, in the centre of which is the
five-dot group. A similar coin also found on the site of Cnossus, and
assigned to B.C. 700, is preserved at the British Museum. Its reverse
exhibits also the five-dot group and the swastika, between whose branches
are four large dots or circles. In the Berlin Museum specimen the latter
are replaced by squares containing cross lines. To any one familiar, in
the first case, with the scheme of organization into five Comes, _i. e._
4+1, such as has been shown to have been adopted in Sparta and elsewhere
in Greece, the design on the reverse of both coins appears perfectly
intelligible. No geometrical or cursive sign could more clearly express
the scheme or ground-plan upon which the most ancient form of government
in Greece has been shown to have also rested.

[Illustration.]

Figure 72.

As to the image of the Minotaurus on the obverse of the Berlin coin: to
any one familiar with the widespread system of figuring the state under
the form of a human being or of a quadruped, and of symbolizing its ruler
as its head, the image appears intelligible as that of the quadruplicate
state. The circumstance that the head is that of a bull seems to indicate
that, like the Egyptians, the Cretans applied the title "bull" to their
king; thence perhaps the fable that the island was at one time governed by
the monster Minotaurus who claimed as annual tribute, from conquered
tribes, seven youths and maidens. It is striking how perfectly the
geometrical figures on the reverse of both coins, which I hold to
represent territorial divisions, seem to form the complement to the image
of the state represented in semi-human and semi-animal form. Interesting
variants of the same design appear on two coins of the same period in the
British Museum collection. One of these, from Syracuse, exhibits a
swastika, in the centre of which is a human head--a sign which I should
interpret as the image of a state and its single central ruler. A coin
from Corinth displays a plain swastika only, which suffices to indicate,
however, that its state organization was on the familiar plan.

In connection with the swastika and five-dot group it is interesting to
examine some ancient Egyptian seals exhibiting crosses with four dots or
strokes (fig. 72, 3-5), and to compare these with Rhodian specimens
(10-13). On vases found by Schliemann on the site of Troy (8 and 9), we
fin