masks with ovoid eyes, long noses and wide mouths are placed on
either side of a square. The square contains an arrangement of four T-shapes
that, like the Oseberg example, create a swastika in the void between them. In
this case the swastika is rotating in a clockwise direction.
 |
| Coolbuck crannog, Lough Eyes, Co Fermanagh (Source: Bourke, 2000) |
A thin strip of
decorated metal from Coolbuck crannog in Lough Eyes, Co Fermanagh, bears four
square, stamped motifs. It is unclear what this item was originally part of,
but it seems reasonable to suggest that it was attached to a wooden or leather background
of some kind, using the recessed nail holes. Although atypical of Irish
metalwork, it has been suggested that it was created as a repair piece for a
hanging bowl during the 8th century. Whatever its function, one of the square
decorations bears a clearly stamped swastika, spinning in an anticlockwise
direction.
 |
| Lagore, Co. Meath (Source: Lucas et al. 1961) |
The list of archaeological
acquisitions for the year 1959 includes an image of the ring portion of a penannular
brooch from Lagore, Co. Meath, dating to the 6th or 7th century. The published description
indicates that the right-hand terminal is decorated with three chequerboard plaques
of millefiori set in a red enamel background. The decorative elements are
completed by the addition of a fourth blue and white millefiori plaque, this
time bearing four swastikas. The two on the left turn anti clockwise, while the
two on the right turn in the opposite direction. Each swastika is set within
the quadrants of a pair of lines intersecting in an x-shape. It may be pushing
the evidence too far to describe this as a formal saltire cross. The opposite
terminal appears to have been decorated in the same manner, but not enough
survives to be sure of the swastika’s directionality.
 |
| Ardagh, Co Limerick (Source: Dr M Comber, NUIG) |
The Ardagh hoard from Co Limerick is justly famous as one of the great metalwork accomplishments of this period. The central piece within the hoard, the great Ardagh Chalice, was created during the eighth century and bears a large amount of intricate and detailed decoration on its various elements. In particular, I want to note two curving panels on the underside of the foot-ring. Each panel bears 72 incised Tau shapes, arranged in 18 groups of four. Each group of four produces a swastika shape at their intersection. Thus, there are 36 swastikas between the two panels. I only have an image of one of these panels, so can’t be sure of the directionality of the entire set. The 18 swastikas currently visible to me are all rotating clockwise.
 |
| St Patrick’s Bell shrine (Source) |
The final piece in my
catalogue is the spectacular object known as St Patrick’s Bell shrine. The
external shrine was commissioned by King Domnall Ua Lochlainn between 1091 and
1105. The front and sides, along with the entirety of crest show liberal use of
‘Urnes style’ serpentine forms, indicating a significant Viking artistic influence.
Beautiful as these are, I’m only interested in the back panel. Here a rather
wonderful 3D effect is conjured up through the use of a silver grille set over
a sheet of gilded bronze. The first image that hits the observer is that of the
repeated use of equal-armed Greek crosses formed in the voids of the silver
grille. The border is completed through the inclusion of 10 tau crosses, along
with two L-shapes. More difficult to perceive, however, are the 37
clockwise-spinning swastikas formed from solid silver areas between the Greek
crosses.
By my count, these 17
items bear 109 swastikas between them. These may be broken down as follows:
Clockwise: 67 61.5%
Anticlockwise: 18 16.5%
Unknown: 24 22%
From this it should be
clear that anti-clockwise swastikas were a small-scale, but established,
element of the Early Medieval artistic repertoire. As such they should not be
seen as unusual or in any way anomalous. My only reservation in using these
figures is that one single item (St Patrick’s Bell Shrine) makes up just over
one-third of the examples (37 of 109), considerably skewing the data. Perhaps a
fairer way of looking at the corpus is to restructure the data by a count of
the occurrences by type. This means that an artefact with multiple swastikas would
count as a single instance in each direction. Thus, St Patrick’s Bell Shrine is
reweighted to count as 1 as all of its examples are clockwise. However, the four
examples seen on the Lindisfarne carpet page count as 2, with examples rotating
in each direction. Reweighted in this manner we see a more balanced account of
swastika occurrences in Irish Early Medieval art:
Clockwise: 9 39%
Anticlockwise: 10 43.5%
Unknown: 4 17.5%
Seen in this way,
anticlockwise swastika symbols make up approximately half of the recognised
examples. However we chose to enumerate the examples within the Early Medieval
art, the question remains as to the meaning of the swastika in such contexts. I
have no difficulty in seeing the swastika as a sun symbol in other contexts – frequently
associated with horses as the motive force – the evidence just doesn’t appear
to be there to make the same case for the Irish examples. I believe that a
competent case
was put forward by Rynne that the swastika on the 15th century McMahon tomb
in Ennis Friary may be viably interpreted as a symbol of Christian resurrection.
Such an interpretation would be consistent with its use on the roughly 16th century
grave slab at St James’ graveyard in Dingle, Co. Kerry. However, I simply do
not see that as a conclusion that can be legitimately drawn directly from the
earlier Irish material. Instead, I would look towards the association of the
swastika with other symbols where it occurs. Of the 17 extant examples, 12 (70.5%)
are associated with some form of christian cross, with some having more than one
association. These include 5 with Greek crosses (29.4%), along with the same
numbers of both Latin and Tau crosses. A further two (11.8%) are associated
with Saltires. Thus, my argument is that the swastika symbol is (in these
contexts) simply a variant form of christian cross, no different than any of
the others. Implicit within that is the understanding that the swastika form
embodies those aspects of christian teaching commonly associated with other
cross forms, including teachings around the death and resurrection of Jesus and
the claims of afterlife salvation. Thus, the directionality
of the symbol is divorced from its older use as a sun symbol and of no real
significance in this context. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' direction for an Irish swastika to spin - it just spins!
Notes:
Should any reader have
or know of one or more clear photographs or drawings of any of the examples
mentioned above – especially of the Killaraght,
Co Sligo, stone – they would be made very welcome here. By the same token,
should you be aware of any other Irish swastikas that have eluded my searches,
I would be particularly delighted to hear about them.
The first
part of this post’s title is taken from Gwar's song ‘Slaughterama’,
from the satirical shock rock band's 1990 album Scumdogs of the Universe. But, of course, you
knew that.
Cited Works:
Bourke, C. 2000 A bronze mount from Lough Eyes, County Fermanagh. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 59.
Bruce-Mitford, R. 2005 The corpus of Late Celtic hanging bowls. With an account of the bowls found in Scandinavia by Sheila Raven. Oxford.
Cuppage, J. 1986 Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter.
Edwards, N. 1990 The archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland. London.
Gaskell-Brown, C. & Harper, A. E. T. 1984 Excavations on Cathedral Hill, Armagh, 1968 Ulster Journal of Archaeology 47.
Lucas, A. T., Ó Ríordáin, A. B., Rynne, E. Prendergast, E. Raftery, J. & O'Kelly, M. J. 1961 National Museum of Ireland Archaeological Acquisitions in the Year 1959 Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 91.1
O'Sullivan, A. & Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh Peninsula: an archaeological survey of south Kerry. Cork.
Rynne, E. 1990 'The swastika at Ennis—symbol of the Resurrection' North Munster Antiquarian Journal 32.
Comments
Post a Comment