triquetra

The triquetra  (greek: triskèeles) is a figure consisting of  a triangle of bended legs, charged with a gorgoneion. It is related to or probably derived from the celtic triskel consisting of three curls turning clockwise or counter-clockwise and symbolizing a cosmic trinity. In the 6th and 5th centuries BC the triquetra appears on greek coins. About 289 BC it is on coins struck in Siracusa and on sicilian pottery. After the roman conquest of Sicily in 241-227 BC it is the emblem of the island, then called Trinacria. [1] In the 16th and 17th centuries AD the triquetra was reintroduced and it was also known by the advisers of Joseph Bonaparte looking for a symbol for Sicily that would not refer to the spanish rule of the island. In the arms adopted 1 December 1806, the emblem is tinctured Argent on a golden field. [2]