RUNES.
Early knowledge of the art of writing—Knowledge of rune writing very
remote—Archaic Greek characters—Jewels with earlier runes—Runes on
memorial stones—Runic alphabets—The origin of runes—Their mystical
meaning—Memorial runic stones—Runic staves—The Runatal—Archaic
inscriptions compared with runes.
As the early form of writing known as runes occurs so frequently in
connection with these Northern relics, it will be well to devote a
chapter to the subject. The written records and finds in the North give
numerous examples showing that at a very early period the tribes of the
North knew the art of writing. The characters used were called “rúnir”
runes.
The knowledge of rune writing was so remote, that it was supposed by the
people to have come with Odin, thus showing its great antiquity and
possibility of the theory that the runes were brought to the North by
the people who had migrated from the south-east, and who may have
obtained their knowledge from the Greek colonies situated on the shores
of the Black Sea or Palus Mæotis. The numerous runic inscriptions,
showing in many cases the archaic form of these characters, bear witness
to the truth of the Northern records, though it cannot be denied that
they often closely resemble the Etruscan letters. To corroborate these
records a considerable number of antiquities, the forms of which are
unknown in Italy and are similar to those of the North, have been found
in Southern Russia, and may be seen in the museums of that country.
At what early date the art of writing runes became known in the North it
is impossible to tell. From the Roman coins found in the Nydam, Vimose,
Thorsberg, &c. finds we know that the people knew the art at the period
to which the coins belong, but this is far from proving to us that they
had just learned the art of writing; people do not learn how to write
first on objects of gold and silver; but, at any rate, we can fix a date
as early as the second or third century of the Christian era. It must be
admitted as surprising, if the Northern peoples were so advanced as to
manufacture the beautiful weapons and artistic articles found in the
graves and elsewhere, they had not also instituted a coinage of their
own.
That the knowledge of runes did not come to the North before that of
working iron is almost certain, as no runes have been found there on the
objects belonging to the bronze age. A fact we must bear in mind is,
that in the earlier graves of the iron age, many of which are of greater
antiquity than the bog finds,[122] the objects were so thoroughly
destroyed on the pyre, that all traces of runic character upon them
would disappear.
[Illustration:
Fig. 283.—Diadem of gold, with earlier runes inside; found in oblong
mound of sandy mould with remains of a stone coffin.—Jutland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 284.—Silver fibula, with earlier runes,[123] richly gilt, the
zigzag and runes filled with blue niello; ⅔ real size; earlier iron
age.—Etelhem, Gotland.
]
Besides the runes found inscribed upon jewels, weapons, coins,[124] &c.,
there are others engraved on rocks and memorial stones, which are of
very great antiquity, some of which seem to be earlier than the runes of
the bog finds.
There are two alphabets; the earlier one numbered twenty-four, the later
sixteen letters.
[Illustration:
Earlier Runes from the Vadstena bracteate.
]
[Illustration:
Later Runes.
]
The Vadstena alphabet is divided into three sections, each containing
eight letters or characters. The earlier runes were written from the
right to the left; the later runic inscriptions are read from the left
to the right. The later runes differ considerably from the earlier ones,
from the gradual changes that took place, some falling out of use, till
only sixteen existed in later times. Their signification also changed.
Were it not for the evidence of the finds having runic inscriptions of
the fuller runic alphabet, it would have seemed more probable that the
less developed one was the earlier; but in the face of the most
indisputable proofs of the antiquity of the fuller alphabet, such
assertions cannot be made. The only conclusion to which this leads us
therefore is, that the runic alphabet must in the course of time have
become simplified. There are runic inscriptions which contain both
earlier and later runes, but the former at last gradually disappeared.
It seems that the custom of having alphabets on objects such as the
Vadstena bracteate existed in Greece and Etruria.[125] The earliest
graves in the Roman colonies in which there is writing are very few;
what writing there is is never in the language of the people, but always
in Latin; and nearly all, if not all such graves, are those of Christian
people.
[Illustration:
Fig. 285.—A fibula of silver, partly gilt, with same runic letters,
with slight variations. Real size.—Charnay, Burgundy, France (of
Norse origin).
]
The art of writing shows the advanced civilisation of the people of the
North compared with that of the other countries mentioned. The language
of Tacitus[126] is plain enough, and any other interpretation is not
correct. The assertion made that the knowledge of writing came to the
North through the present Germany is not borne out by the facts. Runic
monuments do not occur south of the river Eider, either on detached
stones or engraved on rocks. The few jewels found scattered here and
there, either in France or Germany are thoroughly Northern, and show
that in these places the people of the North made warfare, as
corroborated by the testimony of the Eddas and Sagas, as well as of
Frankish and old English and other records.
[Illustration:
Fig. 286.—Neck-ring of gold, with runes; ½ real size; found (1838) in
a round mound.—Wallachia.
]
Great indeed has been, and still is, the harvest of runic monuments or
objects in the North. Every year several new objects with these
characters are discovered in fields, bogs, and graves, or when old walls
or buildings are demolished.
England, being the earliest and most important of the Northern colonies,
possesses many monuments and objects with runes; among them a large
knife, now in the British Museum, found in the bed of the Thames, the
blade of which is ornamented with gold and silver, and an inscription in
runes.[127]
From the sagas we learn that runes were traced on staves, rods, weapons,
the stem and rudder of ships, drinking-horns, fish bones, and upon the
teeth of _Sleipnir_, &c.
In Runatal (Odin’s Rune song), or the last part of Havamal, there is a
most interesting account of the use that could be made of runes. It
shows plainly that in earlier times they were not used by the people in
general for writing; that they were mystic, being employed for
conjurations and the like, and therefore regarded with a certain awe and
superstition; just as to-day writing is looked upon by certain savage
tribes, who cannot be made to understand how speech can be transmitted
and kept on paper for an indefinite period.
In this song, Odin is supposed to be teaching some one, and giving
advice; he reckons up his arts thus:—
I know that I hung
On the windy tree
Nine[128] whole nights,
Wounded with a spear,
Given to Odin,
Myself to myself;
On the tree
Of which no one knows
From what roots it comes.
They gave me no food
Nor a horn (drink);
I peered downward,
I caught the runes,
Learned them weeping;[129]
Thence I fell down.
Nine songs of might
I learnt from the famous
Son of Bölthorn, father of Bestla;[130]
And I got a draught
Of the precious mead,
Taken out of Odrerir.[131]
Then I became fruitful
And wise:
I grew and I throve;
Word followed word
With me;
Act followed act
With me.
Thou wilt find runes
And letters to read,
Very large staves,
Very strong staves,
Which the mighty wise one drew,
And the high powers made,
And the Hropt of the gods (Odin) carved.
Odin (carved runes) among the Asar;[132]
Dain with the Alfar;
Dvalin with the Dvergar;
Alsvid (the All-wise)
With the Jötnar;
Some I carved myself.
Better ’tis not to invoke
Than sacrifice too much;
A gift always looks for reward;
Better not to send
Than offer too much;
Thus Thund[133] carved
Before the origin of men;
He rose there;
There he came back.
I know incantations
Which no king’s wife knows,
And no man’s son.
Help is the first one called,
And it will help thee
Against strife and sorrows,
Against all kinds of grief.
A second I know,
Which the sons of men need,
Who would as leeches live.[134]
The third I know,
If I am in sore need of
Bonds for my foes;
I deaden the edges[135]
Of my foes;
Neither weapons nor wiles hurt for them.
The fourth I know,
If men lay
Bonds on my limbs;
I sing (incantations) so
That I can walk;
The fetter flies off my feet,
And the shackles off my hands.
The fifth I know,
If I see an arrow flying,
Shot to harm in the array;
It flies not so fast
That I cannot stay it
If I get sight of it.
The sixth I know,
If a man wounds me
With the roots of a young tree;[136]
Illness shall eat
The man
That lays spells on me,
Rather than me.
The seventh I know,
If I see a hall burning
Round the sitting men;
It burns not so broadly
That I cannot save them;
Such an incantation can I sing.
The eighth I know,
Which for every one is
Useful to learn;
Where hate arises
Among sons of kings
I can allay it soon.
The ninth I know,
If I am in need
To save my ship afloat,
I hush the wind
On the waves,
And calm all the sea.
The tenth I know,
If I see hedge-riders[137]
Playing in the air,
I cause that
They go astray
Out of their skins,
Out of their minds.
The eleventh I know,
If I shall to battle
Lead my old friends,
I sing under the shields,
And they go with might
Safe to the fray,
Safe out of the fray,
Safe wherever they come from.
The twelfth I know,
If I see on a tree
A halter-corpse[138] swinging;
I carve so
And draw in runes,
That the man shall walk
And talk to me.
The thirteenth I know,
If I do on a young thegn[139]
Water sprinkle;
He will not fall
Though he go into battle;
That man sinks not by swords.
The fourteenth I know,
If I shall reckon up
The gods for the host of men;
Asar and Alfar[140]
I know all well;
Few unwise know so much.
The fifteenth I know,
That which Thjodreyrir[141] sang,
The Dverg, before the door of Delling;[142]
He sang strength to the Asar
And fame to the Alfar,
Wisdom to Hroptayr.[143]
The sixteenth I know,
If of the comely maiden
I want all the heart and the love,
I change the mind
Of the white-armed woman
And turn all her heart.
The seventeenth I know,
That the youthful maiden
Will late forsake me.
These songs
Wilt thou Loddfafnir[144]
Long have lacked,
Though they are good if thou takest them,
Useful if thou learnest them,
Profitable if thou takest them.
I know the eighteenth,
Which I will never tell
To maiden or man’s wife,
Except to her alone
That holds me in her arms,
Or is my sister;
All is better
That one alone only knows.[145]
This is the end of the song.
Now the song of Har is sung,
In the hall of Har;
Very useful to the sons of men,
Useless to the sons of Jötnar.[146]
Hail to him who sang!
Hail to him who knows!
May he who has learned profit by it!
Hail to those who have listened!
“Atli was a great, powerful, and wise king; he had many men with him,
and took counsel with them how he should get the gold; he knew that
Gunnar and Högni were owners of so much property[147] that no man had
the like of it; he sent men to the brothers and invited them to a feast
in order to give them many gifts; Vingi was the leader of the
messengers. The queen knew of their secret talk, and suspected treachery
against her brothers. She cut runes, took a gold ring, and tied on it a
wolf’s hair; she gave this to the king’s messengers. They went as the
king had told them, and before they landed Vingi saw the runes and
changed them so that they meant that Gudrún wished them to come to Atli.
They came to the hall of Gunnar and were well received; large fires were
made before them; there they drank merrily the best drinks. Vingi said:
‘King Atli sent me hither and wanted you to visit him to get honour and
large gifts, helmets and shields, swords and coats-of-mail, gold and
good clothes, warriors and horses and large estates, and he says he
would rather let you than any others have his realm.’ Then Gunnar turned
his head and said to Högni: ‘What shall we accept of this offer? He
offers us a large realm, but I know no kings owning as much gold as we,
for we own all the gold which lay on Gnitaheath, and large skemmas
(rooms) filled with gold and the best cutting weapons and all kinds of
war-clothes; I know my horse to be the best, my sword the keenest, my
gold the most renowned.’ Högni answered: ‘I wonder at his offer, for
this he has seldom done, and it is unadvisable to go to him. I am
surprised that among the costly things which Atli sent to us I saw a
wolf’s hair tied on a gold ring, and it may be that Gudrún thinks he has
a wolf’s mind (mind of a foe) towards us, and that she wants us not to
go.’ Then Vingi showed him the runes which he said Gudrún had sent. The
men now went to sleep, while they continued drinking with some others.
Then Högni’s wife, Kostbera, a most handsome woman, went to them and
looked at the runes. She and Gunnar’s wife, Glaumvör, a very
accomplished woman, brought drink. The kings became very drunk. Vingi
saw this, and said: ‘I will not conceal that King Atli is very heavy in
his movements, and too old to defend his realm, and his sons are young
and good for nothing; he wishes to give you power over the realm while
they are so young, and he prefers you to enjoy it.’ Now Gunnar was very
drunk, and a great realm was offered to him, and he could not resist
fate; he promised to go, and told it to his brother Högni, who answered:
‘Your resolve must be carried out, and I will follow thee, but I am
unwilling to go’” (Volsunga, c. 33).
Runes were occasionally used as charms in cases of illness.
Egil went on a journey to Vermaland to collect the tax from the Jarl
Arnvid, who was suspected of having slain King Hakon the Good’s men when
they went thither for this purpose. On the way he came to the house of a
bondi named Thorfinn.
“As Egil and Thorfinn sat and took their meal, Egil saw that a woman lay
sick on the cross-bench, and asked who she was. Thorfinn answered that
she was his daughter Helga. She had been long ill from a very wasting
sickness; she could not sleep at night, and was like one
_ham-stolen_[148] (crazy). ‘Has anything been tried for her illness?’
said Egil. Thorfinn said: ‘Runes have been traced by the son of a bondi
in the neighbourhood, but she is far more ill since than she was before;
canst thou do anything for such an illness?’ Egil answered: ‘It may be
that it will not be worse though I take charge of it.’ When he had done
eating he went to where she lay and spoke to her. He bad that she be
taken out of bed and clean clothes put under her, which was done. Then
he examined the bed, and there found a piece of whalebone with runes on
it. He read them, cut them off, and scraped the chips into the fire; he
burned the whalebone and had her clothes carried into the open air. Then
Egil sang:—
As man shall not trace runes
Except he can read them well,
It is thus with many a man
That the dark letters bewilder him.
I saw on the cut whalebone
Ten hidden[149] letters carved,
That have caused to the leek-linden (woman)
A very long sorrow.
“Egil traced runes, and placed them under the pillow in the bed where
she rested. It seemed to her as if she awoke from a sleep, and she said
she was then healed, though she had little strength. Her father and
mother were very glad” (Egil’s Saga, c. 75).
When persons were deaf, they communicated with others by means of runes.
“Thorkel told his sister Orny that the steersman had come to his house,
saying: ‘I wish, kinswoman, that thou shouldst serve[150] him during the
winter, for most other men have enough to do.’ Orny carved runes on a
wood-stick, for she could not speak, and Thorkel took it and read. The
wood-stick told this: ‘I do not like to undertake to serve the
steersman, for my mind tells me that, if I do, much evil will come of
it.’ He became angry because his sister declined, so that when she saw
it she consented to serve Ivar, and continued to do so during the
winter” (Thorstein Uxafót, Fornmanna Sögur, 110).
Runes traced on sticks (_kefli_), which were sometimes used, did not
offer proper security against falsification, unless personal runes were
used, which however were known only to a very limited number.
An Icelandic settler named Gris, who had gone on a journey to Norway,
was going back to Iceland from Nidaros (Throndhjem).
“A woman came to him with two children, and asked him to take them with
him. He asked: ‘What have they to do there?’ She said that their uncle
Thorstein Svörf lived in the district where Gris had a bœr, and that her
name was Thorarna. Gris said: ‘I will not do that without some
evidence.’ Then she gave him from under her cloak a stick on which were
many words known to Thorstein. Gris said: ‘Thou wilt think me greedy for
property.’ She asked: ‘Ask as much as thou wilt.’ He answered: ‘Four
hundreds in very good silver, and thou must follow with the children.’
‘It is not possible for me to follow them,’ she said, ‘but I will pay
what thou askest.’ She told him the name of the boy Klaufi, and of the
girl Sigrid. Gris added: ‘How hast thou become so wretched, thou who art
of such good kin?’ She replied: ‘I was taken in war by Snækoll Ljotsson,
who is the father of these children; after which he drove me away
against my will.’
“Gris had a favourable wind after he had taken these children on board,
and sailed to Iceland into the same river-mouth as usual; and as soon as
he had landed he carried away both children, so that no one knew of his
coming. That evening he went to Thorstein at Grund, who received him
very well, mostly because his son Karl had gone abroad at the time that
Gris had been abroad, and Thorstein wanted to ask about his journey.
Gris spoke little. Thorstein inquired if he was ill. Gris answered that
it was rather that he was not well pleased with his doings; ‘for I have
brought hither two children of thy sister.’ ‘How can that be?’ said
Thorstein. ‘And I will not acknowledge their relationship unattested.’
Then Gris showed him the stick, and he recognized his words thereon,
though it was long since he spoke them. He acknowledged the children,
but paid Gris to bring up Klaufi” (Svarfdæla, c. 11).
“Klaufi and Gris sailed from Solskel southward along the Norwegian
coast, until they came to an islet, where lay two ships with no men on
them. They jumped on board one of the ships, and Klaufi said: ‘Tell
thou, Gris, who has steered these ships, for here are runes, which tell
it.’ Gris said he did not know. Klaufi answered: ‘Thou knowest, and must
tell.’ Gris was obliged to do so, against his will, and thus read the
runes: ‘Karl steered the ship when the runes were carved’” (Svarfdæla,
c. 14).
“One summer in the time of King Harald Hardradi it happened, as was
often the case, that an Icelandic ship came to Nidaros (Throndhjem). On
this ship there was a poor man who kept watch during the night. While
all slept he saw two men go secretly up to Gaularas with digging tools
and begin to dig; he saw they searched for property, and when he came on
them unawares he saw that they had dug up a chest filled with property.
He said to the one who seemed to be the leader that he wanted three
marks for keeping quiet, and some more if he should wish it. Thorfinn
assented to this, and weighed out to him three marks; when they opened
the chest a large ring and a thick necklace of gold lay uppermost. The
Icelander saw runes carved on the chest; these said that Hakon Jarl had
been the owner of this property” (Fornmanna Sögur, vi. 271).
One day Thurid, the old foster-mother of Thorbjörn Öngul, an enemy of
Grettir, asked to be taken down to the sea.
“When she came there, she found the stump of a tree with the roots on,
as large as a man could carry. She looked at the stump, and had it
turned round. On one side it looked as if it had been burned and rubbed.
On this side she had a small spot smoothed with a knife. Then she took
her knife and carved runes on it, and reddened it with her blood,
singing words of witchcraft over it. She walked backwards around the
stump, in the opposite direction to the sun’s course, and pronounced
many powerful incantations thereover. Then she had it pushed out into
the sea, and said it should be driven out to Drangey, and cause great
mischief to Grettir. When Grettir was cutting the stump for firewood
with an axe, he wounded himself severely above the knee”[151] (Gretti’s
Saga, c. 81).
[Illustration:
Fig. 287.—Stone axe with earlier runes; ⅔ real size.—Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 288.—Earlier runic inscription discovered (1872) on a
perpendicular bluff 20 feet high and about 200 feet from the shore,
at Valsfjord, Fosen, North, Throndhjem. The runes are carved in a
perpendicular line from the bottom up. Hardly anything is left of
the letters. The Runes; 1/15 real size.
]
The deeds of warriors were recorded on runic staves:—
Örvar-Odd, when very old, desired to revisit the scenes of his
childhood, where a Völva had foretold him that his death would be caused
by the head of the horse Faxi, at his birthplace, Hrafnista. When he
arrived there he walked around on the farm, and his foot struck the
skull of a horse, and a viper came out of it and bit him in the leg.
“He suffered so much from this wound that they had to lead him down to
the shore. When he got there he said: ‘Now you must go and hew a stone
coffin for me, while some shall sit at my side and carve that song which
I will compose about my deeds and life.’ Then he began making the
song,[152] and they carved it on a tablet,[153] and the nearer the poem
drew to its end, the more the life of Odd ebbed away” (Orvar Odd’s Saga;
Fornaldar Sögur. p. 558).
[Illustration:
Fig. 289.—Stone, with earlier runes, height over 6 feet.—Krogstad,
Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 290.—Earlier runes on granite block. About 10 feet high, 4 feet
11 inches at widest part, and 9 inches thick.—Tanum, Bohuslän,
Sweden.
]
“The two brothers Jokul and Thorstein were to meet Finnbogi for a
Holmganga.[154] As he did not come, they took a post from the latter’s
farm; Jokul carved a man’s head at one end, and traced in runes an
account of what had occurred that day” (Vatnsdæla, 34).
The inscriptions of the earlier runes, the translation of which must be
received with extreme caution, are short, while those of a later period
are much longer.
[Illustration:
Fig. 291.—Runic stone, showing transition between earlier and later
runes, about 4½ feet above ground; breadth, 2 feet 4
inches.—Stentofte, Blekinge, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 292.—Part of stone block, with earlier runes.—Torvik, Norway.
Eight feet 10 inches in length by 2 feet 2 inches wide, with a
thickness of from 2⅓ to 3⅛ feet.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 293.—Red quartz stone, with earlier runes and warrior on
horseback. Height, 8 feet 3 inches, but only 6 feet above ground;
greatest breadth, 5 feet.—Hagby, Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 294.—Granite slab of a stone coffin in a grave-mound, forming one
of the sides 1/15 real size.—Torvik, Hardanger, Norway.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 295.—Runic stone, earlier runes. Length, 7 feet 2 inches; width,
2 feet 4 inches.—Berga, Södermanland, Sweden.[155]
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 296.—Runic stone, earlier runes. Height, over 13 feet; greatest
width, a little over 3 feet; with letters about 6 inches long; near
a dom ring.—Björktorp, Blekinge, Sweden. See p. 314 for grave.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 297.—Earlier runic stone; about 7 feet 7 inches long, and at its
broadest part 3 feet 6 inches.—Norway.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 298.—Granite block with earlier and later runes (the earlier
runes in the centre). Height, 5 feet 3 inches; greatest breadth, 3
feet; average thickness, 1 foot.—Skå-äng, Södermanland, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 299.—Earlier runic stone, Sigdal, Norway.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 300.—Earlier runic stone discovered in 1880, in a ruined
grave-mound which contained a slab stone chest; one of the side
slabs bore runes, and is given here. It has probably stood on
another mound before it was put to this use.—Bergen Museum, Torvik,
Hardanger, Norway.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 301.—Tune stone (with earlier runes) of red granite; found in a
graveyard wall surrounding the church of Tune, near Moss, entrance
of Christiania fjord. Height, 6 feet 7 inches; greatest width, 2
feet 4 inches.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 302.—Earlier runic inscription on a bluff, 11 feet above
high-water mark.—Væblungsnæs, Romsdal, Norway.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 303.—Runic stone, having the longest runic inscription known,
composed of over 760 letters. Height, 12 feet; width, 6 feet.—In the
Churchyard of Rök, Ostergötland, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 304.—Marble lion, with later runic inscription. Height, 10 feet.
Now at Venice, whither it was brought from the Piræus in 1687.[156]
]
Not only do the finds prove to us how extensive were the voyages and
journeys of the vikings, but many of the runic stones add their
testimony to these and the sagas, often mentioning journeys in distant
lands both for peaceful and warlike purposes. There are four runic
stones extant on which Knut the Great is mentioned as “Knut who went to
England”; the _Thingamenn_ or _Thingamannalid_ is mentioned on at least
two runic stones.
[Illustration:
Fig. 305.—Later runic stone, with animal and bird.—Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 306.—Later runic stone, with animals, possibly a representation
of Fylgja at Svartsjö Castle, Lake Mälaren, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 307.—Later runic stone, with birds.—Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 308.—Stone with later runes. Height above ground, 10 feet; the
width over 5 feet.—Nysätra parish, Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 309.—Later runic stone, Edssocken, Upland. “Runa rista lit
Rahnualtr huar a Kriklanti uas lisforunki.”
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 310.—Later runic stone, 7½ feet above the ground. “Sterkar and
Hiorvardr erected this stone to their father, Geiri, who dwelt west,
in Thikalid (Thingmannalid). God help his soul.”—Kålstad, Upland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 311.—King Gorm’s stone, with later runes.—Jellinge, Jutland.
Front view.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 312.—Back view of King Gorm’s stone.
]
The inscription on the above stone runs thus, the translation being
literal: “_Haraltr kunukr bath kaurua kubl thausi aft kurm (Gorm) fathur
sin auk aft thæurui muthur sina, sa haraltr ias sær uan tanmaurk ala auk
nuruiak auk tana ... t kristnæ_” = Harald king bade make mounds these
after Gorm, father his and after Thyra, mother his, that Harald who
swore, Denmark all and Norway and Dane ... to christianize.
The historical mounds of King Gorm and his queen Thyra are respectively
200 and 230 feet in diameter, and about 40 feet high (see p. 183); the
burial chamber of King Gorm was of wood, 22 feet long, 4½ feet high, 8
feet wide. In the grave were found a small silver cup, a bronze cross
covered with gold, a wooden figure representing a warrior in armour,
several metal mountings, &c.
[Illustration:
Fig. 313.—Wooden shield with later runes.—Norway.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 314.—Runic stone in ship-form grave, Upland. In the grave was
found a helmet, apparently made of iron-plate, with ornaments of
bronze in imitation of eyebrows; also a helmet-crest. On the helmet
were numerous representations of horsemen with spears and carrying
shields on their left arms, in front of the horses a snake, and in
front of and behind each horseman a bird flying.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 315.—Baptismal stone font.—Langhem Church, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 316.—Baptismal stone with runes and a representation of Gunnar in
the snake-pit, used as font in a church, Bohuslän. No Christian
symbol is marked upon it.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 317.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 318.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 319.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 320.
Baptismal fonts with runic inscriptions, some apparently heathen.
]
Two rock-tracings found at Ramsund and Gœk, on the southern shores of
Lake Mälar, province of Södermanland, Sweden, show how deeply preserved
in the memory of the people all over the North is the history of the
Volsungar as told in the earlier Edda, and the Saga of that name. To the
late Professor Carl Säve we are indebted for the discovery of these two
mementoes of the past. I here give the representation of the finer of
the two, which is engraved on granite.
[Illustration:
Fig. 321.—Tracing of later runes illustrating the Eddaic songs and
Volsunga saga. Length, 16 feet; width, from 4 to 5 feet.—Ramsund
Rock, Södermanland, Sweden.
]
The scene is surrounded below by sculpture, and covered with runes above
are two serpents twisted together, one without runes. Below the large
snake Sigurd on his knee pierces with his sword the body of the reptile.
In the midst between the snake the horse Grani is standing, made fast to
a tree where two birds are seen. On the left Sigurd, seated, roasts on
the fire, at the end of a stick, the heart of Fafnir. Round the fire are
deposited pincers, an anvil, bellows, and hammer; the head of the smith
(blacksmith) Regin is seen separated from the trunk. Then above is
sculptured an animal, which looks like a fox—no doubt the otter—for the
murder of which was given, as ransom, the rich treasure so fatal to
Fafnir and to all those who possessed it after him. The runic
inscription has not the slightest connection with the scene, not even
with Sigurd Fafnisbani. As Mr. Säve remarks, Sigurd or Holmger, and
perhaps both, believed that they were descended from Sigurd Fafnisbani,
the famous hero of the Volsunga.
The tracing on the stone of Gœk, not far from the city of Strengenæs, is
about half the length of that on the Ramsund stone, but of the same
width, and is not as fine. The subject is treated in a somewhat similar
manner: the hammer is on the ground, while on the Ramsund stone it is in
the man’s hand. Above the horse Grani is a Christian cross.
The runic inscription, here also upon a snake, surrounds the figures,
but has nothing to say about Sigurd Fafnisbani.
[Illustration:
Fig. 322.—Oscan inscription (first three lines) on a bronze tablet in
British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 323.—Greek inscription on bronze axe from Calabria, in the
British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 324.—Archaic Greek inscription in the British Museum.
]
From the facsimile illustrations given of Etruscan, Greek and earliest
Roman inscriptions chosen at random from the museums, the reader will be
able to judge for himself, and probably see how much more closely the
earlier runes resemble the Greek archaic and Etruscan inscriptions than
the Latin ones.
[Illustration:
Fig. 325.—Bronze tablet, first three lines. Treaty between the Eleans
and Heræans of Arcadia; copied from “Ancient Greek Inscriptions” in
the British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
(Euphorbos.)
]
[Illustration:
(Menelaos.)
]
[Illustration:
(Hector.)
Fig. 326.—These three archaic inscriptions are found on a vase from
Camirus in Rhodes, now in the British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 327.—Etruscan inscription on a sepulchral urn in the British
Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 328.—Etruscan inscription on an urn in the British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 329.—Etruscan inscription on a sarcophagus from Toscanella, in
the British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 330.—Plaque of terra-cotta, representing Poseidon, painted. Found
near Corinth. Now in the Louvre.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 331.—Latin inscription.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 332.—Early Latin inscription: painted on a vase in British
Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 333.—Etruscan inscription, on a sarcophagus from Toscanella, in
the British Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 334.—On an Etruscan sepulchral monument in terra-cotta, British
Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 335.—Bronze spear-point, with earlier runes, and svastica and
triskele stamped on it. Length 16½ inches.—Venice, island of
Torcello. ½ real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 336.—Iron spear-point, with runes and figures inlaid with silver,
discovered in a mound with burnt bones and weapons.—Müncheberg,
Mark-Brandenburg. ½ real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 337.—Iron spear-point, with runes and figures inlaid with
silver.—Volhynia, Russia. ½ real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 338.—Runic stone found at Collingham, Yorkshire.
]