Home » Images » 0063 Pictures From History » CPA0031445

Italy: An Etruscan gilded bronze pendant decorated with swastika symbols, Bolsena, 700 BCE-650 BCE. By PHGCOM (CC BY-SA 3.0 License)

Etruscan art was a form of figurative art produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BCE. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly life-size on sarcophagi or temples) and cast bronze, wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors and situlae).

The swastika remains widely used in Indian religions, specifically in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, primarily as a tantric symbol to evoke shakti or the sacred symbol of auspiciousness. The word 'swastika' comes from the Sanskrit, literally meaning 'to be good'.

Despite the use of the name swastika for the Nazi hakenkreuz or 'hook cross', the South Asian swastika has nothing to do with National Socialism or Fascism.