On the trail of the Triskeles: From the McDonald Institute to archaic Greek Sicily

The McDonald Institute and the journal have adopted as their logo a three-l egged symbol, with wings on each heel, known in Graeco-Roman antiquity as t he triskeles. The purpose of this article is to explore the meaning of the iconography of this emblem, and the investigate how and why it came to symb olize the islands of both Man and Sicily. It is suggested that the Isle of Man adopted the triskeles in 1266 when the control of the island passed fro m the Norse kings to Alexander III of Scotland; a possible connection with Sicily is tentatively explored. The Man triskeles is first attested in the seventh century BC and was gradually elaborated from the later fourth centu ry BC onwards, first with the addition of wings to the feet, then with the use of a Medusa head at the centre, and finally with the adjunct of three b arley ears to symbolize the agricultural fertility of the island. Widely ad opted also on coinage in Athens and Asia Minor from the sixth century BC, t he triskeles was probably in origin a sun symbol like the swastika.