Talk:Lu Trisceli

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Virsioni ngrisi:

The proper name of this symbol is the Tryskelion, which means "three legs". During the 8th century B.C. the Greeks came across a large island in the Mediterranean previously unknown to them. They circumnavigated the island and discovered that it had three points, those that we now know to be: Cape Pachino (Capo Pachino), to the South, Cape Peloro (Capo Peloro), to the West and Cape Lilibeo (Capo Lilibeo), in the East. The Tryskelion appeared soon after the arrival of the first Greek settlers to this newly discovered island, which the Greeks called TRINACRIA, from the greek word "trinacrios", meaning triangle. The Tryskelion was then adopted by the Greeks as their symbol for Trinacria, and it has remained synomous with Sicily to this day, .

The striking resemblance between the tryskelion and the three-legged symbol of the Isle of Man (the tre cassyn) has been discussed at length over the centuries. Possible explanations have alluded to an ancient indo-european origin, or a link between the viking colonisation of the Isle of Man and the Norman conquest of Sicily. But as we discuss above, only Sicily has used the symbol continuously since the pre-christian era. Through the various conquests of Sicily by the Romans, the Goths, the Saracens and the Normans, it has always been part of their national arms, used on banners and carved into buildings.

So how did it make its way to the Isle of Man? Frederic II (Fredrick I of Sicily) married for his third wife Isabella, daughter of Henry III. of England. In 1254, four years after Frederick’s death, his illigitimate son, Manfred, was appointed regent. Pope Innocent IV excommunicated him, and Manfred promptly claimed the Kingdom of Sicily. The Holy See offered the crown to Henry III of England for his younger son Edmond, and the king commenced to prepare an army. The young prince was paraded before the court in his Sicilian costume. Banners were prepared quartered with the Sicilian arms and the royal arms of England. Alexander III of Scotland had agreed to take part in this expedition and was present during these displays. The Isle of Man was ceded to Alexander III soon after this whole plan came to naught. It is around 1266, that the tre cassyn becomes a permanent element of its armorial bearings. Ironically, this is the same year that the Holy See’s eventual champion, Charles of Angevin, defeated Manfred at Benevento, to claim the Kingdom of Sicily, putting an end to the 136 year long Norman and Swabian Kingdom of Sicily.

The head of the Tryskelion used to be that of Medusa, the most terrifying sister of the Gorgons, which had snakes for hair. Today's version of the head is that of a girl, perhaps a goddess, at times with wings, to signify the eternal running of time, and snakes to signify wisdom. The snakes, later, were substituted by wheat blades to signify the fertility of the Island. The Tryskelion (or Trinacria) has been adopted by the Sicilian Parliament as an integral part of the Sicilian Flag, and is placed in the middle of the red and gold of the regional Flag.