07-16-2006, 03:12 PM
Quote:Does one culture's adoption of another culture's visual religious symbol inherently mean that the adopters also adopted the symbol's original religious meaning? What was the symbol's original religious meaning? Did its religious meaning change over time? How much of the religious meaning was adopted/changed? How can you irrevocably "prove" this? (e.g., the swastika [worldwide, Neolithic through present period])
The swastika probably retained it's meaning as a solar symbol of protection and bestower of good fortune, (in the form of fertility or prosperity)
It was used both left and right handed....possibly related to the solar disc travelling from East to West, then West to East during the hours of darkness and symbolic of 'increasing' or 'decreasing' depending on how you used it...
The Nazis, of course, used the swastika and the Sigil rune, also representing the sun as their 'Aryan' symbols, which was very damaging to the use of this symbol in the West..
seeSwastika
Cristina
The Hoplite Association
[url:n2diviuq]http://www.hoplites.org[/url]
The enemy is less likely to get wind of an advance of cavalry, if the orders for march were passed from mouth to mouth rather than announced by voice of herald, or public notice. Xenophon
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The Hoplite Association
[url:n2diviuq]http://www.hoplites.org[/url]
The enemy is less likely to get wind of an advance of cavalry, if the orders for march were passed from mouth to mouth rather than announced by voice of herald, or public notice. Xenophon
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