Triskelion

This article is about shapes with three-fold rotational symmetry. For other uses, see Triskelion (disambiguation).

A triskelion or triskeles is an ancient motif consisting either of a triple spiral exhibiting rotational symmetry or of other patterns in triplicate that emanate from a common center. The spiral design can be based on interlocking Archimedean spirals, or represent three bent human limbs. It occurs in artifacts of the European Neolithic and Bronze Ages with continuation into the Iron Age – especially in the context of the La Tène culture^[1] and of related Celtic traditions. The actual triskeles symbol of three human legs is found especially in Greek antiquity, beginning in archaic pottery and continued in coinage of the classical period.

Neolithic triple-spiral symbol

In the Hellenistic period, the symbol became associated with the island of Sicily, appearing on coins minted under Dionysius I of Syracuse beginning in c. 382 BCE.^[2] It later appears in heraldry, and, other than in the flag of Sicily, came into use in the arms and flags of the Isle of Man (known in Manx as ny tree cassyn 'the three legs').^[3]

Greek τρισκελής (triskelḗs) means 'three-legged'^[4] from τρι- (tri-), 'three times'^[5] and σκέλος (skelos), 'leg'.^[6] While the Greek adjective τρισκελής 'three-legged' (e.g. of a table) is ancient, use of the term for the symbol is modern, introduced in 1835 by Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes as French triskèle,^[7] and adopted in the spelling triskeles following Otto Olshausen (1886).^[8] The form triskelion (as it were Greek τρισκέλιον^[9]) is a diminutive which entered English usage in numismatics in the late-19th century.^[10][11] The form consisting of three human legs (as opposed to the triple spiral) has also been called a "triquetra of legs", also triskelos or triskel.^[12]

Use in European antiquity

Neolithic to Iron Age

5,000 year-old triskelion on an orthostat at Newgrange

The triple spiral symbol, or three-spiral volute, appears in many early cultures: the first appeared in Malta (4400–3600 BCE); the second in the astronomical calendar of the megalithic tomb of Newgrange in Ireland built around 3200 BCE;^[13] as well as on Mycenaean vessels. The Neolithic-era symbol of three conjoined spirals may have had triple significance similar to the imagery that lies behind the triskelion.^[14] It is carved into the rock of a stone lozenge near the main entrance of the prehistoric Newgrange monument in now County Meath, Republic of Ireland.^[13] It also appears on a 1st-century BCE dolmen tomb in Rathkenny, County Meath.^[15]

There is also an example of a triskele on a stone fragment discovered in Gloucestershire that, as of 2023, is held by the British Museum and thought to date from between the Neolithic period and Bronze Age.^[16]

The triskelion was a motif in the art of the Iron Age Celtic La Tène culture.^[17]

Classical Antiquity

Silver Drachma from Sicily, minted during the reign of Agathocles (361–289 BCE), Greek tyrant of Syracuse (317–289 BCE) and king of Sicily (304–289 BCE). Inscription: ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ (Syrakosion) Laureate head of the youthful Ares to left; behind, Palladion. Reverse: Triskeles of three human legs with winged feet; at the center, Gorgoneion

The triskeles proper, composed of three human legs, is younger than the triple spiral found in decorations on Greek pottery— especially as a design shown on Hoplite shields and later Greek and Anatolian coinage. An early example is found on the Shield of Achilles in an Attic hydria of the late 6th century BCE.^[18] It is found on coinage in Lycia and on staters of Pamphylia (at Aspendos in 370–333 BCE) and Pisidia. The meaning of the Greek triskeles is not recorded directly. The Duc de Luynes, in his 1835 study, noted the co-occurrence of the symbol with the eagle, the cockerel, the head of Medusa, Perseus, three crescent moons, three ears of corn, and three grains of corn.^{[citation needed]} From this, he reconstructed a feminine divine triad that he identified with the triple goddess Hecate.^[7][19]

The triskeles was adopted as emblem by the rulers of Syracuse. It is possible that this usage is related with the Greek name of the island of Sicily, Τρινακρία (Trinacria) 'having three headlands'.^[20] The Sicilian triskeles is shown with the head of Medusa at the center.^[21] The ancient symbol has been re-introduced in modern flags of Sicily since 1848. The oldest find of a triskeles in Sicily is a vase dated to the late 7th century BCE of which researchers speculated a Minoan-Mycenaean origin (and for which no proof has been given).^[22]

Roman period and Late Antiquity

Late examples of the triple spiral symbols are found in Iron Age Europe (e.g., carved in rock in Castro Culture settlement in Galicia, Asturias, and Northern Portugal). The symbol took on new meaning to Irish Celtic Christians before the 5th century CE as a symbol of the Trinity.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  Triskelion of Sicily on vase of the late 7th century BCE
• 
  Late Helladic (14th century BCE) beaked jug decorated with triple spirals
• 
  Gold cup from Mycenae decorated with triskelions
• 
  Iron Age Castro culture triskele, reused in a barn. Airavella, Allariz, Galicia
• 
  Triskelion and spirals on a Galician torc terminal.

Medieval use

The triple spiral design is found as a decorative element in Gothic architecture. The three legs (triskeles) symbol is rarely found as a charge in late medieval heraldry, notably as the arms of the King of Mann (Armorial Wijnbergen, c. 1280), and as canting arms in the city seal of the Bavarian city of Füssen (dated 1317).

• 
  Triskèle Saint-Marcellin (in Isère / France)
• 
  On the front of Abbatial church of Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye with 2 groups of 2 triskelions and 1 biskel (in Isère / France)
• 
  Mural depicting a triskelion on the ceiling of Karja church in Saaremaa, Estonia
• 
  Tremayne family triskelion arms

Modern usage

The triskeles was included in the design of the Army Gold Medal awarded to British Army majors and above who had taken a key part in the Battle of Maida (1806).^[23] An early flag of Sicily, proposed in 1848, included the Sicilian triskeles or "Trinacria symbol". Later versions of Sicilian flags have retained the emblem, including the one officially adopted in 2000. The Flag of the Isle of Man (1932) shows a heraldic design of a triskeles of three armoured legs.

In the Bavarian town of Füssen, Germany the flag and coat of arms of the town contains a triskele,^[24][25] as does the flag of the Russian autonomous region of Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug.^[26]

In Ireland, the triskelion is displayed in hospitals and care centres to indicate that a patient is dying or has died.^[27][28] It is based on the historical use of the triskele in Celtic Ireland and it is used as an alternative to religious imagery. In this context, the three spirals represent the cycle of birth, life and death.^[28]

The spiral is used by some polytheistic reconstructionist or neopagan groups. As a "Celtic symbol", it is used primarily by groups with a Celtic cultural orientation and, less frequently, can also be found in use by various eclectic or syncretic traditions such as Neopaganism. The spiral triskele is one of the primary symbols of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, used to represent a variety of triplicities in cosmology and theology; it is also a favored symbol due to its association with the god Manannán mac Lir.^[29]

Other uses of triskelion-like emblems include the logo for the Trisquel Linux distribution and the seal of the United States Department of Transportation.^[30]

In the 1960s television programme Star Trek, members of the crew are forced to fight to the death on a triskelion playing surface in the episode The Gamesters of Triskelion.

A specific version of the triskele comprising three sevens has been adopted by neo-nazis. In South Africa the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), an Afrikaner nationalist, neo-Nazi organization and political party (founded 1973), uses it as its symbol in place of a swastika.^[31] The Blood & Honour neo-Nazi group also uses it.^[32] The 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck's shoulder strap cipher was a triskele (though not involving sevens).^[33] Use of the triskele can be a prosecutable offence under German law, depending on the context in which it is used.^[33]

• 
  Flag of the Isle of Man
• 
  Flag of Sicily, with the triskeles-and-Gorgoneion symbol
• 
  Flag of Sărata-Galbenă
• 
  Flag of Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug
• 
  Flag of Ingushetia
• 
  Emblem of the 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck
• 
  Flag of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
• 
  Logo of Trisquel GNU/Linux
• 
  The triskelion is used as an end-of-life symbol in the Irish healthcare system.

Occurrence in nature

The boric acid and triethylborane molecules are triskelion-shaped as seen in the images. The molecular point group of triskelion-shaped molecules is C_3h.^[34][35] The endocytic protein, clathrin, is triskelion-shaped, as well as the Ediacaran organism Tribrachidium.^[36]

• 
  A molecule of triethylborane
• 
  A molecule of boric acid
• 
  The Edicaran organism Tribrachidium

See also

• Buer (demon)
• Caltrop
• Lauburu
• Mitsudomoe
• Tomoe

References

1. Harding, D.W. (2007). The Archaeology of Celtic Art. Taylor & Francis. p. 15.
2. Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: a study in ancient religion, Volume 3, Part 2 (1940), p. 1074.
3. Officially adopted in 1932, the flag of the Isle of Man derives from the arms of the King of Mann recorded in the 13th century.
4. τρισκελής, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
5. (τρι- Archived 2012-10-04 at the Wayback Machine, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library)
6. (σκέλος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library)
7. Honore-Theodoric-Paul-Joseph d'Albert de Luynes, Etudes numismatiques sur quelques types relatifs au culte d'Hecate (1835), 83f.
8. Johannes Maringer, "Das Triskeles in der vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Kunst", Anthropos 74.3/4 (1979), pp. 566-576
9. Classical Greek does not have *τρισκέλιον, but the form τρισκελίδιον 'small tripod' is attested as the diminutive of τρισκελίς 'three-pronged'. The form τρισκέλιον does exist in Katharevousa, however, as the term for a small three-legged chair or table (and also of the "Rule of Three" in elementary arithmetic or generally of an analogy). Adamantios Korais, Atakta (Modern Greek Dictionary), vol. 5 (1835), p. 54.
10. Barclay Vincent Head, A Guide to the Principal Gold and Silver Coins of the Ancients: From Circ. B.C. 700 to A.D. 1, British Museum. Department of Coins and Medals , The Trustees, 1881, pp. 23, 67f.
11. English triskelion is recorded in 1880 (etymonline.com); the form triskele in English is occasionally found beginning in c. 1885 (e.g. in Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool 39, 1885, p. 220), presumably as a direct representation of the French form triskèle.
12. Samuel Birch, Charles Thomas Newton, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum vol. 1 (1851), p. 61. Samuel Birch, History of Ancient Pottery vol. 1 (1858), p. 164. Birch's use of triskelos is informed by the Duc de Luynes' triskèle, and it continues to see some use alongside the better-formed triskeles into the 20th century in both English and German, e.g. in a 1932 lecture by C. G. Jung (lecture of 26 October, edited in The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1932. 1996, 43ff.).
13. "Newgrange Ireland - Megalithic Passage Tomb - World Heritage Site". Knowth.com. 2007-12-21. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
14. Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore, Island of the Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers, 2nd ed., Dublin: The Liffey Press, 2008, pp. 168–169
15. Raftery, Joseph (1939). "Early Iron Age Decoration on the Dolmen at Rathkenny, Co. Meath". Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society. 9 (3): 258–261. doi:10.2307/27728510. JSTOR 27728510.
16. "artefact | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
17. Harding, D.W. (2007). The Archaeology of Celtic Art. Taylor & Francis. p. 15.
18. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, illustrated in John Boardman, Jasper Griffin and Oswyn Murray, Greece and the Hellenistic World (Oxford History of the Classical World) vol. I (1988), p. 50.
19. azim24 (2021-06-19). "Study : Other Religious Symbols in Islamic Art and Architecture Part 3 : The Triskelion". Stars in Symmetry. Retrieved 2022-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
20. Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon (A Lexicon Abridged from), Oxford, 1944, p.27, Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J.R.V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928
21. Matthews, Jeff (2005) Symbols of Naples Archived 2009-10-30 at the Wayback Machine
22. "Trinacria: meaning and history of the Sicilian Triskele". 12 January 2022.
23. Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry (1889), p. 126.
24. Shoham, Schlomo Giora (2020). An Existentialist Theory of the Human Spirit (Volume 1). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 460.
25. Chwalkowski, Farrin (2016). Symbols in Arts, Religion and Culture The Soul of Nature. Cambridge Scholarly Publishing. p. 105.
26. Rogerson, Barnaby (2013). Rogerson's Book of Numbers The Culture of Numbers from 1001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. Profile Books. p. 253.
27. Hiliard, Carol (2023-09-13). "End of Life Care Committee" (PDF). Children's Health Ireland. Retrieved 2023-09-13.
28. Foundation, Hospice (2023-09-13). "End of Life Care Resources". Irish Hospice Foundation. Retrieved 2023-09-13.
29. Bonewits, Isaac (2006) Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism. New York, Kensington Publishing Group ISBN 0-8065-2710-2. p. 132: [Among Celtic Reconstructionists] "...An Thríbhís Mhòr (the great triple spiral) came into common use to refer to the three realms." Also p. 134: [On CRs] "Using Celtic symbols such as triskeles and spirals"
30. Kane, Robert M. (1 January 2019). Air Transportation. Kendall Hunt. ISBN 9780787288815 – via Google Books.
31. Vikings and the Vikings Essays on Television's History Channel Series. McFarland. 2019. p. 216.
32. Right-wing extremism: Symbols, signs and banned organisations (PDF). Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. p. 30.
33. Right-wing extremism: Symbols, signs and banned organisations (PDF). Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. p. 83.
34. Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 1291. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
35. Housecroft, C. E.; Sharpe, A. G. (2008). Inorganic Chemistry (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 94–99. ISBN 978-0-13-175553-6.
36. "InterPro".

External links