THE

TETRAKTYSSWASTIKA
ARCHITECTURE OF THE SYMBOL
This sort of staff is crooked at one end, and is called lituus; they make use of it in quartering out the regions of the heavens when engaged in divination from the flights of birds; Romulus, who was himself a great diviner, made use of it. (Plutarch - Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans)

DAVID N S BENNETT

2013

Ten is the very nature of number. All Greeks and all barbarians alike count up to ten, and having reached ten revert again to the unity. And again, Pythagoras maintains, the power of the number 10 lies in the number 4, the tetrad. This is the reason: if one starts at the unit (1) and adds the successive number up to 4, one will make up the number 10 (1+2+3+4=10). And if one exceeds the tetrad, one will exceed 10 too so that the number by the unit resides in the number 10, but potentially in the number 4. And so the Pythagoreans used to invoke the tetrad as their most binding oath: By him that gave to our generation the Tetraktys, which contains the fount and root of eternal nature (Aetius 1. 3.8) If the universal frame had been created a surface only and having no depth, a single mean would have sufficed to bind together itself and the other terms; but now, as the world must be solid, and solid bodies are always compacted not by one mean but by two, God placed water and air in the mean between fire and earth, and made them to have the same proportion so far as was possible (as fire is to air so is air to water, and as air is to water so is water to earth); and thus He bound and put together a visible and tangible heaven. And for these reasons, and out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the world was created, and it was harmonized by proportion (Plato - Timaeus) The tetrad is the first to encompass minimal and most seminal embodiment, since the most elementary body and the one with the smallest particles is fire, and this is the body whose shape as a solid is a pyramid (hence the name), which alone is enclosed by four bases and four angles. And there are evidently also four elements (fire, air, water and earth) and their powers(heat, cold, wetness and dryness), which are disposed in things according to the nature of the tetrad. The heavenly realm has also been arranged in the same way: for it has been assigned four centres - the one over the zenith, the one at the ascendant, the one at right angles under the Earth, and and the one at the descendent (which four turn out to constitute the zodiac between them). And moreover it has been assigned four limits - north, south, east and west - and taking account of its sphericity, it has been assigned centre, axis, circumference and area. Moreover, there are also this many so-called ninety-degree divisions of the zodiac, the points at which by means of the ecliptic there is contact with the four zodiacal signs in which the summer and winter solstices and the two equinoxes occur, which form a cross by being diametrically opposed.

Because the tetrad is like this, people used to swear by Pythagoras on account of it, obviously because they were astounded at his discovery and addressed him with devotion for it; so Empedocles says somewhere, by him who handed down to our generation the Tetraktys, the fount which holds the roots of ever-flowing nature. (Attributed to Iamblichus - The Theology of Arithmetic)

THE TROJAN SWASTIKA SHIELD

TOMB II VERGINIA Tomb II is a large vaulted tomb with two chambers, containing royal remains, excavated in 1977 in Verginia, northern Greece. This funeral construction is one of three royal Macedonian tombs. Archaeologists originally announced that the burial in the unlooted Tomb II was that of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. The tombs contents included an elaborate ceremonial shield, an iron helmet, a silver headband, an object thought to be a royal sceptre, and a panoply of other weapons. Recent analysis of the tombs now suggests that the tomb is a generation more recent and is that of Philip III Arrhidaeus, Alexanders half -brother. This means that the armour in the tomb could then be from the panoply of Alexander the Great. Alexanders half brother is thought to have claimed the royal armour after the death of Alexander in Babylon. It is now believed that it is likely that this material, including the ceremonial shield, was Alexanders. The shield seems to have a central image of Achilles in the act of killing the Amazon queen Penthesilea. Encircling this and forming an entire circuit around the shield runs a swastika meander. It is attested that Alexander took the Shield of Achilles from the temple of Athena at Troy at the start of his campaign of conquest. The Shield of Achilles was carried by Alexander or the shield-bearers into battle. It also functioned as a sacred symbol and was borne by the shield-bearers onto the field of war. Then going up to Ilium (Troy), he (Alexander) sacrificed to Athena and poured libations to the heroes. Furthermore, the gravestone of Achilles he anointed with oil, ran a race by it with his companions, naked, as is the custom, and then crowned it with garlands,

pronouncing the hero happy in having, while he lived, a faithful friend, and after death, a great herald of his fame. (Plutarch - The Life of Alexander 15) Alexander welcomed the prediction of the seer and made a splendid sacrifice to Athena, dedicating his own armour to the goddess. Then, taking the finest of the panoplies deposited in the temple, he put it on and used it in his first battle. (Diodorus Siculus - Library of History XVII.18) They now pressed in a solid body about the two fallen men; at first they rained their javelins on Alexander, and then closing went all out to slay the king. But exposed as he was to many and fierce attacks he nevertheless was not overpowered by the numbers of the foe. Though he took two blows on the breastplate, one on the helmet, and three on the shield which he had brought from the temple of Athena, he still did not give in, but borne up by an exaltation of spirit surmounted every danger. (Diodorus Siculus - Library of History XVII.21) It is also said that he (Alexander) went up to Ilium (Troy) and offered sacrifice to the Trojan Athena; that he set up his own panoply in the temple as a votive offering, and in exchange for it took away some of the consecrated arms which had been preserved from the time of the Trojan war. These arms were said to have been carried in front of him into the battles by the shield-bearing guards. (Arrian - The Anabasis of Alexander XI) Therefore according to ancient accounts Alexanders shield was, at least in myth, Trojan in origin. In reality the swastika can be traced back to Troy and through this association with the Trojan war was imbued with sacred values.

THE SWASTIKAS OF TROY

Swastika is a Sanskrit term for the symbol that has been in use in English since 1871, replacing the Greek derived gammadion. The word swastika came from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and can mean wellbeing, corresponding to a lucky charm or something that is auspicious. However this does not appear to reflect the deeper meaning the swastika must have held in ancient Greece, Rome and Asia Minor. The symbol appears here to have had a sacred signification. Swastika is a relatively modern term in English and the date of its widespread inception into the English language coincides with Heinrich Schliemanns controversial

excavations at the site of ancient Troy. These excavations uncovered numerous examples of the swastika indicating that the symbol had held significant sacred value. In any case, to judge from the discoveries of M. Schliemann, it was especially amongst the Trojans that the gammadion (swastika) played an important part from a symbolical and religious point of view; which may be attributed to the belief that it was there closer to its cradle and even nearer to its original signification. (Count Goblet DAlviella - The Migration of Symbols) The excavations began in 1871 and can be linked, through the publicity and excitement generated at the time, to the discovery and reconstruction of the Pergamon Altar. The Trojan excavations received extensive media coverage in Europe and due to a cleverly planned publicity campaign generated numerous headlines. Consequently the term swastika replaced gammadion and the symbol was presented by the European media in this sensational Trojan context. This set the context for it to be appropriated later as a political symbol.

THE TETRAD SWASTIKA

GAMMADION The term gammadion is derived from the ancient Greek name for the symbol. The symbol was seen as being formed of four upper case Greek gamma characters and this is reflected in the term. Four gamma characters are combined to form one symbol. In addition, as the third letter of the Greek alphabet the gamma character numerically represents the number three. It thus symbolizes the triad of deities in one syncretism. The construction of the symbol consisting of four gamma characters, each of which numerically represents the triad, therefore contains the combination of four and three. It is then a symbol that simultaneously represents the religious triad and the cardinal four points. The symbol therefore represents the sacred.

TETRA-GAMMADION

Tetra is derived from the Greek meaning four or having four constituents. Therefore the more correct term for the gammadion is tetra-gammadion since this name transmits the central concept of the symbols construction from four parts. The meaning of tetra-gammadion is intrinsic to the numeral four. By its construction of four gamma characters, and also by containing four arms, the symbol represents the cardinal four points. These are the four cardinal directions of east, west, north and south. It therefore indicates the earth and the rising and setting of the sun. The astral movement of the heavenly bodies is likewise indicated. The two solstices and the two equinoxes mark the four solar extremities. These are connected to the four seasons of the year. There are also the four quarters and the four winds of heaven. The symbol represents the four corners of the earth and from these come the four winds of the earth. There are also four rivers in paradise. It further represents the four classical elements as described by Plato. From the four elements are derived the four humours of the body. The multiplication of four by the numeral three of the gamma letter leads to the twelve months, disciples and signs of the Chaldean zodiac. At the finality, from the four corners of the earth, and from the four quarters of heaven, come the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

TETRAGRAMMATON The Tetragrammaton is the name of the four letters that reveal the unutterable name of God. The occultic four is in this case translated into the four letters that form the name of the deity. The gammadion is formed by joining four gamma characters into the shape of a cross. Like the Tetragrammaton the gammadion is constructed of letters which form a symbol. The gammadion is also called the tetra-gammadion so containing in its meaning the four gammas, tetra indicating four. The two names, Tetragrammaton and tetragammadion, show their close association of meanings.

The additional association of the gamma character as the third letter in the Greek alphabet means that the tetra-gammadion also contains the qualities of the religious triad or the Holy Trinity. Thus the gammadion, or tetra-gammadion, symbolizes the Tetragrammaton and is hence the symbol indicating the deity. By this association the swastika as the tetragammadion and as the Tetragrammaton can be be considered as the sacred symbol of the deity. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1)

TETRAKTYS Bless us, divine number, thou who generated gods and men! O holy, holy Tetraktys, thou that contains the root and source of the eternally flowing creation! For the divine number begins with the profound, pure unity until it comes to the holy four; then it begets the mother of all, the all-compassing, all-bounding, the first-born, the neverswerving, the never-tiring holy ten, the keyholder of all. (Prayer of Pythagoras) By that pure, holy, four-lettered name on high, natures eternal fountain and supply, the parent of all souls that living be, by him, with faith find oath, I swear to thee. (Oath of Pythagoras)

THE PARTHENON SWASTIKAS

A swastika meander traversed the coffered ceiling of the Parthenon. In 1970 excavations at the Athenian Agora found various marble fragments from the Periclean period. These fragments were from coffered ceilings and these were conclusively proved to have originated from the Parthenon. Comparison of the coffer

fragments with past drawings and with fragments still lying within the Parthenon confirmed this. The coffer dividers have an incised and painted swastika meander pattern between bead-and-reel designs. The coffered ceiling of the Parthenon could then be determined to have had frames decorated and enlivened with gold swastika meander. Below the ceiling there was a swastika meander pattern on the frieze crowns. On these a double swastika meander was deployed. Consequently the swastika meander ran extensively across the ceiling and also across the frieze crowns situated above the internal frieze. By taking colour fragments, and according to early accounts, it has been determined that the double swastika meander on the frieze crowns was painted in gold. A striking image therefore emerges of rich bands of golden swastika meander traversing the length and breadth of the Parthenon. The colour of the gold, contrasted to the darker colours of the background or ground, and set against the white marble would have had a strong visual impact. This would have been reinforced by the reflective nature of the light cast on the gold swastika meander. The primary purpose of the gold swastika meander may have been to reflect and recast the light in a type of visual vibration across the upper reaches of the interior. The aetherial light, the light of the heavens or that of the fifth element, is then present. To the four earthly elements Aristotle added aether as the quintessence. He reasoned that the heavenly region must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance. The swastika then was alight with the aetherial fire cast by the sun and by this immanence expressed the sacred. The ceiling of the Parthenon appeared to function as a metaphor for the heavens. The swastikas on the ceiling and on the frieze crowns expressed the duality of the heavens above and the earth below. The sun or sky was considered the male, or active part; the earth was represented as female and, with its qualities expressed in the statue of Athena below, as the passive part. The bright sky, Aeschylus says, loves to penetrate the earth; the earth on her part, aspires to the heavenly marriage. Rain falling from the watery sky impregnates the earth, and she produces for mortals pastures of the flocks, and the gifts of Ceres. The sky, Plutarch says, appeared to perform the functions of a father, as the earth those of a mother. The sky was the father, for it cast seed into the bosom of the earth, which on receiving them became fruitful and brought forth, and was the mothe r.

The swastika could also be seen as the sun or stars moving through the heavens in what were imagined to be specific channels. They would thus be seen in a metaphorical sense as rivers of stars. According to Plutarch they say that the sun and moon do not use chariots, but boats in which to sail round in their courses; and by this they intimate that the nourishment and origin of these heavenly bodies is from moisture. They think also that Homer, like Thales, had gained his knowledge from the Egyptians, when he postulated water as the source and origin of all things. By its definition the swastika meander refers to a river. The Meander was a celebrated river of Caria in Asia Minor and was known for the way that it backed up on itself in its meandering course. It appears earliest in the Catalog of Trojans of Homers Iliad. Another connection with mythical Greek rivers are the rivers of Hades. According to this myth the souls of the dead were herded through the hollows of the earth by the meandering rivers of Hades. They were carried beyond the earth-encircling river Oceanus and the gates of the setting sun to their final resting place in Hades. This meandering course through an underworld also reflects the Cretan myth of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. The swastika bands in their gridded form recall the labyrinthine structure of the classical labyrinth. Here, instead of reflecting the underworld, the golden bands on the ceiling of the Parthenon refer to the heavens. To the metaphor of the river of stars can be added the labyrinth of stars. The movement of the heavenly bodies across the heavens reflects the golden swastika meander traversing the gridded structure of the Parthenon ceiling. On the east pediment of the exterior of the Parthenon the reclining figure almost certainly is that of Dionysus. He looked out from the pediment toward the corner and the chariot of Helios, god of the sun, rising at daybreak. A river of stars, in the shape of the river Po, begins from the left foot of Orion. The water that runs from Aquarius takes its course between the head of the southern Fish and the tail of the Whale. I have explained the constellations displayed and formed in the heavens by nature with a divine intelligence, according to the system of the philosopher Democritus, confining myself to those whose rising and setting are visible. I have described the true circuit of the heavens above the earth. (Vitruvius - de Architectura)

THE SWASTIKA TEMPLE

TEMPLE OF JUPITER BAAL HELIOPOLIS / BAALBEK

Heliopolis means city of the sun in the ancient Greek context. A swastika meander traversed the entablature of the Temple of Jupiter in Heliopolis, now known as Baalbek. The temple forms part of a complex of temples in Baalbek, Lebanon, and was the largest of its type in the ancient period. The site was originally named the city of the sun by the Phoenicians in dedication to the sun god Baal. It was rededicated later by the Greeks who dedicated the main temple to their sun god, Apollo, and called the site Heliopolis. The Romans were building the Temple of Jupiter during the reign of Augustus thus making it contemporary with the Ara Pacis in Rome. The syncretism of religions during this period of Roman imperial expansion and consolidation meant that the Temple of Jupiter was also allied with the Greek Apollo and the local deity Baal. The temple is cardinally aligned and opens to face the east which must have been a deliberate orientation to the sunrise. Apollo, the slayer of the Python, symbolizes the morning sun dispelling the darkness in the east. As the Roman Empire was expanded into the east it was necessary to synthesize the various deities into the Roman pantheon. One method of achieving this was to recognize the central importance of the various sun deities throughout the Empire as supreme in the religious hierarchies and synthesize them all into one sun deity. Deities such as Baal were incorporated into the new imperial pantheon. At Baalbek the main temple was erected to the Roman god Jupiter but included other sun deities in the syncretism. The Augustan period of construction at Heliopolis was both physical and religious in that a new imperial religion was being constructed. The Hellenic Greek tradition was recognized and this symbolism was overt in the swastika band of the precinct walls of the Ara Pacis.

The Temple of Jupiter incorporates a similar swastika meander band explicitly and prominently in its entablature. The swastika must have held a solar symbolism within this context. In Baalbek, because of the determined dedication of the temples name, the entablature iconography likely symbolizes the deity of the sun. The swastika entablature meander, which is given such architectural significance, is unlikely to be a mere meaningless pattern. The placement of the temple complex oriented to the sun, the explicit names given to the complex, the Chaldean solar pantheism, all indicate the particular significance of the iconography of the swastika meander. The columns of the Baalbek complex supported Corinthian capitals with acanthus leaves of gilded bronze. Consequently the swastika meander must have been likewise decorated. The swastika meander bands would have been golden in effect. They would then have been similar to the golden meander bands of the ceiling coffers and frieze crowns of the Parthenon. There is one surviving description of the famous statue of the god which stood in the Temple of Jupiter recorded by Macrobius in the fifth century: by the rites of the worship, and by the attributes of the statue, which is of gold, representing a person without a beard, who holds in his right hand a whip, charioteer-like, and in his left a thunder bolt, together with ears of corn; all of which mark the united powers of Jupiter and the sun. Solar pantheism developed among the Syrians of the Hellenistic period as a result of the influence of Chaldean astrology and spread throughout the Roman Empire. In this Syria had a significant influence on Rome. Syria itself was influenced by the Chaldeans and the line of influence can be traced back to Babylon itself. Both the Greek Hellenic and Roman Empires were deeply influenced by Chaldean / Babylonian astral worship and solar pantheism. This solar pantheism is represented at the Temple of Jupiter by the surviving description of the statue of the god by Macrobius. It is also represented by the remaining fragments of the swastika meander entablature. I have described the true circuit of the heavens above the earth The rest which relates to astrology, and the effect produced upon human life by the twelve signs, the five planets, the sun and the moon, must be left to the discussions of the Chaldeans, whose profession it is to explain the past and the future. The talent, the ingenuity, and

reputation of those who come from the country of the Chaldeans, is manifest from the discoveries they have left us in writing. (Vitruvius - de Architectura)

THE SWASTIKA ALTAR

THE ARA PACIS AUGUSTAE

A large swastika band traverses the precinct walls of the Ara Pacis altar in Rome. The Senate decreed that there should be consecrated in the Field of Mars an altar to the Augustan Peace and ordered that the officials, priests and vestal virgins should celebrate a sacrifice at it every year. (Res Gestae of Augustus) The Emperor Augustus and the Roman elite wished to incorporate the elements of the new resurgent Roman Empire which they were to manage during the Augustan Peace, the Pax Augusta. This made them especially conscious of the Greek legacy to the Empire and the Ara Pacis demonstrates the infusion of these Hellenistic influences into the highest reaches of the Roman state. The altar is an example of the use of traditional Greek devices to institute the renewed Roman reign over the Empire. In this context the altar has a deliberate propagandistic purpose in envisaging the reinvigoration of the Roman Empire with Augustus at its apex. Respecting the inheritance from the Greeks the Ara Pacis follows the traditional Greek altar design. It resembles in this way the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, a Greek Hellenic kingdom. The altar is constructed entirely of white marble and has two components, the altar itself and the precinct wall surrounding it. Around the precinct wall runs a large swastika band which is integrated with the columns on the corners and on either side of the door structure. Included in the frieze panels above is a description of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf. Here the Roman foundation myth is portrayed. Also among the panels is one depicting the Penates in a shrine to the Trojan household and so alluding to the sack of Troy. The altar is therefore imbued with the valour of the Trojan tradition that was central to Roman military values. The symbolism

of the altars position in the Campus Martius, the Field of Mars (the god of war), would have been significant in this context. The procession scenes display the appropriation of Hellenic forms and themes integrating them into Roman codes. The procession scene towards the sacrifice (with what may be the Vestal Virgins) suggests the mystical and mythical nature of the Greek mysteries while grounding them in the realistic portraits of the Roman individuals. By appropriating the symbols of Greece the Ara Pacis integrates them into the new power structure of Rome. The Swastika meander band traverses completely the precinct walls and structurally separates the human friezes from the Dionysian acanthus and vine friezes below. Traditional Greek symbols are synthesized and assimilated in the Roman ethos of power. This has the intent of legitimizing Roman rule and branding and concreting the unfolding of Roman history. Consequently this was a work of propaganda, founded in war for the Roman Empire and dedicated to peace, the peace of the Empire - the Pax Augusta. The location of the Ara Pacis in the Campus Martius (the Field of Mars) was therefore appropriate. Before this dedication the Field of Mars was dedicated and consecrated to Mars, the Roman god of war, with an ancient altar. The Lusus Troiae, Troy Game or Game of Troy, was an equestrian event held at the Field of Mars. The military drill is described by the Augustan poet Virgil in the Aeneid: The labyrinth, between walls in the dark, Ran criss-cross a bewildering thousand ways Devised by guile, a maze insoluble, Breaking down every clue to the way out. Complex intertwining manoeuvres as a display of horsemanship were characteristic of Roman cavalry revues on the parade ground. Augustus established the Troy Game as a regular event and it was performed ritualistically on a purification day (dies lustri). The children in eastern dress on the Ara Pacis frieze panels have been interpreted as Gaius and Lucius Caesar in Trojan dress for the Troy Game. Virgil explicitly compares the patterns of the drill in the Troy Game to the Cretan Labyrinth which is associated with the myth of the Minotaur. In myth and ritual the Cretan Labyrinth in its military celebration has been interpreted as a military initiation ritual. The Trojan myth was transcribed over the myth of Romes birth as an example of heroic military valour.

The potent symbolism was carried through into the meanings surrounding the Ara Pacis. Here it was translated into the intertwining and interlocking labyrinthine path of the swastika band traversing the precinct walls of the altar. The altar encapsulates the military triumph which it celebrates in order to proclaim the Pax Augusta. Virgils Aeneid glorified both Rome and Augustus through telling the story of Aeneas, the hero of Troy. Aeneas led a group of Trojans to the kingdom of Latium from where Rome would come to rise, thus weaving the Trojan War into the myth of the founding of Rome. In parallel to this, and under the aegis of the Roman Empire, Augustus founded a new city, Ilium, on what was believed to be the site of ancient Troy. Amongst the most ancient evidence recovered of the swastikas origins in Europe and Asia Minor are the whorls of Troy. These take the form of swastikas and solar disk patterns and numerous examples of these were discovered by the excavations of Schliemann on this site. In any case, to judge from the discoveries of M. Schliemann, it was especially among the Trojans that the gammadion (swastika) played an important part from a symbolical and religious point of view; which may be attributed to the belief that it was there closer to its cradle and even nearer to its original signification. (Count Goblet DAlviella) The original signification here seems to point towards the solar character of the symbol or at least to an astral nature connected, as in the Chaldeans, with the worship of the heavens. This connects with the related monument that was intimately connected to the Ara Pacis and erected by Augustus also in the Field of Mars. The obelisk of the Solarium (Horologium) Augusti was a thirty metre red granite obelisk that Augustus had transported from Heliopolis in Egypt. Both the Heliopolis of contemporary Baalbek in Lebanon and the Heliopolis of Egypt are therefore connected with Augustan Rome and its religious syncretism. Both sites were associated with the worship of the sun and their association with the new monuments on the Field of Mars shows the Roman imperial reach. In the case of the obelisk the inscription associated with it celebrates Egypts submission to the Roman Empire. The obelisk was erected in such a way that it cast its shadow on a pavement inlaid with a gilded bronze network of lines. The Solarium Augusti obelisk was integrated with the adjacent Ara Pacis in such a way that the shadow fell towards the altar according to the position of the sun. The two monuments were clearly planned together and also integrate with the pre-existing Mausoleum of Augustus. The collective message of

peace from military authority and imperial expansion can be linked with the Roman imperial syncretism of the solar religions. The obelisk in the Campus was put to use in a remarkable way by August of Revered Memory so as to mark the suns shadow and thereby the lengths of days and nights. A pavement was laid down for a distance appropriate to the height of the obelisk so that the shadow cast at noon on the shortest day of the year might exactly coincide with it. Bronze rods let into the pavement were meant to measure the shadow as it gradually became shorter and then lengthened again. (Pliny) The Solarium Augusti was a solar meridian designed to indicate the progress of the year as the sun appeared to move through the sky from solstice to solstice. Its purpose, as stated by Pliny, was to measure the shadow day by day as it gradually became shorter and then lengthened again. Inlaid into the surrounding paving was a longitudinal line, demarcating the furthest extent of the shadow at noontime on the winter solstice. The obelisk of the Solarium Augusti was inaugurated around the same time as the Ara Pacis was dedicated. Both the obelisk and the swastika are associated with the four cardinal points. From the obelisk, situated in its geometry of lines, can be determined the two solstices and the two equinoxes. The four cardinal points are represented by the swastika, the structure of which points in four directions. The two solstices and the two equinoxes are thus determined by the obelisk, and symbolized by the swastika. If, at Rome, the shadow be eight ninths of the gnomon, let a line be drawn on a plane surface, in the centre whereof is raised a perpendicular thereto; this is called the gnomon By an analemma is meant a rule deduced from the suns course, and founded on observation of the increase of the shadow from the winter solstice, by means of which, with mechanical operations and the use of compasses, we arrive at a accurate knowledge of the true shape of the world. By the world is meant the whole system of nature together with the firmament and its stars. (Vitruvius) The gilded bronze lines on the paving around the obelisk marking out the path of the sun were reflected in the golden swastika meander around the Ara Pacis altar walls. There has been a recent visualization of the Ara Pacis based on an analysis of the traces of the paint residue. This visual enhancement was also based on a comparison with other painted monuments of the period. The reconstruction provides a revealing image that transforms the way in which the appearance of the Ara Pacis has been perceived. The swastika meander bands are golden against a visually receding ground colour. The swastika bands are thus projected out in form, colour and reflective light to become

a key component of the altar. There is therefore a triad of the Parthenon, the Baalbek temples, and the Ara Pacis, all of which have golden swastika meander bands as central components of their construction and effect. A river of stars, in the shape of the river Po, begins from the left foot of Orion. The water that runs from Aquarius takes its course between the head of the southern Fish and the tail of the Whale. I have explained the constellations displayed and formed in the heavens by nature with a divine intelligence, according to the system of the philosopher Democritus, confining myself to those whose rising and setting are visible. I have described the true circuit of the heavens about the earth, the arrangement of the twelve signs, also that of the northern and southern constellations, because therefrom, from the opposite course of the sun through the signs, and from the shadows of gnomons at the equinoxes, are formed the diagrams of analemmata. The rest which relates to astrology, and the effect produced upon human life by the twelve signs, the five planets, the sun and the moon, must be left to the discussions of the Chaldeans, whose profession it is to cast narratives, and by means of the configurations of the stars to explain the past and the future. The talent, the ingenuity, and reputation of those who come from the country of the Chaldeans, is manifest from the discoveries they have left us in writing. (Vitruvius - de Architectura)

THE SWASTIKA CATHEDRAL

THE ZEPPELIN TRIBUNE AT NUREMBERG

At Pergamon is a great marble altar, 40 feet high, with remarkable statues, and the entire is surrounded by a battle of the giants. (Lucius Ampelius) The architecture of the Zeppelin Tribune (or Zeppelintribune) in the Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally Grounds was based on the Pergamon Altar. A parallel history of excavation and reconstruction links the Pergamon Altar to the Ara Pacis. The Pergamon Altar is a monumental altar that was situated on a terrace of the acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.

In 1878 the Berlin Museums had begun to excavate the Pergamon citadel. At this time the German government, wishing to promote the values of the German Empire that was proclaimed in 1871, demanded that the museums match the acquisitions of the other great powers. In this context the retrieved fragments were sent back to Berlin to be reconstructed in a dedicated museum which opened in 1930. The newly founded German Empire adopted the Pergamon Altar as a symbolic expression of the Prussian creation of a new German ascendancy. Consequently the Pergamon Altar was to assume a cultic character for German nationalism. In this sense the reconstruction of the Pergamon Altar parallels that of the Ara Pacis in Rome. The Ara Pacis had been destroyed and lost and a seemingly permanent veil had been drawn over its history. In 1861 a transcription of the text of the Res Gestae of Augustus was found and this also included a brief description of the Ara Pacis and evidence of the altars Field of Mars location. This was followed by an 1879 publication in which the German archaeologist Friedrich von Duhn argued that previously unidentified fragments in various collections belonged to the Ara Pacis. There was increasing academic interest and in 1894 Eugen Petersen published a proposed visual reconstruction of the Ara Pacis. In 1903 Petersen, now the Secretary of the German Archaeological Institute, sought permission for excavation of the site. A drawing by Joseph Durm in 1904 was the first to visually reconstruct the entire Ara Pacis as it would now be recognized and this was included in publications about the altar. The interest aroused by this media dissemination meant that in 1934 major excavation of the Ara Pacis began. Also in that year, and also because of the increasing interest in the site, Vittorio Morpurgo was chosen to create the design for the Piazza Augusto Imperatore with new fascist architecture. The proclamation of the Italian Empire was made by Mussolini in 1936 and the excavation and reconstruction of the Ara Pacis presented an opportunity to cement the values of the nascent Italian Empire with the glorious Augustan past. The bimillennial of the birth of Augustus was a further opportunity to synthesize the elements of the Augustan period of imperial glory and military prowess with the embryonic values of the Italian fascist state. The event was intended to function as propaganda alongside the archaeological significance of the altars reconstruction. The glorious past was invoked to add legitimacy to the new standard-bearers of these ancient values brought again to life in the proclaimed new fascist era.

The Augustan bimillennial celebration began in September 1937 and to mark this date Mussolini announced that the Ara Pacis was to be reconstructed within a pavilion designed by Morpurgo. This was to be situated adjacent to the Mausoleum of Augustus. The German interest in the reconstruction was reflected in an official visit by Hitler to Rome in May 1938. There was extensive media coverage of Mussolini and Hitler viewing the monuments of ancient Rome. Hitler was taken to the Museo Nazionale Romano where he was specifically shown an exhibit documenting the Ara Pacis and its reconstruction. In the media coverage both Mussolini and Hitler were linked via the Ara Pacis with Augustus and the symbolism of imperial Roman conquest. During 1938 the fragments of the Ara Pacis were reassembled within a pier and glass structure designed by Morpurgo. Along the side of the podium of the pavilion was inscribed the Latin text of the Res Gestae of Augustus. This was mirrored in the inscription in the new plaza celebrating Mussolini and the new fascist era. September 1938 marked the official rededication of the Ara Pacis Augustae in the new pavilion as part of the ceremony of the Augustan year, the bimillennium of the birth of Augustus. The reconstruction of the altar cemented the establishment of the Fascist Era as the new imperium following that of Augustus. An inscription in the Piazza Augusto Imperatore in Rome describes the new era of the reconstructed altars:
THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE THE SOUL OF AUGUSTUS FLIES THROUGH THE BREEZES, AFTER THE MAUSOLEUM OF THE EMPEROR WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE DARKNESS OF THE AGES AND THE SCATTERED PIECES OF THE ALTAR WERE RESTORED, MUSSOLINI THE LEADER ORDERED THE OLD NARROW PLACES TO BE DESTROYED AND THE LOCATION TO BE ADORNED WITH STREETS, BUILDINGS, AND SHRINES FITTING FOR THE WAYS OF HUMANITY IN THE YEAR 1940, IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF THE FASCIST ERA.

The Italian fascist quest for symbols of a new imperium mirrors the process that was taking place in Germany. The 1933-1945 German national flag displays this ancient classical heritage in the construction of the symbol. Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf: I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika. The swastika had been earlier used by organizations in Germany such as the Thule Society. Interest in the swastika had been sparked partly by the extensive coverage of the Trojan excavations and also by the reconstruction of the Ara Pacis. However the proportions of the later swastika that was used in the final flag were not those of the Thule Society but those of the ancient Greek and Roman swastika meander.

The shape and thickness of the swastika, as it was finally incorporated into the 19331945 flag, matched exactly the the swastikas of the Ara Pacis. These proportions were also the same as those of the Parthenon and the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek. All are based on a five by five grid. These proportions had in themselves been perfected by the Greeks according to the geometric nature of the gridded swastika meander. In the Augustan period Greek or Hellenic elements were incorporated into the resurgent Roman empire. The Parthenon itself provided an idealized influence for the Ara Pacis and a swastika meander existed in both. The five by five symmetrical grid of the swastikas in the meander of the Parthenon is reproduced exactly in those of the Ara Pacis. These geometric proportions are again reproduced exactly in the swastika of the 1933-1945 German national flag. The proportions are identical and they function as a type of logo. Hitlers statement that he was responsible for the shape and thickness of the swastika can be taken in context by superimposing the 1933 -1945 German flag on the classical swastika meander. The ultimate proportions of the swastika on this flag indicate that it was designed as a logo with carefully calibrated proportions. A logo also functions as a symbol and it was used at Nuremberg in particular to make the ancient Roman associations explicit. This is indicated by Hitlers statement, also in Mein Kampf, that the flag had to be equally a symbol of our own struggle and highly effective as a poster. Hitler added that anyone who has to concern himself with the masses will recognize these apparent trifles to be very important matters. An effective insignia can in hundreds of thousands of cases give the first impetus toward interest in a movement. The construction of the symbol in the flag and its classical symbolism was reflected in the architecture of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg. The Rally Grounds include the March Field (the month being named after Mars, Roman god of war). There is then the Field of Mars (Campus Martius) that contains the Ara Pacis in Rome and the March Field (Field of Mars) that forms part of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg. The tribune of the Zeppelin Field was modelled by Albert Speer on the Pergamon Altar, and further to this displays as the central focus a swastika clearly derived from ancient classical sources. The Zeppelin Tribune echoes closely the architectural features of the Pergamon Altar and was constructed between 1934 and 1937 according to plans drawn up by Speer.

Rows of columns flanked the central section of the structure which was 300 metres in length and was inspired by the extended array of columns of the Pergamon Altar. The architectural effect of the Pergamon Altar is largely due to this extensive array of columns that frame an altar raised above the participants in the rites. One of the central rites performed before the altar in Nuremberg was the Cathedral of Light, also known as the Dome of Light or the Vault of Light. The Cathedral of Light was one of the main aesthetic features of the Nuremberg Rallies and consisted of 130-150 anti-aircraft searchlights aimed skyward to create a series of vertical columns. The participants were therefore enclosed in a temple of columned beams of light. The idea was that of Speer and like the architecture of the tribune can be considered to have been inspired by the Pergamon Altar. The columns of this new altar were the projected beams of light which created a classical temple formed of immaterial light. The shafts of light encased the golden illuminated swastika above the tribune making this symbol the dominant architectural element of the entire sequence of constructions. It was situated above the rostrum and by being both golden and illuminated by searchlight was the focus of the new solar pantheism. The overriding golden swastika symbol was formed into a disk by the Roman wreath that encircled the symbol. All these elements together created a ritualistic environment in which the leadership could be dissolved into the massed participants. This dissolution would here be in the context of a religious conversion where the individual initiates experience their dissolution into the beams of light. This was then a modern solar pantheism which already alluded to contemporary ideas of nuclear radiation. This solar pantheism is expressed in the oath that was said under the dome of light at the 1936 Nuremberg Party Rally: In this sacred hour, as the endless dome towers over us and into eternity, this we pledge: We have come for the good and to renew the holy oath, blazing flames hold us together into eternity. On the 22 April 1945 the US Army held its parade of victory in front of the Zeppelin Tribune. In a recorded event the huge gilded swastika that had presided over the ceremonies and the mysteries of the Third Reich was detonated and destroyed. A river of stars, in the shape of the river Po, begins from the left foot of Orion. The water that runs from Aquarius takes its course between the head of the southern Fish and the tail of the Whale. I have explained the constellations displayed and formed in the heavens by nature with a divine intelligence, according to the system of the

philosopher Democritus, confining myself to those whose rising and setting are visible. (Vitruvius - de Architectura)

SACRED FORMULAE
THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE CONSTRUCTION The inner precinct walls of the Ara Pacis depict the wooden stakes of a traditional templum minus. Four wooden stakes would have originally defined the corners of a sacred area intended for ritual sacrifice. A wooden fence would have further delineated the consecrated area. These are here rendered in sculpted marble. The area bounded by the four corners would have been defined in accordance with sacred formulae. The enclosed sacred area consists of four corners and four sides with two entrances consisting of four frames. On the exterior the traversing swastika meander which defines the outer precinct wall also encloses and demarcates the sacred area of the altar. The swastika band also geometrically contains four elements within its design. The four structural elements of the swastika traverse the four sides of the altar so defining the sacred interior space. The swastika meander band inscribes the sacred formulae behind the altars construction. LITUUS - A staff with a curved or a crooked top, used by the augurs in quartering the heavens; an augural wand. Below the swastika meander the scrolling acanthus decoration of the vegetal frieze echoes the form of the lituus, the crooked wand or staff used by the augurs for divination. The templum in augury referred to the space of sky above and the space of earth below which the augur marked off with his lituus. By this method the Roman augur marked imaginary lines from north to south (the cardo) and from east to west (the decumanus), thus dividing the space observed into four regions.

Lituus seems to have been derived from an Etruscan word signifying crooked. The lituus was the crooked staff borne by the augurs, with which they divided the expanse of heaven when viewed, with reference to divination, into regions. By Roman practice this was originally four. The Etruscans divided the sky into sixteen parts. Of course it was easy enough for them to double the four parts into which we divide it and then double that total and tell which one of those divisions a bolt of lightning had come. (Cicero - de Divinatione II.18) The augur seated himself on his left hand, with his head covered, and holding in his right hand a curved staff without any knots, which they called a lituus. After surveying the prospect over the city and surrounding country, he offered prayers and marked out the heavenly regions by an imaginary line from east to west; the southern he defined as the right hand, the northern as the left hand. He then fixed upon an object, as far as he could see, as a corresponding mark, and then transferring the lituus to his left hand, he laid his right upon Numas head and offered this prayer: Father Jupiter, if it be heavens will that this Numa Pompilius, whose head I hold, should be king of Rome, do thou signify this by sure signs within those boundaries which I have traced. Then he described in the usual formula the augury which he desired should be sent. They were sent, and Numa being by them manifested to be king, came down from the templum. (Livy - History of Rome 1.18) The lituus marked out and demarcated the space of the heavens above the altar for the observation of auspices such as the flight of birds and the movement of the stars. The lituus also was a symbol of office for the augurs and functioned as a ritual stamp of authority. The formal repetition of this shape throughout the vegetal frieze binds the symbolic structure of the altar to the purpose of the religious ritual of divining auspices. This ritual divided the sky contained in the area above the altar into four sections or regions: dextera, sinistra, antica and postica (right, left, anterior and posterior). The augurs established by the ceremony of the lituus the templum or sacred space within which the heavens were observed and the ritual auspices were read. The sacred space had to be established and delimited. The ceremony involving the lituus performed the necessary purification of this space. The corners of the space were established by the lituus and the space within was quartered. The space was thus defined by sacred formulae. This sort of staff is crooked at one end, and is called lituus; they make use of it in quartering out the regions of the heavens when engaged in divination from the flights of

birds; Romulus, who was himself a great diviner, made use of it. (Plutarch - Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans) The vegetal frieze of the Ara Pacis also contains twenty swans distributed through its entire area. Their outstretched wings allude to flight and the importance of the swan to Roman augury. In the context of the Ara Pacis they can also relate to maritime themes and specifically to the Trojan War. Geese, and swans also, travel in a similar manner, but then they are seen to take their flight. The flocks, forming a point, move along with great impetus, much, indeed, after the manner of our Liburnian beaked galleys; and it is by doing so that they are enabled to cleave the air more easily than if they presented a broad front. (Pliny Natural History X.32) They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the plain about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither and thither, glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they settle till the fen is alive with their screaming. Even thus did their tribes pour from ships and tents on to the plain of the Scamander, and the ground rang as brass under the feet of men and horses. They stood as thick upon the flowerbespangled field as leaves that bloom in summer. (Homer - The Iliad) LITUUS (Modern) A spiral whose polar equation is r2; that is, a curve the square of whose radius vector varies inversely as the angle which the radius vector makes with a given line. Acanthus was related to Dionysian and Apollonian concepts of regrowth and the eternal cycle of life. In the Ara Pacis it is linked to the Greek mysteries, including the mysteries of the Vestals, which are also alluded to in the ritual processional frieze. Through its own rapid regeneration by luxuriant and virile growth the acanthus became a symbol of regeneration. The acanthus growth cycle the relates to human regeneration as recorded in the human processional frieze above. The spiralling forms of the acanthus scrolls of the great vegetal frieze unwind across the facades of the Ara Pacis. Other forms of spiralling shapes are composed of flower and palmette representations. These spirals revolve in both directions depending on their placement. The spiralling motion tends to mirror the opposing flower or acanthus formation opposite.

A structure of mirrored spiralling growth is created through an elaborate though relatively balanced symmetrical design. The symmetry implies an organizing principle such as a geometric Pythagorean structure beneath the surface. This is reflected in the swastika band in which the swastikas rotate or spiral in one direction on one side of the facade and in the other direction on the opposing side. The rotating and spiralling forms of the acanthus vegetal relief are strongly reflected in the geometric form of the alternately rotating swastika meander bands. The swastika, composed of four elements, reflects the ritually quartered space of the heavens. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence i t was parted, and became into four heads. (Genesis 2:10)

THE TROJAN SHIELD OF ACHILLES

He (Hephaestus) began by making a large and heavy shield, which he decorated all over and round which he placed a bright triple rim of gleaming metal and fitted with a silver shoulder-strap. The shield consisted of five layers, and he made all sorts of decorations for it, executed with consummate skill. He made earth, sky and sea, the tireless sun, the full moon and all the constellations with which the skies are crowned, the Pleiades, the Hyades, great Orion and the Bear, also called the waggon. This is the only constellation never to bathe in Ocean Stream, but always wheels round in the same place and looks across at Orion the Hunter with a wary eye. (Homer - The Iliad)