Another proof of the equivalence between the
gammadion and the image, or, at least, the light
of the sun, is found amongst the coins of Mesem-
bria in Thrace. The very name of this town,
M€<yi?ju|3/aia, may be translated as " mid-day," that
is, the ** town of noon," as Mr. Percy Gardner calls
it.* Now, on some coins, this name is figured by
a legend which speaks for itself : ME2y^. '

It is impossible to show more clearly the
identity of the gammadion with the idea of light
or of the day. — " But," objects Mr. Greg, " the
day is not necessarily the sun." — In addition to
this distinction being rather subtle, how can one
continue to doubt, in face of the facility with
which in Greece, as in India and elsewhere, the
gammadion interchanges with the Solar Disk and
vice versdf^

I will take the liberty of calling attention to the

* Indian Antiquary^ 1881, pp. 67, 68.
' Percy Gardner. Solar Symbols on the Coins of Maadcn
and Thrace^ in the Numismatic Chronicle^ vol. xx. (N. S.), p. 59.
• Ibid. Loc, cit.y pp. 55-58. — On coins from Segesta the
gammadion^ which sumiounts the image of a dog, alternates
with a four-spoked wheel. {Hunter, pi. xlviii., 4, and Ivii., 5.)



Digitized by LjOOQIC



6o THE MIGRATION

adjoining plate (I I.), where I have brought together
several peculiar examples of those transpositions.
They are arranged in two classes of combinations,
which, by their regularity no less than by their
frequency, seem to imply a symbolical intention.
