Runic
Writing
An
alphabet of runes was common to all Germanic peoples of
the north long before the Viking Age began. It is called
the futhark, after the first six signs in the alphabet.
Its origins are obscure but the Vikings themselves believed
that the god Odin had invented it
(or rather, stolen it).
Many
thousands of runic inscriptions have been found all over
the Viking world and in the faraway places they visited.
They are mostly carved on stone but are also found on objects
of metal, bone, horn and wood. The inscriptions contain
a wealth of information and tell us a little about how the
Vikings saw themselves.
Most
inscriptions commemorate a dead person but, in passing,
they also provide information about many, other matters,
significant and mundane: the creation of administrative
centers and communications, land ownership, voyages overseas,
family relationships, individual wealth, status or talents,
even the beauty of women.
Within
Scandinavia, Sweden has by far the richest treasure of runic
inscriptions, some 3,000 in all. Many of these runestones
line the sides of eleventh century roads and mark the sites
of bridges and meeting places. Denmark has about 250 Viking
Age runestones and Norway about 50, though there are also
many examples from later than the Viking Age, for instance,
from medieval archaeological deposits in Bergen.
Only
a few later examples are known from Greenland and Iceland.
Inscriptions are more common in the British Isles, especially
on the Isle of Man where many rune-inscribed crosses have
been found, and on the Orkney Islands. The Scandinavians
also left runic inscriptions as testament to their remarkable,
far-flung travels in Russia and Byzantine Europe: for instance,
an inscription at Berezanj on the Black Sea records the
death of one of a pair of trading partners, and runic graffiti
was carved on the shoulders of a massive marble lion in
Piraeus, the sea port of Athens.
The
Scandinavians revered poetry (see also Language
& Literature) known as skaldic verse which, though
often bloodthirsty in content, portrays a people with an
heroic and sophisticated literature. A Viking verse by the
great 10th century Icelandic poet, Egil Skallagrimsson,
is translated:
I've been with sword and
spear
slippery with bright blood where kites wheeled.
And how well we violent Vikings clashed!
Red flames ate up men's roofs,
raging we killed and killed;
and skewered bodies sprawled
sleepy in town gateways.
